1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Hollywood Land 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: is a production of Double Elvish. I Am Lovely Only 4 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: The stories about Rodney Alcala, aka The Dating Game Killer 5 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: are insane. He was a depraved serial killer who alluded 6 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: authorities for years. He hit his true identity behind charm 7 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: and persuasion. He worked as a summer camp counselor while 8 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: on the lamb for the savage assault of an eight 9 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: year old girl. An eight year old, he convinced this 10 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: parole officer to let him take a vacation to the 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: other side of the country, where he proceeded to commit 12 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: another of his many murders while New Yorkers were watching 13 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: their backs, The Son of Sam. In the summer of 14 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: seventy seven, Rodney al Kala killed again. It's widely believed 15 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: that he murdered dozens of women, perhaps even more than 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: one hundred, even though he had less than ten convictions. 17 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: And did Rodney Alcala make great films hell No, but 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: his appearance on the popular ABC show The Dating Game 19 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy eight, which he made in the midst 20 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: of his killing spree is one of the most bizarre 21 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: and creepy moments in Hollywood history. Kind of like that 22 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: clip I played for you at the top of the 23 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: show that wasn't from a great film, that was a 24 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: fair youth sample from the Library of Congress of J. W. 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: Myers performing I'm Tired in nineteen oh four. I played 26 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: you that clip because I can't afford the rights to 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: a clip from William Wilder's Funny Girl. And why would 28 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of Hello, Gorgeous Cheese? 29 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: movie in America on September twenty fifth, nineteen sixty eight, 31 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: and that was a day authorities suspect Rodney al Khala 32 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: first followed through on his darkest instincts and abducted a 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: girl on her way to school and brutally assaulted her, 34 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: an event that would kick off a decade of rape, murder, 35 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: and extreme personality disorders in full effect. On this episode 36 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: a depraved serial killer, charm and persuasion creepy Hollywood history. 37 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: In the Depraved Dating Game Killer Rodney Alcala, I'm Jake 38 00:02:30,720 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is Hollywood Land. Mary Anne Calmly sat 39 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: anxiously in the courtroom. Her fingers massaged the straw handbag 40 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: in her lap. Her mind raised her heart beat fast. 41 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: This was taking way too long. Where was he and 42 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: when would they bring him in? She just wanted to 43 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: see his face, look into his eyes. She wanted that 44 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: monster to feel her pain, to know that every minute 45 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: of every day was now a living hell, a hell 46 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: that he created just like that snap of a finger, 47 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: quicker than God had created the whole entire earth. But 48 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: he wasn't God. He didn't give her anything. All he 49 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: did was takeaway. Marie Anne's daughter, Robin Samso, was found 50 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: the previous summer in July of nineteen seventy nine by 51 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: a member of a forest crew in the foothills above 52 00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: the Sierra Madre. Not her body, though her remains bones, 53 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: her skull in a ravine, her lower teeth fractured, her 54 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: left foot and parts of her hands missing, her tennis 55 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: shoe in a bush, a kitchen knife stained with blood 56 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: hidden in the leaves. Robin was only twelve years old, 57 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: which coincidentally was the number of days she'd been missing. 58 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: She was last seen on June twentieth, when she borrowed 59 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: a friend's bike to go to a nearby ballet studio, 60 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: where she took lessons and answered phones. That same friend 61 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: remembered an uncomfortable encounter earlier in the day on Huntington 62 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: Beach when a curly haired man stopped them both and 63 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: asked if he could take their photograph. He touched Robin's 64 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: leg with his hand, and he gave off serious creep vibes. 65 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: And now in Orange County Superior Court, a curly haired 66 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: man matching the description of the creepy man from that 67 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: day on Huntington Beach was being led to the defendant's chair. 68 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: Mary Anne Conley took a deep breath. She knew Rodney 69 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: Alcala was the one, the curly haired man who had 70 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: approached her daughter Robin in June. But he didn't just 71 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: take Robin's photo or just touch her leg. As creepy 72 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: as I was. He marked Robin as his prey the 73 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: moment he saw her, and then he hunted her down, 74 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: brutalized her, fucking animal twelve years old. The pain was unbearable. 75 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: Mary Anne wanted it to end, all of it, not 76 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: just her pain, his life. The solution was easy. What 77 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: goes around comes around. He was right there, not even 78 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: twenty feet away from her. She unlatched her straw handbag 79 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: and casually put her hand inside. She felt the twenty 80 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: five caliber pistol. Getting it inside the courtroom was a 81 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: cinch who was nineteen eighty California was golden and mellow. 