Rodney Alcala Blog

California Crime Spree As we know, Rodney Alcala committed several different crimes in three states going unnoticed. But, he committed the most murders in California which is known as his "California Crime Spree" where he killed over 100 women/people. 

    The dating game was a show where one bachelorette would ask 3 eligible bachelors a series of questions before she would choose whether or not to go on a date with any one of them. On set there would be a wall blocking the bachelorette from seeing the 3 men until the date has been picked. Just to make sure she wouldn’t pick based on looks.  Though “The Dating Game”  never did any background checks. So when Alcala appeared on the show, he had already  murdered 5 women and had raped and attempted to murder 8 year old Tali Shapiro, was already on the most wanted list and had already served 34 months in prison for child molestation and than spent 2 and half years in prison for giving drugs to a 13 year old girl. He was later known as the "Dating Game Killer". At the end of the game the bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw, had picked Alcala to go on a date with her. They were both supposed to go and get tennis lessons as a part of the first date, then they woul...

    When Rodney was on the run after the assault and attempted murder of Tali Shapiro he fled to New York City and enrolled into New York University (NYU) using the name John Berger. Cornelia Crilley a flight attendant was found raped and strangled in her manhattan apartment in 1971. It is believed that Crilley had met Alcala as she moved into her new apartment and she accepted his help moving some furniture into her home. Her case had remained unsolved until 2011.

Ellen Hoover's Story   In 2012, Rodney Alcala was sent back to New York after being indicted for the 1977 murder of the 23 year old musician, Ellen Hoover.   " Ellen was a very dear college friend. We roomed together for some time. …She never confused what she had with who she was." said Anita Feinberg Ellen Hoover came from a very wealthy family and her father owned a famous Hollywood Night Club. When she went missing in NYC after a few days,  her family was so prominient in life that her missing person story became front page on the news. A detective was hired andf they recieved many calls and clues which led them to her apartment.  An especially important clue in her apartment being that she had a meeting with "John Berger" on her calendar marked off the day she went missing. "John Berger" being the name rodney alcala claimed when he escaped to New York.  Ellen Hoover's body wasn't found until a year later, buried on the grounds of Phelps Me...

This story starts in 1968 when a motorist named Donald Haines called the police after witnessing an innocent Tali Shapiro being lured into a strange mans apartment. Witnesses also told authorities that they saw Alcala following the 8 year old girl in his beige colored car with no license plate then she got into the car. What wasn't witnessed was the part where Alcala kidnapped, beat, and raped her nearly to death.  When Shapiro was found by the authorities she was in a pool of her own blood and was in a coma for 32 days. 

Entire Criminal History After Rodney Alcala fled California, he had his first major assault. In 1968, the year he graduated from UCLA, Rodney met a young girl named Tali Shapiro. Long story short, Alcala beat her so badly that when the police found her alone, she was in a pool of her own blood with her heart barley beating. In 1969, Alcala got put on Californias most wanted crime list after gathering enough evidence to conclude that Rodney was their guy.  After fleeing California, he ran to NYC and enrolled in NYU and created the fake name of "John Berger". While attending NYU and completely dodging the Shapiro case, Alcala met a flight attendant named Cornelia Crilley. She was found in her apartment dead in 1971, raped and beaten. After her murder, Rodney wasn't even a suspect. In 2010 ,  Orange County jury convicted Alcala of five counts of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death for the killing of Samsoe as well as the 1977 deaths of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb ...