So I watched an episode of Crime Investigation on the television and this episode caught my attention. Recently, I've been watching crime investigation films and it interests me how these killers end up as they were and how they were able to do those heinous crimes.
Rodney James Alcala, his full name is Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor, was born on August 23, 1943. He is an American serial killer and a convicted rapist who was given a death sentence in California for 5 murders committed between 1977 and 1979 in the same state. He was also given an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to his two homicides in New York in the year 1971 and 1977. It is believed that this guy has committed 130 murders in total.
Rodney Alcala is just one of those serial killers known in America. There are more to name some like Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, Danny Rolling, Belle Gunness, and Harold Shipman a.k.a "Dr. Death".
: His Early Life
Rodney Alcala came from a broken family. In 1951, the family moved to Mexico but eventually was left by his father after three years. 11 years after, Rodney together with his mother and two sisters moved back to America, particularly in Los Angeles.
At 17, Rodney Alcala joined the US Army and had a clerical position. Three years after, he had a nervous breakdown and said that he went AWOL from his work for a long time. Then, he was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder by a psychiatrist in the military and was sent home on medical grounds. It was soon discovered and learned that he also manifested traits like Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Malignant Narcissism with Psychopathy, and Sexual Sadism.
Having said that, he leaves the army, and Alcala pursued college at UCLA School of Fine Arts and then studied Film at New York University.
: When did his first crime happen?
It was 1968 when Alcala committed his first crime. An 8-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro was walking along the street heading her way home when Alcala driving lured her into his apartment. Good thing was, an eyewitness was able to report the kidnapping to the police. The police then found the girl lying on the floor, beaten with a steel bar, and was raped. Luckily, the girl was still alive and was brought to the hospital after. However, Alcala was able to escape upon the arrival of the police.
: Was he brought to a trial?
The FBI added this criminal to its Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives in 1971. In early 1971, two children attending the arts camp where he was working as a photographer, found his photo on an FBI poster at the post office. He was soon arrested then brought to California for his case.
However, the Shapiro family migrated to Mexico and refused to allow Tali for her testimony on the trial. As a result, the juries were unable to convict him of rape and attempted murder and were forced to give him a lesser charge of just an assault.
In 1974, Alcala had his parole after him showing pieces of evidence of rehabilitation. However, he continued to do his crimes and was re-arrested after an assault of a 13-year-old, and was imprisoned for 2 years.
: Crucial years: 1977 - 1979
A week after his release in 1977, Alcala killed Ellen Jane Hover, a daughter of the owner of the famous Hollywood's nightclub Ciro's. He killed her through strangling and raping.
He remains to be a fugitive and worked as a typesetter in the Los Angeles Times. He even convinced his colleagues that he is a professional photographer so he asked young girls, ladies, or even men to take a photo of them naked to be his models.
He even made a TV appearance in 1978, a popular "The Dating Game" show. The audacity to appear on tv confidently as if he's the most innocent person in the world! He actually won the game show and was set to date a bachelorette but the woman refused to have a date with him because she found him creepy. I must say, that's the best choice she has ever done in her life.
He's the first contestant and notice how confident and normal he was at that time. How could he act so peaceful and happy?
In 1979, a friend of a victim was interviewed in the show and said that a guy approached asking to take a photo of them convincing them that he was a professional photographer. That guy was Rodney Alcala and the victim was Robin Samsoe, a 12-year-old young girl. She was also wearing earrings at that time.
: What is his mark as a killer?
He has an obsession with jewelry, particularly in earrings. If he sees someone wearing earrings then he considers it as his next victim.
He likes to strangle the victim and lets the victim regain consciousness again to let them feel the pain. He gets aroused by the reactions of his victims whenever he tortures them. After killing them, he keeps things from his victims (earrings and jewelry) to relive the crimes as a sort of his remembrance.
In a span of 2 years, he's able to kill 10 women with a random age range.
After that interview of the victim's (Robin Samsoe) friend, the description matched and gave them the lead where to find Rodney Alcala. Robin's decomposing body was found in the foothills 12 days after her disappearance.
Alcala was soon arrested in July 1979 and was held without bail. He was on trial for Robin Samsoe's murder and was sentenced to death but the verdict was overturned by the Supreme court because of misinformation regarding his prior sex crimes.
: His additional victims
In 2003, while preparing for his third prosecution, DNA testing comes in handy already and found a match of his semen left at the rape-murder crime scene of two women in LA. Through this, it was proven that he killed 4 women namely:
Jill Barcomb (18)
Georgia Wixted (27) found in her apartment
Charlotte Lamb (31) found in a laundry room
Jill Parenteau (21) was found in her apartment.
All of their bodies were identically positioned. Their jewelry was also taken after the crime.
: In 2010,
He was finally convicted to a death sentence for his murder of the 5 women from 1977 to 1979.
From then, his photographs were published online and soon got viral as there were cold cases that came out after seeing those.
It is believed that he committed crimes from different states in America. At most, the FBI estimated his murders to 130. Some of those are yet to be solved.
: How is Rodney Alcala now?
He is already 73 years old. He's reportedly to be "too ill" of traveling from California to Wyoming to have his final trial on the new charges. He stays in California State Prison, waiting for his death execution.
Honestly, after seeing this episode, it makes me not to wear earrings anymore. The paranoia strikes ahead in me. 😦
I have watched several episodes of serial killings though. I will be sharing those here soon.
He's in the states though so no need to be paranoid. But dang that's a lot of murders in such a short span of time though. I don't think having that many murders would be doable here