82 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: There were no metal detectors to walk through. No security 83 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: guard was about to pack down a grieving mother who 84 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: could barely stand on her own two shaking feet. She 85 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: wrapped her palm tightly around the pistol's handle. Her finger 86 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: caressed the trigger. It would be so easy, she wouldn't 87 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: even have to say anything. Stand up, pulled the gun 88 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: out and let the handbag fall to the floor, aiming 89 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: at his fucking mop of curly hair. Shatter his teeth 90 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,720 Speaker 1: like he shattered Robin's. Blow his head right off this 91 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: goddamn body, reduce his face to blood and bone with 92 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:19,600 Speaker 1: one shot. Rodney Alcala had no way of knowing that 93 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: the mother of his latest victim was packing heat, and 94 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: even if he did know, it wouldn't have faced him 95 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: because he knew she wouldn't go through with it. She'd 96 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: never pulled the trigger, not because of cold feet, because 97 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: he was smarter than she was. He was smarter than 98 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: every single person in that courtroom, always one step ahead 99 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: IQ like Einstein, and persuasive. He could talk anyone into 100 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: or out of anything. He persuaded Nayu that his name 101 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: was John Berger, even though he had no proof that 102 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: that was remotely true. He persuaded a summer camp in 103 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: New Hampshire to hire him as a counselor, even though 104 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: at the time he was on the FBI's most Wanted list. 105 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: To the savage rape and attempted murder of an eight 106 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: year old girl in Los Angeles, he persuaded the La 107 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: Times to give him a job as a typesetter, even 108 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: though he had secretly killed numerous women after serving two 109 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: stints in jail. So naturally, he would have no problem 110 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: persuading the mother of the twelve year old girl he 111 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: just murdered to not only spare his life, but to 112 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: forgive him he was the real victim here. It would 113 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: be easy, just as easy as it was to persuade 114 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: a major television network to allow him. Rodney Alcala, a sociopath, 115 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: to participate as a contestant on a nationally syndicated show 116 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: in the middle of a serial killing spree. For Jed Mills, 117 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: it was easy money four hundred bucks to play the 118 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: role of eligible bachelor, Bachelor number two. That is, it 119 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: wasn't Happy Day as hell, it wasn't even the love Boat. 120 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: But to an actor looking for an honest day's work, 121 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: he could do a lot worse than the dating game. 122 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: He was basically getting paid to flirt on the bachelorette 123 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: on the other side of the partition. When asked him 124 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: a question, he just had to answer as provocatively as possible. 125 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: This was nineteen seventy eight, after all. Provocative was practically 126 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: a comedy genre in and of itself then, And if 127 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: you could get the audience to laugh, then she would 128 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: laugh too, and that was the way to the girl's heart, 129 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: not any of this macho bullshit laughter. Jed might even 130 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: get lucky. Maybe the bachelorette would pick him out of 131 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: the lineup. He had a one in three chance, after all, 132 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: and that would meet a date on ABC's dime on 133 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: top of the four hundred dollars fee, And then maybe 134 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: he'd get lucky for real and get laid. So Jed 135 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: nursed the soda in the green room and sized up 136 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: his competition. While they waited for their call time. Bachelor 137 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: number three had a cube all for her head in 138 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: a lime green suit that looked like the color of 139 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: dog's puke after the dog ate a bunch of grass. 140 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: The guy clearly wasn't much of a threat. Bachelor number one, 141 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: on the other hand, that guy was handsome. Jed had 142 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: to him in brown polyester suit and white butterfly collar 143 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: shirt un buttoned halfway down his chest, shoulder length brown 144 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: hair throwing out some serious warm baby vibes. Chicks dug 145 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 1: that shit, all of it, especially the hair. But there 146 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: was something about that guy that he didn't sit right 147 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: with Jed like putting forth this image of charisma and 148 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: desire required a lot of energy and bad energy. He 149 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: smiled a lot, like a lot, a lot too much, 150 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: so much that it seemed fake, hollow, big, dumb, fucking 151 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: grinned and hovered below equally dumb eyes. Not that Jed 152 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: get to look into those eyes too much. Bachelor number 153 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: one avoided eye contact, directed his gaze at the floor, 154 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: and Jed wasn't buying it too much effort to appear suave. 