Photo: Warner Bros Discovery (2)
Rodney Alcala, infamously known as “The Dating Game Killer,” is confirmed to have killed at least seven women and girls across three states. However, two girls managed to escape his deadly grasp. Tali Shapiro, aged 8, and Morgan Rowan, aged 16, survived brutal attacks by Alcala — incidents that took place a decade before his chilling appearance on the hit TV show The Dating Game in 1978, According to ABC News,
Alcala, who was suspected of having murdered as many as 130 victims during the 1960s and 1970s, was eventually caught and convicted after a series of heinous crimes. In 1979, he was arrested for the murder of 8-year-old Robin Samsoe. By 1980, he was convicted in California for the slaying of Samsoe, along with those of Jill Barcomb, 18; Jill Parenteau, 21; Georgia Wixted, 27; and Charlotte Lamb, 32. He was also found guilty of the murders of Cornelia Michael Crilley, 23, and Ellen Hover, 23, in New York.
Despite his convictions, Alcala’s death sentence was delayed for years, and he died of natural causes in July 2021 while awaiting execution. His story has become notorious, partly due to his unsettling appearance on The Dating Game, where he was a contestant on the popular TV game show. The case of his crimes, combined with his bizarre TV appearance, is now the subject of Netflix’s new movie Woman of the Hour, which is directed by and stars Anna Kendrick.
Alcala’s reign of terror spanned over a decade, and though his life was marked by brutality, the survival of victims like Tali Shapiro and Morgan Rowan serves as a testament to the resilience of those who came face-to-face with one of the most infamous killers in modern history.
