Rodney Alcala

Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor; August 23, 1943 – July 24, 2021) was an American serial killer and sex offender who died of natural causes while on death row in California. He was sentenced to death for five murders committed in the state between 1977 and 1979, and received an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to two homicides committed in New York State in 1971 and 1977.[2] While he has been conclusively linked to eight murders, Alcala's true number of victims remains unknown and could be much higher – authorities believe the actual number is as high as 130. Alcala compiled a collection of more than 1,000 photographs of women, teenage girls and boys, many in sexually explicit poses. In 2016 he was charged with the 1977 murder of a woman identified in one of his photos.[4] Alcala is known to have assaulted one other photographic subject, and police have speculated that others could be rape or murder victims as well. Prosecutors have said that Alcala "toyed" with his victims, strangling them until they lost consciousness, then waiting until they revived, sometimes repeating this process several times before finally killing them.[5][6] One police detective described Alcala as "a killing machine,"[7] and others have compared him to Ted Bundy.[8] Alcala is often referred to as the Dating Game Killer because of his 1978 appearance on the television show The Dating Game in the midst of his murder spree.