155 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: The guy was a standard issue creep. It was probably 156 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: into the Kiki ship behind closed doors. Too la free 157 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: say sheik Boogi Yogi yugi. Jed tried to make small 158 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: talk in order to cut what he perceived his tension 159 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: in the green room. He wondered how each of them 160 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: would fare out there on stage in a spotlight. Bachelor 161 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: number One took it as a challenge. He raised his 162 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: bowed head from the floor and looked directly at Jed, 163 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: and that smile so strained it was now sinister. Those 164 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: eyes there were now not dumb, not doee, not pretty 165 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: cold and calculated, the eyes of a winner, no matter 166 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: the cost. Bachelor number One held his gaze on Jed, 167 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,079 Speaker 1: and then he broke his silence with five words, delivered 168 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: with confidence. I always get my girl. Hollywood wasn't all 169 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: that far from Phoenix on a map, but to Ryl Bradshaw, 170 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: it could have been a different universe altogether. The stars 171 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: weren't just in the sky out here, they were everywhere. 172 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: Vivian Leave, Jack Lemon, Barbara Streisan, Orson Wells, you name it. 173 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: Their names were permanently etched into the sidewalk Hollywood Boulevard, 174 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: the likeness molded in a wax Madame Tussade's. Then the 175 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: remains tucked away for an eternal slumber at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. 176 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: The legacy of Hollywood endured in a way that was 177 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: awe inspiring. Cheryl Bradshaw's time in Hollywood, however, wasn't so permanent, 178 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: but it did hold his share of opportunity. Cheryl was 179 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: a humble drama teacher from Arizona. She didn't have any 180 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: delusions about her name winding up in a star on 181 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: that fabled Walk of Fame. Perhaps one of her students 182 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: would go on to a career in the limelight one 183 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: of these days. For a brief moment, however, she would 184 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: bask in her own fifteen minutes of fame. As the 185 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: bachelorette on The Dating Game. Her face would be on 186 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,959 Speaker 1: millions of television screens all across the country. Crazy. If 187 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: she was lucky, she'd get a hot date as a 188 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: cherry on top of it. Was September of nineteen seventy eight, 189 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,680 Speaker 1: and The Dating Game was a popular game show on 190 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: ABC for thirteen years running. It was the first show 191 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: to be developed and sold by Chuck Barris. The game 192 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: show grew behind the Gong show Who Dangerous Mind led 193 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: him to write a number of hit songs and may 194 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: or may not have led him to becoming an assassin 195 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: for the CIA, But that's another story for an entirely 196 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: different episode. But back to what we were talking about. 197 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: Unlike the life of its developer Chuck Barris, the premise 198 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: of the dating game was simple. One female or male 199 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: contestant posed questions to three members of the opposite sex 200 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,280 Speaker 1: site unseen. The questions were often suggested, especially in the 201 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: swinging nineteen seventies, when the show's producers were encouraged to 202 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: push the innuendo as close to the edge as possible. 203 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: Based on the answers of the three eligible bachelors or bachelorettes, 204 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: the contestant would choose a winner to take on a 205 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: dream date to some exotic destination with an ABC chaperone. 206 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: Of course, a pre fame Steve Martin appeared not once, 207 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: but twice as one of the three bachelors. Three bachelors 208 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: literally fought on set for the chance to catch a 209 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: date with the pre Charlie's angels. Farah Fawcett and Arnold 210 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 1: Schwarzenegger famously appeared on the show Looking for Love back 211 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: when he was merely mister Olympia Night. However, there were 212 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: no soon to be famous bachelors on the dating game set. 213 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: Soon to be infamous, Now, that was another story. Cheryl 214 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: bassed in the show business of it all. The groovy set, 215 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: with its bubbly text and flowers, it looked more like 216 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: squashed amibas on the partitions, the lights, the big cameras, 217 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: the studio audience, Jim Lang, the host with the voice 218 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: of a DJ. They called the guys like him puckers 219 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: because of the way they talked. The words just erupted 220 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 1: from their throats like shrapnel from a cannon. Hey, everybody, 221 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: welcome back. It was different than what she taught back home. 222 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: Projecting your voice on stage and all that. This was 223 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: projecting Hollywood style, as was that puffy shirt and bow 224 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,079 Speaker 1: tie and oversized glasses he wore, and the kiss he 225 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: gave Cheryl right on the lips when he introduced her 226 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: to the crowd. Not everything about Hollywood was a fairy tale. 227 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:55,319 Speaker 1: Some of it was just downright uncomfortable. Bachelor number one 228 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: is a successful photographer who got to start when his 229 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: father found him in the dark room at the age 230 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: of thirty. He fully developed. The crowd moaned in delight 231 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: at the double entendre between takes. You might find him 232 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:14,160 Speaker 1: skydiving or motorcycling. Please welcome Rodney Alcala. If Alcala noticed 233 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: that Jim Lang pronounced his name incorrectly on national television, 234 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: he didn't make it known. As the audience applause died down. 235 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: Cheryl cleared her throat and looked at the questions on 236 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: the card in her hand. She knew how to perform. 