Rodney Alcala: Inside the life of serial dating game killer featured in Netflix’s Woman of the Hour

RODNEY Alcala was a terrifying serial murderer known as the Dating Game Killer, who is thought to have killed more than eight women. 

He is featured in Netflix’s Woman of the Hour, which dramatises Cheryl Bradshaw's brush-in with the killer on a dating show.

The murderer committed many heinous crimes while he was at large, both in the state of California and New York. 

But signs that Rodney was dangerous began to emerge when he was young.

Troubled beginnings 

Rodney was born on August 23, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas, to a Mexican American couple named Raul and Anna. 

His father Raul left the family when Rodney was young, so Anna decided to move her children to California. 

Rodney was reportedly popular at school and was academically gifted, with an estimated IQ of 135 (a score that would have landed him a spot in Mensa). 

At age 17, he joined the United States Army as a paratrooper, though the darker aspects of Rodney’s personality soon began to emerge. 

His commanding officer described him as manipulative and Rodney was disciplined several times for harassing women. 

After a nervous breakdown, Rodney fled from the army and hiked to his mother’s house in an incident that saw him diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. 

He was discharged from the army and decided to study film at UCLA and NYU under Roman Polanski. 

Heinous crimes

Rodney’s criminal activities began before his move to New York, as left an eight-year-old girl in a coma after beating her with a steel bar. 

His move to New York was motivated by a need to escape the authorities, so he adopted the name “John Berger” and, later, “John Burger” when he moved. 

Once in New York, he worked in an office with Richard Cottingham who was nicknamed the Times Square Ripper. 

Neither Richard nor Rodney have claimed to be aware of the other. 

Shortly after arriving in New York, Rodney murdered flight attendant Cornelia Crilley with a pair of her nylon stockings. 

That murder went unsolved until 2011. 

First Trial 

Rodney was identified by two children, in 1971, who saw a picture of him while they were at an art camp. 

That was enough evidence to extradite Rodney to California, where he could stand trial. 

However, Tali Shapiro’s parents did not want their daughter to appear in court which made prosecuting the future Dating Game Killer difficult. 

He was charged and convicted of child molestation, which saw him be sentenced to three years. 

After 17 months in prison, he was granted parole though he assaulted a 13 year-old-girl and soon spent two more years in jail.

“John Berger” returns to NYC

Unusually, Rodney was allowed to return to New York City in 1977, where he began to go by John Berger again. 

He murdered 23-year-old Jane Hover, who was the goddaughter of Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin. 

Her body was found near a site where a model said “John Berger” had photographed her. 

Rodney soon returned to Los Angeles, where he began to work as a typesetter at the Los Angeles Times. 

During this time, he convinced hundreds of young people that he had connections with high flyers in the fashion industry. 

He took photos of the teenage boys and girls naked, claiming the pictures were for his “portfolio”.

Since Rodney's conviction years later, police forces are concerned that many of the people featured in the pictures are victims of cold cases.

The Dating Game Killer

Rodney appeared on the TV game show The Dating Game in 1978 and the Netflix film Woman of the Hour is based on this terrifying incident.

Many of the contestants found Rodney to be strange and the woman who was matched up with him, Cheryl Bradshaw, refused to go on a date with him. 

He made strange comments throughout the show, but his response to "What's your best time?" was his most chilling.

Rodney replied: "The best time is at night, night time. Because that's the only time there is."

When asked about why he disliked morning and afternoon, he gave an equally sinister answer: "Well, they're ok, but night time is when it really gets good, then you're really ready."

He also made several sexual innuendos during the show, including a bizarre joke about bananas.

Rodney said that he is "called the banana" and then invited the contestants to "peel me".

Eventually, Cheryl felt his behaviour had become too strange for her to continue taking part in the show.

She told one of the show's producers: "There’s weird vibes that are coming off of him.

"He’s very strange.

"I am not comfortable.

"Is that going to be a problem?"

When asked about Cheryl choosing not to date him, Rodney said: "She played me; she played hard to get".

Rodney took the rejection personally and killed at least three people after his appearance on the show. 

Caught at last

Rodney continued to kill women across the state of California, after his appearance on The Dating Game. 

One murder, that of a 12-year-old girl named Robin Christine Samsoe, however, led to Rodney finally getting caught. 

Robin and her friends had been approached by Rodney, as he asked to take their picture, which meant they could draw a picture of the killer for the police. 

Rodney’s parole officer recognized him and a police search of his mother’s house led them to a storage locker, thanks to a receipt he had left there.

The storage locker in Seattle contained 31-year-old Charlotte Lee Lamb’s earrings, which allowed police to build a case that Rodney was a serial murderer. 

Bizarre court appearance

Rodney was sentenced to death for his crimes in June 1980, though the verdict was overturned since the jury was improperly informed of his sex crimes. 

An increasing amount of evidence began to surface, during this time, that linked Rodney to more sex crimes. 

His court appearances became as bizarre as Ted Bundy’s. 

Rodney chose to act as his own attorney at one of his trials, which saw him take on a new persona. 

While acting as the attorney, he would lower his voice and address himself as Mr Alcala. 

Rodney even claimed that Charlotte Lee Lamb’s earrings were actually his own and that he had worn them on The Dating Game Show. 

His competitor on the show, an actor named Jed Mills, disputed this by saying that he would have noticed Rodney wearing earrings since that was unusual in the 1970s. 

The prosecutor, Matt Murphy, said that Rodney had been "hunting through California, looking for people to kill because he enjoys it."

The trial dragged on but Rodney was sentenced to death for a third time in 2010. 

Death 

Rodney was extradited to New York City, where there is no death penalty so 25 years were added to his sentence. 

The killer eventually died from natural causes on July 24, 2021, in California. 

It was reported that he was being housed in a prison in Corcoran so he could receive 24-hour medical care but the reasons for this have not been disclosed.

Coincidentally, he died on the anniversary of his apprehension years earlier in 1979. 

Woman of the Hour

Netflix’s Woman of the Hour focuses on Rodney’s appearance on The Dating Game and Cheryl Bradshaw’s narrow escape from the killer. 

Anna Kendrick, known for her roles in Twilight, plays Cheryl, and Danny Zovatto, known for roles in It Follows and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, plays Rodney. 

The film is available on Netflix for streaming on October 18.