THE DATING GAME KILLER
CHERYL BRADSHAW’S DREAM MAN HAD A SINISTER SECRET
When Rodney Alcala appeared on popular TV series, The Dating Game, in 1978, he came across as charming and charismatic when the cameras were rolling.
Given the choice between three eligible bachelors, contestant Cheryl Bradshaw picked ‘Bachelor One’ – Alcala.
But meeting him face to face backstage, his personality was a different story and Cheryl begged producers to allow her to get out of the date.
“He was acting really creepy,” she said later. “I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”
Thankfully, Cheryl got out of the date, but years later she discovered the shocking reason for his chilling demeanour
– Alcala was a killer.
Now, the true story is being adapted into a Netflix true-crime movie called Rodney & Sheryl, starring
Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick.
When Alcala applied to be part of the dating show, he was already amid his murder spree, having claimed five victims and nearly killing an 8-year-old.
In 1968, Alcala spotted 8-year-old Tali Shapiro walking to school in
Hollywood and offered her a ride in his car.
“He goes: ‘I’m a friend of your parents.’ And I went: ‘Oh, OK,’” Tali later recalled in her testimony of the event.
A good Samaritan sensed something and reported the incident to the police. At his apartment, officers knocked on the door and Alcala ran out the back. Cops kicked down the door, and found Tali naked and bloodied on the kitchen floor, having been raped and beaten with a steel bar.
Three years later, the FBI added Alcala to its list of 10 most-wanted fugitives, after he evaded capture.
Meanwhile, he changed his name to ‘John Berger’ and enrolled in film school at New York University, where he studied under controversial director, Roman Polanski, according to Vice.
In New York, he began approaching women and young boys, telling them he was a fashion photographer and asking them if they would pose for him.
One victim was 23-yearold flight attendant, Cornelia Crilley. She was found raped and murdered in her apartment in 1971 – a crime that wasn’t connected to Alcala until nearly 40 years later.
Using a slightly different alias of ‘John Burger’, he obtained a counselling job at the New Hampshire Arts Camp for children.
“Two girls went to their local post office, and they looked and there was Rodney Alcala’s photo on the FBI 10 Most Wanted list,” Orange County deputy district attorney
Matt Murphy said. “They looked up and said, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Mr Burger.’”
He was arrested and extradited to California, but unfortunately his victim, Tali, and her family had relocated to Mexico and didn’t allow her to testify at Alcala’s trial. It meant that the court was unable to convict him of rape and attempted murder without their primary witness. Instead, he was convicted of child molestation and sentenced to three years in prison.
Months after his release, he was sent back to prison after attempting to abduct a 13-year-old girl, according to LA Weekly. He spent a further two years in prison.
Once released for the second time, Alcala’s reign of terror continued with increased vigour. He returned to New York City, where he murdered 23-year-old Ellen Jane Hover. Police eventually questioned him about the case, but he was never charged as her body hadn’t been found.
But 11 months later, her bones were discovered in Westchester County, New York.
Returning to California, Alcala got a job as a typesetter with the Los Angeles Times and continued his murdering spree.
It would be decades before the true extent of his crimes would be revealed.
His victims were found from Southern California to
‘HE WAS ACTING REALLY CREEPY ... I DIDN’T WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN’
possibly as far as Washington state and Wyoming.
Two years after appearing on The Dating Game, where he was described as a “successful photographer” whose interests included skydiving and motorcycling, his murder spree finally caught up with him.
He was sentenced to death for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1980. Alcala appealed his conviction twice unsuccessfully. Instead, he was sentenced to death three times for the same murder.
While the true scale of his murder spree isn’t known, investigators believe it could be over 130 victims. In a storage unit, they found more than 100 photos of individuals they believe could be victims.
Before his death in July of this year, aged 77, in the California State Prison, he still refused to disclose the extent of his murderous spree.