237 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: She could hold her own. The cameras didn't make her nervous, 238 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: neither did the studio audience. She had to lay it 239 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: on thick, nunciate every syllable, speak clearly but dramatically, make 240 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: all three of the bachelor's yearn to be with her 241 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: with every fiber of their being. She wanted to make 242 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: her appearance truly memorable. Bachelor number one, she began, what's 243 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: your best time? Rodney Alcohala smiled that same smile Jed 244 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: Mills had seen back in the green room, the one 245 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: that gave him the he be geebies, the one they 246 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: looked forced so pleasant it was painful. The best time 247 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: is that night, Alkohala answered, That's the only time there is. 248 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: Nighttime is when it really gets good. On July thirteenth, 249 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: and fourteenth. In nineteen seventy seven, nighttime wasn't the best 250 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: time in New York City. It was the only time 251 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: the now infamous blackout brought an already crippled city to 252 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: its knees. It was hot, temperatures flirted with triple digits. 253 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: The smell of curdled trash left abandoned on street corners 254 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: due to a sanitation strike was rank in the air. 255 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: All the things that nighttime brings came out of the shadows. Thieves, muggers, pyros, 256 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: looters that fucking creeps on a sand haunting the streets 257 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: with this forty four caliber. When the power finally came 258 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: back on, things were missing. Everything from small turntables to 259 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: large appliances had been stolen from stores all across the city. 260 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: Fifty brand new Pontiacs disappeared from a dealership in the Bronx, 261 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: and Ellen Hover, a twenty three year olds socialite who 262 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: lived in an apartment on Third Avenue, had vanished. Ellen 263 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: Hover was a beautiful, aspiring orchestra conductor. Her father once 264 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: owned the popular Hollywood nightclub Ciro's, and she counted both 265 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: Sammy Davis Junior and Dean Martin as godfathers. Her family 266 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: and friends panicked when she disappeared. Posters went up all 267 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: over Midtown. They read missing after blackup reward Ellen Hover, 268 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: twenty three long, brown hair, one hundred and six pounds, 269 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: pinstriped T shirt, blue jeans, with a phone number to 270 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: call for tips. They received very few tips. Ellen's mother 271 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: and stepfather hired a private detective. The only real lead 272 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: was that Ellen had left her apartment that day to 273 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: meet up with a photographer who was going to take 274 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: pictures of her. The photographer's name, John Berger, was written 275 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: on her calendar for the day she disappeared. At the time, 276 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: no one knew that Rodney Alcala was using the alias 277 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: John Berger. Eleven months later, when Ellan Hoover's bones were 278 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: finally discovered in hour outside the city in Westchester County, 279 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: on the Rockefeller Estate of all places, detectives were beginning 280 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: to put the pieces together. They figured out that John 281 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: Berger and Rodney al Kala were one and the same. 282 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: They called al Kala down to the station for questioning. 283 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: He told him that yes, he had spent the day 284 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: with that one on July fifteenth, nineteen seventy seven, but 285 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: that at the end of the day he dropped her 286 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: off at the apartment and never saw her again. There 287 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:27,199 Speaker 1: were no cracks in his story. He was thoroughly convincing, persuasive. Plus, 288 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: the cops didn't have any evidence to hold him any longer, 289 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: and they let Alkala go. It would be more than 290 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: thirty years later before Ellen Hoover's family got proper closure 291 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: for her murder. The craziest thing is they weren't the 292 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: only family. There were more, so many more. We'll be 293 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 1: right back after this. We're, we're, we're. Ellen Hover wasn't 294 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: Rodney al Kala's only victim. There were others. Cornelia Curley, 295 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: Jill Barcombe, Georgia Wickston, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Parento, Robin Samso. 296 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: And even before all those others, there was Tali Shapiro. 