The True Story of The Dating Game Killer, Rodney Alcala
On 1/8/21 at 3:03 PM EST
American true-crime lovers have a knack for finding stories of odd serial killers and shocking twists. One that isn t overly sensationalized, like giant names Jeffery Dahmer, involves a reality television show of the past and one woman s very close call with the terrifying predator.
The Dating Game Killer, actually won the reality TV game show in the 1970s while he was in the middle of his killing spree.
The Dating Game episode that featured Alcala as Bachelor Number One aired in 1978. Alcala wooed the woman choosing her perfect match, Cheryl Bradshaw, and the prize was a date for the two. But Bradshaw lived to tell the story of her date with a serial killer after her gut instincts kicked in.
| Credit: Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty
Alcala was convicted in 1980 for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, who vanished on her bicycle on her way to ballet class and whose remains were found in the foothills above Sierra Madre, a city in Los Angeles County.
But his conviction was overturned twice on different technicalities before he was finally sentenced to death in 2010 for her murder as well as the 1970s rapes and murders of Georgia Wixted, Jill Parenteau, Charlotte Lamb, and Jim Barcomb.
While on California s death row, Alcala pleaded guilty in 2012 to the rape and murder of TWA flight attendant Cornelia Crilley and Ciro s nightclub heiress Ellen Hover, whose remains were found on the Rockefeller Estate in Westchester County in New York.