Rodney Alcala (court photo – www.laweekly.com)

A convicted serial killer who once appeared on the dating game in the 1970’s is now sitting on death row for the third time. Rodney Alcala represented himself in court in March for the rapes and murders of four women and one child, and police fear there may be even more victims.  He was sentenced to death again, and is among nearly 700 other California inmates awaiting execution.  During this investigation, authorities uncovered more than 100 pictures of unidentified women.  The question is, are those women alive or possible victims?  So far, investigators say they have positively identified 21, but they still have a long road ahead.  Those women are alive, and don’t appear to be victims.  Cold-case homicides in some states have been re-opened seeking possible links to this serial killer.

Alcala was found guilty of murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1980 and again in 1986 and was sentenced to death both times, but appeals overturned the cases. Extending the pain for the victim’s family.  This case was prolonged much like police say Alcala prolonged the lives of his victims. As he would strangle them, and just before they would die, Alcala would bring them back to life by resuscitating them.  Alcala is now in the same serial killer category as Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Gary Ridgway, Charles Manson, and Andrew Cunanan (to name a few).

According to the FBI, “Serial killings are rare, probably less than one percent of all murders. They do, however, receive a lot of attention in the news and on screen—and much of the information out there is wrong. Yet, the public, the media, and even sometimes law enforcement professionals who have limited experience with serial murder, often believe what they read and hear. And this misinformation can hinder investigations.” 

The FBI says – as for serial killer myths, our group of experts had this to say about a few of them:  

1) Serial killers are not all dysfunctional loners: some have had wives and kids and full-time jobs and have been very active in their community or church or both.

2) Serial killers are not all white males: the racial diversification of serial killers generally mirrors the overall U.S. population.

3) Serial killers do not want to get caught: over time, as they kill without being discovered, they get careless during their crimes.

Check out the publication at the bottom of the FBI’s website, an in-depth informative article entitled “Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators – serial killers are much different in real life.”

As for Alcala’s case, the District Attorney’s office was finally able to link four adult cases with DNA to put Alcala on trial for the murders of child Robin Samsoe, 12, and adults  Jill Barcomb, 18, Jill Parenteau, 21, Georgia Wixted, 27, and Charlotte Lamb, 32.  The prosecutors say he raped one of the women with a claw hammer. 

Investigators believe Alcala kept Robin’s earrings as a trophy and stored them in a Seattle storage unit in 1979 along with pictures of more than 100 other women, girls, young boys and even babies.  You can view all of the photos here at Nancy Grace’s blog. 

Police say Alcala would lure women in with his photography and get them to pose, but some photos were taken unbeknownst to the victims. Investigators do not know if he kept some of the photographs as trophies of other victims he had murdered, or if they are just generic snapshots.  I know firsthand from tracking murderers and covering cases like this over the last decade that these men and women do, in fact, take things to remind them of their work.  Sometimes the items they take are very unique, so can easily be traced back to the victim.   

Police need to know who each person is.  Maybe you have a missing loved one, or a cold case unsolved.  Take time to review each picture online. The Orange County Prosecutor’s office, along with the Huntington Police, are even offering a DVD of all 125 photos for pick up at their locations.  A handful of women have been located, but there are still dozens more to track down.  This is what the prosecutor’s office said in a recent press release:

Due to the number of photographs, CDs with the images are available for the media to pick up at the Huntington Beach Police Department located at 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The CDs will also be available at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office at 401 Civic center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701.

Anyone with information regarding the identities of the women and children in the photographs is asked to contact Sergeant Smith at (714) 536-5947 or Detective Ellis at (714) 536-5947 with the Huntington Beach Police Department or Supervising District Attorney Investigator Ed Berakovich at (714) 347-8492.

On a side note, when Alcala appeared on the dating game in the late 1970’s, he had already been convicted and served time for raping an 8-year-old girl.  It’s a shame the Internet, along with the sexual offender registries, had not been invented back then. To top it all off, the woman on the show picked Alcala as the winner (although she never went on a date with him, reportedly because he was so creepy).  I wonder how the woman, the panel, and members of the staff feel now that they know a sexual predator who later turned out to be a serial killer was among the contestants on the game show?  I have a lot of friends in production who work for a lot of different shows; there is actually a background process now that takes place to allow people on their programs.  Sometimes, yes, people do slip through the cracks, but with the Internet and public demand for information, our chances are pretty high in knowing whether or not someone committed a sexual act with a child.

If you know any of the people in Alcala’s photos, contact Huntington Beach Police Detective Patrick Ellis, at 714-375-5066, or email him at pellis@hbpd.org.