297 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,640 Speaker 1: In September of nineteen sixty eight, Tali Shapiro and her 298 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: family temporarily called the Chateaum r Mom West Hollywood home, 299 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 1: having recently lost their own house to a fire. At 300 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: just eight years old, Tolly was an independent second grader. 301 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: She walked herself down Sunset Bulevard to school each day. 302 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: But September twenty fifth wasn't just another day That was 303 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: the day a car pulled up alongside the curb and 304 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: the window rode down. Rodney Alcala, then twenty five years old, 305 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,479 Speaker 1: sat in the driver's seat. Tali had never seen him before. 306 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: Alcala asked her if she wanted to ride. Tolly knew 307 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: stranger danger. Her parents taught her well, she knew she 308 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: shouldn't get in, but Alcala was persuasive. He said he 309 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: wasn't actually a stranger, he knew her parents, it was 310 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: all right, opened the passenger door and stepped inside. A 311 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: bystander watched the whole interaction from across the street and 312 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: thought it looked strange. He tailed the car until it 313 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,719 Speaker 1: reached a nearby apartment. Alcala walked Tolly inside, and the 314 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:19,439 Speaker 1: man called the police. Alcala stalled when LAPD began banging 315 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: on the door. At first, he didn't say anything. More banging. 316 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: Alcala responded that he was he was in the shower. 317 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: The cops told him to open up or they'd break 318 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 1: down the door. More banging, more stalling. When the police 319 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,920 Speaker 1: finally kicked Alcala's door in, he was long gone out 320 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: the back door, but they couldn't miss Tyllie Shapiro. She 321 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,719 Speaker 1: was on the floor, naked in a pool of her 322 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: own blood, sexually assaulted and viciously beaten with a steel bar, 323 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: and just eight years old. One of the LAPD officers 324 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: on the scene said what he witnessed that day was 325 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: just as brutal, if not more than the horrors he'd 326 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: seen during his tour or in Vietnam. Incredibly, Rodney alcala 327 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: eluded capture for nearly three years, despite committing murder in 328 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: despite landing a spot on the FBI's most wanted list. 329 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, he strangled twa flight attendant, Cornelia 330 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: clearly to death with their own stockings in her Upper 331 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: East Side apartment. Perhaps more incredible, however, was that he 332 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: wasn't eventually mad by federal agents or a good samartan adult. 333 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: He was brought down by children. In the summer of 334 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, Alcala wiseled his way to a job 335 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: at a summer camp in New Hampshire. Some campers happened 336 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: to walk into a nearby post office and noticed a 337 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,439 Speaker 1: familiar face pinned to the bulletin board there. On the 338 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: FBI's most wanted list was a photo of one of 339 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: their counselors, John Berger. Only the guy's name wasn't John 340 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: Berger on the FBI's notice, it was Rodney Alcala. Score 341 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: one for stranger danger. Al Kala was extradited back to 342 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,879 Speaker 1: Los Angeles to face charge for what he done to 343 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: Tali Shapiro. The Shapiros, however, has since moved out of 344 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: the country and didn't want Tolly testifying at the trial 345 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: for fear that it would be too traumatic, which meant 346 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: the only thing Alcala was charged with was a plea 347 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: deal for child molestation. The court gave him an indeterminate 348 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: sentence of one year to life, and like always, Rodney 349 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: Alcala was persuasive if only all inmates could be like Alcala. 350 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: They all said he was a model prisoner, and he 351 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: barely did three years. Only two months after his release, 352 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: Alcala was caught smoking dope with a thirteen year old 353 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: girl on the cliffs of Huntington Beach, the very same 354 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: location he would later meet Robin Samso he went back 355 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 1: to jail and, once again, bolstered by his charm and persuasiveness, 356 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 1: was out in less than three years. It was the 357 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen seventy seven, Alcala was restless too much 358 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: of a known quantity in California. He laid on the 359 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: persuasive term real thick and got his parole officer to 360 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,879 Speaker 1: approve a vacation request to New York City. It was 361 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,639 Speaker 1: during that quote unquote vacation that he murdered Ellen Hover. 362 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: It was also around the time that Christine Ruth Thornton, 363 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: twenty eight years old and six months pregnant, encountered RODNEYE. 364 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: Al Kala somewhere between Mississippi and Wyoming and then vanished. 