Killers On TV
USA: BACHELOR NUMBER ONE
His date on the show refused to go out with him
When Rodney Alcala popped up on a popular dating show in 1978, he’d already murdered at least two women.
Despite a 1972 conviction for raping an 8-year-old girl, he won a spot as Bachelor Number One on
The Dating Game.
The host introduced him as a ‘successful photographer’.
What viewers didn’t know was Alcala’s favourite subject was photographing his own murder victims.
He’d choke and batter women, put them in grotesque poses.
In late 1979, he was arrested for the murder of Robin Samsoe, 12. Her friends told police he’d approached them on the beach, asking to take their photo.
Her body was found 12 days on in the LA foothills.
Alcala was then convicted and sentenced to death in 1980 for Robin’s murder.
His conviction was overturned twice.
But over the decades, detectives linked him to other murders in
Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco and New Hampshire. And, in 2010, he was sentenced to
death again for murdering Robin and four women between 1977-1979. However, police fear his body count is much higher... They released over 100 of Alcala’s photos of unidentified women, hoping to track down more victims. One of those was Christine Thornton, killed in 1977, and Alcala has now been charged with her murder. On The Dating Game – similar to the UK’S Blind Date – charming Alcala won a date with ‘ bachelorette’ Cheryl Bradshaw. But she later refused to go out with him because she found him creepy. Perhaps she had a lucky escape...