Convicted mass murderer Dating Game Killer Rodney Alcala died of natural causes at 77 in a California hospital while on death row
Serial killer Rodney Alcala, 77, had died of natural causes in a California hospital on Saturday at 1:43 am
He infamously appeared on the The Dating Game in September 1978, when he was in the midst of a brutal killing spree
Two years after appearing on the show he was convicted of killing a 12-year-old girl in Los Angeles after abducting her on her way to ballet
In the years that followed he was connected to seven other murders
Police believe he could be connected up to 130 killings of women and children but the exact number of his victims is not known
Dating Game Killer Rodney James Alcala, Who Murdered 130 Women, Dies in California Prison
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South Korean police have revealed the identity of the serial killer who raped and strangled two women.
Murderer Rodney James Alcala, also named as The Dating Game Killer , due to his 1978 appearance on the game show, died on July 24 at a hospital near California s Corcoran state prison at the age of 77.
He died of natural causes at a hospital in San Joaquin Valley, California, prison officials said in a statement.
The Dating Game Connection
In 1968, Alcala was a contestant on the game show
The Dating Game. When host Jim Lange introduced Rodney Alcala as Bachelor Number One, a successful photographer, he didn t know that the man had already murdered at least five women and been charged with the attempted murder of a little girl, reported ABC News.
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.
ABC News
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Alcala has been convicted of killing seven women in the 1970s.
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A missing woman s cold case and a killer s appearance on The Dating Game : Part 1
Christine Thornton, described by her sister as a free spirit, went missing in the summer of 1977. Clues about her disappearance wouldn’t be uncovered until 40 years later.Bettmann Archive via Getty Images
When “The Dating Game” host Jim Lange introduced Rodney Alcala as Bachelor Number One, a successful photographer, he didn’t know that the man had already murdered at least five women and been charged with the attempted murder of a little girl.