Woman of the Hour, directed by Anna Kendrick, brings to the screen the chilling story of Rodney Alcala, infamously known as the “Dating Game Killer.”
Alcala made a public appearance on a 1978 episode of a Blind Date-style television show, two years before being convicted of the brutal murder of a 12-year-old girl.
While Alcala was officially convicted of eight murders, it is believed that his actual number of victims could exceed 100.
Rodney Alcala’s horrifying spree stretched from New York to California and Wyoming between 1971 and 1979.
Alcala often posed as a professional photographer, using charm and compliments to lure unsuspecting women into letting him take their pictures, which led to their untimely deaths.
In 1980, Alcala was sentenced to death for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in California.
However, his death sentence was overturned twice—first by the California Supreme Court, which led to a retrial in 1986 where he again received the death penalty.
This, too, was overturned in 2003, as new forensic evidence began linking him to additional murders.
A pivotal moment came in 2010, when a fresh trial resulted in Alcala being found guilty of not only Samsoe’s murder but also those of four other women, aged between 18 and 32, who were killed between 1977 and 1979.
While imprisoned, Alcala authored a book titled You, the Jury, claiming his innocence, though this plea was ignored as his criminal profile grew darker.
In 2012, Alcala was extradited to New York, where he pleaded guilty to two more murders from 1971 and 1977. The court sentenced him to 25 years to life.
His grim legacy extended further when, in 2016, he was charged with the 1977 murder of Christine Ruth Thornton, a woman identified from one of his chilling photographs.
Rodney Alcala died in 2021 of natural causes at age 77, in a hospital near Corcoran state prison in California.
Though his life ended, the dark shadow of his crimes continues to haunt the memories of his countless victims and their families.
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