365 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: Her remains were found five years later. Ellen Hover and 366 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: Christine Thornton weren't necessarily the start of rodneyel Kala's killing spree, 367 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,640 Speaker 1: but they were far from the end of it. November 368 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, Los Angeles, the body of a nineteen 369 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: year old Jill Barcom, a transplant from New York, was 370 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: found off a Franklin Canyon road. She had been sexually assaulted, bludgeoned, 371 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: and strangled. Her face was unrecognizable. December nineteen seventy seven, 372 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: Malibu window opened, screen removed inside. Georgia Wigstad twenty seven, 373 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: also sexually assaulted, strangled, and beaten to death. The blood 374 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: was everywhere. June nineteen seventy eight, El Segundo Charlotte Lamb 375 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: thirty two found dead in a laundry room, raped and 376 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: strangled with a shoelace. June nineteen seventy nine, Burbank Joe Parento, 377 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: twenty one returned to her apartment after a dodgery's game, 378 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: where she was strangled to death. Also in June nineteen 379 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: seventy nine, Huntington Beach, Robin Samso, just twelve years old, 380 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: stolen by a convincing stranger in a car on the 381 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: side of the road. Shades of Tali Shapiro from a 382 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 1: decade earlier. It was during this three year killing spree that, unbelievably, 383 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: Rodney Alcala appeared as an eligible bachelor on the Dating Game. 384 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: The network didn't perform background checks. Al Kala got onto 385 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,639 Speaker 1: the show with his killer churn for the record. One 386 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,439 Speaker 1: of the show's producers later admitted that Alcala made him 387 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: uncomfortable in the audition, just as he did to Bachelor 388 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: number two Jed Mills in the green room. Not everyone 389 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: played the Dating Game just for a date. Some of 390 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: them did it just to be on TV. It fed 391 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,439 Speaker 1: their ego. It was the ultimate narcissistic power play, a 392 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: serial killer so overwhelmingly arrogant to believe that not only 393 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: could he continue to play a game of cat and 394 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: mouse with the authorities, but he could do so while 395 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:07,639 Speaker 1: playing another game, and he could win it. This is 396 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,159 Speaker 1: your date, and I want to tell you something about him, Cheryl. 397 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: He's a skydiver, so he's got a lot of nerve. 398 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: He's in the motorcycling, and he's also a fine photographer. 399 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: Say hello to Rodney Alcalou. Rodney Alcala won the dating 400 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,879 Speaker 1: game easily. He knew he would win. It was what 401 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: he did, just like he told Jed Mills in the 402 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: green room, he always got his girl. One day it 403 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: was Joe Barcom or Charlotte Lamb, and the next day 404 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: was Cheryl Bradshaw. He didn't give a shit about the 405 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: tennis lessons they won, even though he pretended like he did. 406 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: When Jim Lang was sit out the prizes, al Kala 407 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: stood there with his hand around Cheryl's waist, that sociopathic 408 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: grin on his face. Oh boy, tennis lessons, What a 409 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: fucking gas. He cared even less about the trip to 410 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: Magic Mountain they wouldn't even make it that far al 411 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,879 Speaker 1: Kala had it all planned out. He'd say, sweet, nothing's 412 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: to her, tell her how great she looked in that dress. 413 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: Her feathered hair reminded him of Farafaucet. But she was 414 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: sexier than Fara Faucet, of course she was by a mile. 415 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:08,879 Speaker 1: He'd ask her to pose just like that, ask her 416 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,120 Speaker 1: to angle her head a little more, smile wider. Could 417 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 1: he take her photograph? And not? God, I'm excited, even 418 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: more excited when he could touch her well, He could 419 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: put his hands around her, not in our arm, innocently 420 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: draped across her midrift. More than that, his hands around 421 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: her throat. He liked to clasp his fingers together behind 422 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: her neck, his teeth sunk into her tender flesh, to 423 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,200 Speaker 1: watch the life just oohs out of her wide eyes. 424 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: She would try to scream, and it would sun goose 425 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: bumps up his arms, and he'd squeeze tighter, and maybe 426 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,640 Speaker 1: something would snap, a bone or a tendant. Maybe she'd bleed. 427 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: They're all different. If she passed out, he'd wait until 428 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 1: she came to, and he'd start it all over again. 429 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: And then when she was gone, when the struggling and 430 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: the screaming had stopped, and she was lifeless, an empty shell, 431 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: a drained vessel. He'd prop her up, pose her. It 432 00:25:55,240 --> 00:26:00,399 Speaker 1: ain't snap more photos, but Rodney al Kala get to 433 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,400 Speaker 1: take Cheryl Bradshaw's photo. He didn't even get a date. 434 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,199 Speaker 1: Cheryl Bradshaw picked up on the same bad vibes that 435 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,400 Speaker 1: both Jed Mills and the show's producer had caught. Shortly 436 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: after the taping of her dating game episode, Cheryl Bradshaw 437 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,439 Speaker 1: called the show's producers and politely apologized she could not 438 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: go through the date, not now, not ever. She had 439 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:24,640 Speaker 1: no way of knowing that. But by trusting her gut 440 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: and making that phone call, Cheryl Bradshaw saved her own life. 441 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 1: Mary Anne Conley let the twenty five caliber pistol drop 442 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,119 Speaker 1: back into the straw handbag on her lap. Her twelve 443 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: year old daughter, Robin Samso was dead, but Marianne could 444 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,679 Speaker 1: sense she was in the courtroom with her. She couldn't 445 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: explain it, It's just a feeling. She had a mother's intuition. 