A serial killer on death row in California died of natural causes at the age of 77 on Saturday morning, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Rodney James Alcala, known as “The Dating Game Killer” after appearing on “The Dating Game” TV show in 1978, has been suspected of or linked to dozens of murders in California, Washington, New York, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Arizona.
He was initially arrested and sentenced to death in 1980 for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979. The California Supreme Court overturned that sentence in 1984, but Alcala was sentenced to death again in 1986 after a second trial. Then, in 2003, a federal appeals court again quashed his sentence, giving him another trial.
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At that time, Alcala’s DNA matched the murders of four other women and he was convicted of five counts of first degree murder in 2010.
“You’re talking about a guy hunting in Southern California for people to kill because he likes it,” Matt Murphy, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said at the trial.
Rodney James Alcala, a serial killer who appeared on “The Dating Game” television show in 1978, died of natural causes at the age of 77 on Saturday morning, prison officials said. ((AP Photo / David Handschuh, Pool, File))
Alcala also pleaded guilty in 2013 to the murder of two women in New York City in the 1970s, for which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Wyoming prosecutors also indicted Alcala in 2016 for the 1978 murder of Christine Ruth Thornton, 28, then six months pregnant.
Alcala is suspected of up to 130 murders.
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There are more than 700 men and women on death row in California, but the state has not executed anyone since 2006 and California Governor Gavin Newsom has imposed a moratorium on sentencing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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