Rodney Alcala (AKA The Dating Game Killer)

Family Life Alcala was born in August 1943 to Raoul Alcala Buquor and Anna Maria Gutierrez. His real name is; Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor. He grew up in San Antonio Texas until his father abandoned him and his family. His mother then moved them to Los Angeles when Alcala was 12 years old.

Education He attended and graduated from UCLA’s School of Fine Arts. Later; after his first criminal act, he moved to New York and attended New York University under the alias John Berger.

Career In 1960 when Alcala was 17 he joined the Army. He served as a clerk for four years. In 1964 he was discharged when he was described as having a nervous breakdown. During the summer of 1968 he worked as a counselor for children at a New Hampshire arts camp. In 1978 he worked for a short time with the Los Angeles Times.

Criminal History He did not just start of killing his victims, and it was not a one and done situation. He spread out his crimes from 1968-1978. His first crime occurred in 1968 when he kidnapped and raped Tali Shapiro; who at the time was only 8. He plead guilty to a lesser form of assault; due to the prosecution not having their primary witness they had to reduce the sentence form rape and attempted murder to assault, and served 34 months in prison. His second criminal act was in 1971 when he murder Cornelia Crilley before he was sentenced time in jail for his 1968 act of violence. He was found guilty of the murder in 2011 Just two months after he was released in 1974 he assaulted a 13 year old girl known as Julie J, and was sentenced too time in jail for breaking his parole. He also provided marijuana to a minor. In both sentences he was released early due to the indeterminate sentence; which states that if a criminal show signs of rehabilitation he or she may be paroled.

Criminal History continued During the years of 1977-191979 he became a very busy man. He murdered 7 women. Those women being: Ellen Hover, Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted, Joyce Gaunt, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Parenteau, and Robin Samsoe. The most important one being Robin Samsoe Almost all of these murders were not immediately pinned on him but the one murder that did go to trial was the Robin Samsoe. He was sentenced to death, but the trial occurred three times; in 1980, 1986, and in 2010) Later in 2010-2011 he was found guilty for the other six murders.

Convections 1971 he plead guilty to assault. 1974 he was convicted for parole violation and providing Marijuana to a minor. 1980 he was convicted for murder, sentenced to death. 1986 he was convicted for the murder of Robin Samsoe for the second time 2010 he was convicted for 4 murders, and for Robin Samsoe for a third time. 2011 he was indicted for two murders His Sentence was Death.

Evidence for the Crimes For the Samsoe case, the detectives found the earrings she was wearing the day she went missing in a Seattle Locker rented by Alcala. Later in 2003 Alcala DNA was found to be a match too semen found at the scene of two rape- murder crimes. Additionally one of the girls earrings were found in Alcalas’ storage locker. In 2004 another cold-case DNA match found Alcala guilty of four more murders.

Sociological Theory of Deviance I believe that Alcala crimes fit the Social Control Theory. I say this because he did care about what people thought about him. For example when he made his appearance on the show Dating Game; he won a date with one of the bachelorettes. She refused to go on a date with him due to him looking and seeming weird. He did not like that; some detectives believe that this rejection was a factor in him killing four of his victims. Another time where he felt rejected by the world was when he was in the military and he was discharged due to a “nervous breakdown”. This occurred in 1964, and shortly thereafter in 1968 he kidnapped, raped, and beat to the brink of death his first victim. Usually with the Social Control Theory the person doing it clings to the social exceptions and try to stay a part of it by not doing anything wrong. In Alcala’s case he committed deviant acts when he felt that he was not being excepted.