446 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: She even heard Robin's voice, and Robin told her not 447 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: to do it, don't kill him. They wouldn't bring Robin back. 448 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 1: It would just destroy mary Anne's life. Marianne's life, though, 449 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: had pretty much already been destroyed back in June nineteen 450 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,439 Speaker 1: seventy nine when Robin was brutally murdered by Rodney al Kala. 451 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: But mary Anne listened to her daughter's voice and the 452 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,360 Speaker 1: pistol never emerged from her handbag. She locked the clasp 453 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: and fought back tears and pain. She would let justice 454 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: take its course. During the investigation into Robin SAMSO's murder, 455 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: detectives discovered that Alcala rented a self storage unit at 456 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: a facility in Seattle. What they found inside broke the 457 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: case wide open. Thousands of photographs of women and girls, jewelry, 458 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: keepsake's trophies, and a pair of earrings that mary Anne 459 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:57,119 Speaker 1: Connolly said belonged to her daughter. In May of nineteen eighty, 460 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,159 Speaker 1: Rodney al Kala was convicted and sentenced to death for 461 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: the murder of Robin Samso, and they sent him to 462 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: sam Quentin. But Rodney al Khala didn't sweat it too much. 463 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: He knew that even with his days numbered on death row, 464 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: he had the upper hand. He could see around the 465 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: next corner. He always got his girl, and he was 466 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: always one step ahead of the rest. Four years later, 467 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four, the first in a series of 468 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: extraordinary twists happened. Rodney Alcala appealed his sentence on the 469 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: grounds that jurors had been improperly informed of his prior 470 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: sex crimes. His death sentence was overturned. In nineteen eighty six, 471 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: seven years to the day of Robin SAMSO's disappearance, al 472 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: Khala was tried for a second time, and once again 473 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,480 Speaker 1: he was found guilty, and once again he was given 474 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: the death penalty. And then in two thousand and one, 475 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: Alcohala appealed his sentence yet again, this time on the 476 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: grounds at his attorney had not put forth a strong 477 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: enough effort. Incredibly, his death penalty was overturned for a 478 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 1: second time. As the prosecution began to assemble its case 479 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: for Alcala's third trial, they were able to utilize something 480 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: that was not available to them twenty years earlier, DNA evidence. 481 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: They analyzed the bounty from that self storage unit in Seattle, 482 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:18,920 Speaker 1: and what they found went far beyond the murder of 483 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: Robin Samso. Among all those photographs, jewelry and keepsakes, where 484 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: DNA matches for Jill Barcombe, Georgia Wickstad, Charlotte Lamb, and 485 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: Jill Parento. In twenty ten, Rodney Alcala's third trial began 486 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: in Orange County. Only this time he wasn't being tried 487 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: for one murder. He was being tried for five, and 488 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: Marianne Connolly was there for every minute of it. Only 489 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: this time she wasn't sitting in the audience debidding whether 490 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: or not to pull a pistol from her handbag and 491 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: blow her daughter's killer away. She was sitting on the 492 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: witness stand, and Rodney Alcala was the one asking her 493 00:29:53,320 --> 00:30:00,160 Speaker 1: the questions. Alcala had fired his court apointed attorney so 494 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: that he could represent himself. He had persuaded a stranger 495 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: to pick him as her blind date on a nationally 496 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: syndicated TV show while he was in the midst of 497 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: a prolific killing spree. Surely he could convince a jury 498 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: that he didn't deserve the death penalty. Al Kala was 499 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: older now, too, sixty six, the same age as Marianne. 500 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: His long, curly hair had grown longer in prison, gray 501 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: hair too. He wore a pair of glasses. Maybe he 502 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: thought the glasses and made him look smarter than he 503 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: really was. They said his IQ was off the charts, 504 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: and mary Anne didn't give a shit about IQ. She 505 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: just wanted the cross examination to stop. And what world 506 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: was it okay for her greeting mother to be forced 507 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: to answer the questions of the man who took her 508 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: daughter's life. She wished she had that pistol now, man, 509 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: she'd used it for real this time. She should have 510 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 1: just finished the goddamn job back in nineteen eighty. Maybe 511 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: she'd be in prison, but at least she wouldn't be 512 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: sitting on the witness stand talking to the one person 513 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: in the world she never