Rodney James Alcala (77), an American serial killer sentenced to death for consecutively murdering young women, has died in prison. [Photo by CNN]
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] An American serial killer, who was sentenced to death for murdering young women one after another and was called the 'Dating Game Killer,' has died in prison.
According to CNN on the 24th (local time), Rodney James Alcala (77), who was on death row, died early that morning at a hospital near Corcoran State Prison in California, USA.
Alcala was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of five young women, including a 12-year-old girl.
Previously, he was first sentenced to death after being indicted the following year for kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Robin Samso in 1979. However, the California Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict, and he was retried.
After the second trial, he was sentenced to death again in 1986, but in 2003, the federal appeals court overturned the sentence, leading to a third trial.
Later, with the rapid advancement of DNA analysis technology in the early 2000s, investigators discovered that Alcala's DNA was linked to four other murder cases. It was revealed that he was a serial killer who murdered Jill Buckham, 18 years old in 1977, Georgia Wixstead, 27 years old, Charlotte Lam, 32 years old in 1978, and Jill Ferrento, 21 years old in 1979.
Rodney James Alcala (77) admitted to killing two women in New York in the 1970s after being convicted of five murders in California in 2010. [Photo by CNN]
After Alcala's conviction, authorities released about 100 photos of young women seized from a warehouse owned by Alcala. This was to determine if there were additional victims among the subjects in the photos.
Even after being sentenced to death in 2010, Alcala was additionally charged with murdering two women in New York in the 1970s and was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years in 2013.
Since then, Alcala has been imprisoned without execution of the death penalty, following the California state government's policy of suspending executions.
Alcala, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), worked as a typesetter at the daily newspaper LA Times and was active as an amateur photographer. He approached and seduced young women by telling them they needed to take photos for contests or assignments.
Alcala also appeared on the popular 1978 TV program 'The Dating Game.' In this program, where single men competed to be chosen by a female contestant, he presented himself as humorous and charming and was selected by the female participant.
He was introduced on the program as a 'successful photographer' who could skydive and ride motorcycles. However, authorities revealed that he had already been sentenced to 34 months in prison for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in 1968.
Because of this, Alcala was nicknamed the 'Dating Game Killer.'
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