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A serial killer on death row in California died of natural causes at the age of 77 in the early hours of Saturday morning, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced.
Rodney James Alcala, who was known as The Dating Game Killer after appearing on the television show The Dating Game in 1978, has been suspected or linked to dozens of murders in California, Washington, New York, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Arizona.
He was originally arrested and sentenced to death in 1980 for murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979. The California Supreme Court reversed that sentence in 1984, but Alcala was sentenced to death again in 1986 after a second trial. Then in 2003, a federal appeals court overturned his sentence again, giving him another trial.
Michael Goulding/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) Rodney Alcala, a convicted serial killer who was on California s death row, has died, authorities said Saturday.
Alcala, 77, died of natural causes at 1:43 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in the community near Corcoran State Prison, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
Alcala was known as The Dating Game killer for his appearance as a winning contestant on the television game show in 1978.
After representing himself in Orange County court, he was sentenced to death in 2010 for the 1979 murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and the murders of four other women 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted, both in 1977; 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb in 1978; and 21-year-old Jill Parenteau in 1979.
In 1986, Alcala was sentenced to death a second time for Samsoe s murder; however, a federal appeals court in 2003 overturned the sentence and Alcala was given a new trial. His DNA matched evidence in other murders, and Orange County prosecutors indicted Alcala for the murders of four other women.
In 2010, an Orange County jury convicted Alcala of five counts of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death for the killing of Samsoe as well as the 1977 deaths of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted; the 1978 death of 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb, and the 1979 death of 21-year-old Jill Parenteau.
Five Victims: The u2018Dating Game Serial Killer Rodney Alcala Slayings
In 1986, Alcala was sentenced to death a second time for Samsoe s murder; however, a federal appeals court in 2003 overturned the sentence and Alcala was given a new trial. His DNA matched evidence in other murders, and Orange County prosecutors indicted Alcala for the murders of four other women.
In 2010, an Orange County jury convicted Alcala of five counts of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death for the killing of Samsoe as well as the 1977 deaths of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted; the 1978 death of 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb, and the 1979 death of 21-year-old Jill Parenteau.
Five Victims: The u2018Dating Game Serial Killer Rodney Alcala Slayings
Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, who once appeared on the âDating Gameâ TV show, died early Saturday of natural causes at Corcoran State Prison in California, officials said.
Alcala, 77, a former photographer, died at 1:43 a.m. at a local hospital, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
Dubbed the âDating Gameâ killer, he was convicted by an Orange County jury in 2010 of killing four women and a 12-year-old girl in California after his DNA matched evidence in each of the cases, according to the statement. The slayings occurred between 1977 and 1979.
His victims included Jill Barcomb, 18, who was sexually assaulted, bludgeoned and strangled before her body was dumped in the Hollywood Hills in November 1977; Georgia Wixted, 27, who was sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten to death in her Malibu home a month later; Charlotte Lamb, 32, who was found dead in her El Segundo laundry room after she was raped and strangled