wanted to talk to. And 514 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: he just kept on talking, kept asking her questions like 515 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: he was enjoying it, enjoying watching her squirm, watching her 516 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: get upset if he dragged the whole thing out. Rodney 517 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 1: Alcala was getting off on the entire interaction, and Marianne 518 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 1: Connolly simply couldn't take it anymore. Please stop, I've answered 519 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: all your questions, she shouted at him. Please, I've been 520 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: living this torture for thirty years. Rodney al Kala eventually 521 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: stopped asking questions. He was so sure that he had 522 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: argued his case persuasively. He was charming, conniving, intelligent, but 523 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: just like Jed Mills and Cheryl Bradshaw on the dating 524 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 1: game all those years ago. The judge and jury saw 525 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: through Alcala's facade. They knew he had killed those women. 526 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: The jury convicted Alkhala on five counts of murder, one 527 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:45,600 Speaker 1: and the judge sentenced them to death. Two years later, 528 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: in twenty twelve, al Khala was extradited to New York 529 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: to face charges for the nineteen seventy one murder of 530 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: TWA flight attendant Cornelia Curley and the nineteen seventy seven 531 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: murder of socialite Ellen Hover. He played guilty and New 532 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: York gave him to twenty five years to life on 533 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: top of his California conviction. And then in twenty sixteen, 534 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: prosecutors in Wyoming charged Alkhala with the murder of Christine 535 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: Ruth Thornton, the Prgning woman who had encountered him in 536 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight and then disappeared. And those are just 537 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: the cases with enough hard evidence to warrant convictions. Police 538 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: believe that al Calla murdered not eight, but dozens of 539 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: women over the years. Some said the body count as 540 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: as high as one hundred and thirty victims. The number 541 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: of photographs of unidentified women found in his self storage 542 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: unit are in excess of one hundred, and that number 543 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 1: was initially higher, but after the photos were made public 544 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 1: in twenty ten, at least twenty women came forward to 545 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: identify themselves and mercifully cross themselves off that list. The 546 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: photos are chilling, even if the same dreadful fate didn't 547 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: await all of the subjects. There's a weird, playful quality 548 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: to many of them, not unlike the first ten minutes 549 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,640 Speaker 1: of any campy horror film, you know, the forced, cheesy 550 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 1: dialogue before the blood splatters. Some are top list, others 551 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: appear to be rocking out in front of the stereotor 552 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: whatever Rodney is playing for them. The subjects range in 553 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: ethnicity and to a revolting extent, in age. Many of 554 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 1: the women and girls are smiling, some self consciously, some genuinely. 555 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: Some don't seem to know they're being photographed about in 556 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: the while, then others have a look in their eyes, 557 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: as say, sit in Alcala's home studio, that you just 558 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: can't help but interpret us. What are you going to do? 559 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: To me, it is simply impossible to know just how 560 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: many others died at this fucking creep's hands. It'll never 561 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: have to answer for any of those murders either. In 562 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Rodney Alcala died of natural causes at 563 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: a California hospital while awaiting execution. The families of his 564 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 1: victims didn't get the satisfaction of watching the life slip 565 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,959 Speaker 1: from his eyes as the lethal injection was administered, just 566 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: like he had watched the life drain from the eyes 567 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: of every woman he killed. Perhaps he thought, in some 568 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: sick and twisted way that despite those handful of convictions 569 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: he had won, he had stayed one step ahea to 570 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: everyone else and taking dozens, if not hundreds of secrets 571 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:07,000 Speaker 1: to his grave. For mourners like Mary Anne Conley, though 572 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,279 Speaker 1: there were no winners and there was no peace. There 573 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,240 Speaker 1: was only a horrible story in which your daughter played 574 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: a tragic role. A story that shouldn't be real, A 575 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: story that ought to be in pictures. I'm Jake Brennan 576 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: and this this Hollywood Land. 577 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 2: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced 578 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 2: in partnership with Double Elvis. Follow like rate and review 579 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 2: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts, and get in 580 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 2: touch with us on social media at double Elvis. If 581 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 2: you like hollywood Land, check out my other show, the 582 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,280 Speaker 2: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music 583 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 2: through the lens. 584 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: Of true crime. Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you 585 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:06,439 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. That's there's a whe