The Dating Game Killer Pt. 2: A Killer Is Born

Rodney Alcala was born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor in San Antonio, Texas, to Raoul Alcala Buquor and Anna Maria Gutierrez. In 1951, Alcala's father moved the family to Mexico. He abandoned them there three years later. His mother then moved Alcala and his sister to suburban Los Angeles.

In 1960, at age 17, Alcala entered the Army as a clerk. After a nervous breakdown, he went AWOL and hitchhiked to his mother's house. He was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder by a military psychiatrist and discharged on medical grounds. 

Then Alcala, with an IQ of 135, went on to attend UCLA School of Fine Arts.

It wouldn't be long before Alcala dove into a dark path.

At his first known attempt at killing, the victim was Tali Shapiro, an eight-year-old girl he’d lured into his Hollywood apartment in 1968. Shapiro barely survived her rape and beating with a steel bar.

Her life saved by a passing motorist, who’d reported a tip to police on a possible abduction. Alcala had fled and moved to New York where he used the alias John Berger to enroll in film school at New York University.

In June 1971, Cornelia Michel Crilley, a 23-year-old TWA flight attendant, was found raped and strangled in her Manhattan  apartment. Her murder went unsolved until it was connected to Alcala in 2011.

In 1971, he obtained a counseling job at a New Hampshire arts camp for children using a slightly different alias, "John Burger". After being recognized by kids from the arts camp, from an FBI poster, Alcala was finally identified and arrested in 1971,  only sent to prison on charges of assault due to Shapiro's parents not letting her testify. After spending three years behind bars, he soon spent another two years in prison for assaulting a 13-year-old girl identified in court records as "Julie J."

He was paroled again and flight risk Alcala traveled to New York to “visit relatives.”

This is where he killed a college student named Elaine Hover who was the daughter of a popular Hollywood nightclub owner and goddaughter of both Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin.
Her remains were found buried on the grounds of the Rockefeller Estate in Westchester County.

Soon after, Alcala got a job at the Los Angeles Times as a typesetter, in 1978, under his real name. At night he lured in young girls and boys to be part of his professional photography portfolio. Some of them were never to be heard from again. 

“The best time is at night.” 

Alcala told Cheryl on "The Dating Game."

A year after his Dating Game appearance, 17-year-old Liane Leedom walked away unscathed from a photo shoot with Alcala. He showed her his portfolio. Police have since released parts of it  to the public to aid in victim identification. The photos are still available to view HERE.

During this time, he was interviewed by members of the Hillside Strangler task force, but was later ruled out.

The case that would finally put an end to Alcala’s killing spree was that of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.

Robin Christine Samsoe was a 12-year-old girl from Huntington Beach, California. She was born on December 13th, 1966. Robin loved ballet, she loved dancing and gymnastics.

"She was probably the most loving child a mother could have. Everything she did, she did to please me," 

her mother said.

"I loved her warmth."

Robin's friend, Bridget, said that a stranger approached them on the beach and asked if they’d want to do a photo shoot. Bridget recalled,

"And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, pops up Jackie Young, my neighbor. She goes, 'Bridget, is everything OK? Are you girls alright?' And man, he took that camera, turned his head down, and you could almost see, like, smoke comin' off his dress shoes. He just - he was gone." 

Shaken, Robin borrowing Bridget's bike, hurried to get to ballet.That was the last time anyone saw Robin alive. When her ballet teacher called to say she hadn't made it to class, her family immediately called 911.

Nearly 12 days later, a fire crew conducting routine fire prevention maintenance, had found Robin Samsoe's animal-ravaged remains in a remote location more than 40 miles from where she was last seen.

The pressure was on to find the killer.

Upon questioning Bridget, a police sketch artist drew up a composite.

Alcala’s former parole officer recognized the face. Between the sketch, Alcala’s criminal past, and the discovery of Robin’s earrings in Alcala’s Seattle storage locker, police felt confident that they had the right guy.

It had been nearly 11 years since Alcala had left 8-year-old Tali Shapiro for dead. Alcala was easy to find this time. He lived with his parents in Monterey Park, close to the mountains where Robin's remains were located.

Beth Kelleher was Alcala's girlfriend at the time. She said that,

"Rodney Alcala is an intelligent - well-mannered, pleasant, fun, outgoing, great individual."

She also talked about how much she loved him.

The Road To Justice