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Orange County prosecutors have released over one hundred photographs taken in the Los Angeles area in the late 1970's by serial killer Rodney Alcala. They are making these images public in the hopes that viewers will either recognise themselves in the photos and let police know they are alive, or recognise someone who has disappeared or died under unusual circumstances.

Alcala, a graduate of UCLA School of Fine Arts and former film student of Roman Polanski has now been definitively tied to five violent sex murders.

The group of photographs, traced to a Seattle locker via a key in Alcala's possessions, seem to form a remarkable and haunting document of the place and time period as viewed through the eyes of a viscious psychopath and sexual predator. If you can identify any of these people, please contact Huntington Beach police detective Patrick Ellis at 714-375-5066 or email at pellis@hbpd.org.

The more I learn about Alcala, the more I put him in the context of Dave McGowan's "Laurel Canyon" LA. (Updating James Elroy's LA.)

Evil under the sun.

A convicted serial killer now awaiting sentencing once did time as Bachelor No. 1 on "The Dating Game," reports revealed.

Rodney Alcala, 66, who in February was found guilty of the murders of four women and a child in the late 1970s, appeared on the lighthearted game show in 1978 -- and won.

"He was creepy. Definitely creepy," fellow contestant Jed Mills, who sat next to Alcala on the show, told CNN.

Alcala already had been convicted for the 1968 rape of an 8-year-old girl, according to CNN, but that didn't stop him from making an impression on the female participant, Cheryl Bradshaw.

"We're going to have a great time together, Cheryl," he says with a grin.

Host Jim Lange introduces Alcala as "a successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed. Between takes,you might find him skydiving or motor-cycling."

There was something immediately off-putting about Alcala, Mills told CNN. While he was all charm and smiles on stage, he showed a more sinister side while in the green room with the other male contestants.

"He was quiet, but at the same time he would interrupt and impose when he felt like it," Mills said. "And he was very obnoxious and creepy -- he became very unlikable and rude and imposing as though he was trying to intimidate.

"I wound up not only not liking this guy ... not wanting to be near him ... he got creepier and more negative. He was a standout creepy guy in my life."

Though Alcala won the date with Bradshaw, she ultimately refused to go out with him, according to reports.

These photos are very disturbing on several levels. For the obvious reason of course, Then there's the fact that they were taken long enough ago, that many of the subjects could be dead by now, for other reasons. Then there's the realization that no matter how healthy and wonderful lives they might have had, these times are dead for them, their past youth is no doubt gone, and whatever you see blossoming in these photos has long since died.

I'm not quite sure how to verbalize any of this. It's sad, frightening, and poignant all at the same time. I had the disconcerting notion that I was going to see someone I knew in them.

Everybody in that clip of The Dating Game creeped me out. Ugh.

I'm sure #3 is Claudia Adkins though I've looked long and hard and can't find that particular scene.

Nordic wrote:Then there's the fact that they were taken long enough ago, that many of the subjects could be dead by now, for other reasons. Then there's the realization that no matter how healthy and wonderful lives they might have had, these times are dead for them, their past youth is no doubt gone, and whatever you see blossoming in these photos has long since died.

Wow, Nordic, you just verbalized beautifully what I feel when watching old photos of anonymous, normal, everyday people. I suppose there's always a comforting side to the fact that there has been an "everyday" some other time, too, but I too feel a weird sense of dread and get a very acute sense of my own mortality and finiteness. Be as it may, it's great to hear other people have similar feelings.

As for the OT, this is creepy, but again, interesting... Again I remember why I'll always come back to RI.

I looked through them fearing that I might see *myself*...
When I was fourteen I was on the beach in Florida ... I was suntanning off by myself (of course, I wouldn't be anywhere near my Dad at that age) ...and a man asked me if he could take my photo.
I've never forgotten that, and when I started seeing the beach photos my heart started racing. I wasn't 14 in the seventies.. it was the eighties .. but still. Creeeeeepy.

You know what I notice with cold blooded guys like that? They have a certain creepy emptiness to their eyes. Almost like sharks eyes. Watching that old video, all I saw were emotionless black pits for eyes.

Peregrine wrote:You know what I notice with cold blooded guys like that? They have a certain creepy emptiness to their eyes. Almost like sharks eyes. Watching that old video, all I saw were emotionless black pits for eyes.

There is something wrong with his eyes, isn't there? They're sort of glittery, too alert and watchful, as though with excitement, but not in an infectious or attractive way, more like those of a bird of prey. It's very hard to describe without using cliches, but I'm sure many of us have come across eyes like that many times before, and felt an urge to hide or flee. Strangely, there are some people who are irresistibly attracted by that very quality.

AlicetheKurious wrote:

Peregrine wrote:You know what I notice with cold blooded guys like that? They have a certain creepy emptiness to their eyes. Almost like sharks eyes. Watching that old video, all I saw were emotionless black pits for eyes.

There is something wrong with his eyes, isn't there? They're sort of glittery, too alert and watchful, as though with excitement, but not in an infectious or attractive way, more like those of a bird of prey. It's very hard to describe without using cliches, but I'm sure many of us have come across eyes like that many times before, and felt an urge to hide or flee. Strangely, there are some people who are irresistibly attracted by that very quality.

That exactly how people who encounter psychopathic individuals define their eyes. See http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-01/51558272.jpg for a more recent photo of Alcala (sorry I have to link rather than post the pic). They possess a predatory and challenging gaze that can also be hypnotic, which is one reason why people are attracted. And, like moths to a flame, they also draw those whose defenses are down, or who don't have well honed self preservation skills.

I remember hating 'The Dating Game' (and its equally vapid and obnoxious spin-off 'The Newlywed Game') and this was a reminder why. (What's with the contestant Cheryl Bradshaw? Since her sick game was so similar to Alcala's, I wondered why she didn't go out with him. But she appears to be deeply disordered herself; at least a narcissist and exhibitionist; in my personal experience, narcissists don't like or trust psychopaths--and vice versa.)

challenging

Yes, that's a great thing to point out. As a guy, when I run into other guys like this, they're always challenging in their attitude, like a wolf that might constantly be challenging your dominance even when your back is turned. A guy you cannot trust one bit.

But yes, some women seem to just LOVE these guys. I guess it's the "bad boy" thing.

I got about half way through the photos. Those of children especially gave me the chills. I'm not looking at any more, they're too disturbing.

But, I can understand how women (and others) could be conned by him because one watching him and not knowing he's a killer might be viewing a slightly different picture. While they can come across as charismatic, charming bad boys, someone who's psychopathic can also pose as caring and compassionate. They're often artful, convincing, and fluent in the language of deception. Many so-called experts are fooled. (Relationships between people are so complicated and baffling. Of course, and generally not isolated, but part of a multi-dimensional continuum. Such is life.)

An aside....'The Dating Game' & 'The Gong Show' were created and produced by Chuck Berris, who claimed, in his book "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind", that he was recruited by the CIA as an assassin. It was made into a film with George Clooney and Sam Rockwell. I'm open to just about anything being possible, but found it hard to believe.........

edited to add: Berris did succeed as an assassin of good taste on tv; at least what was left, which wasn't much.

Serial killer Rodney Alcala sentenced to death
March 30, 2010 | 11:13 am

An Orange County judge on Tuesday sentenced serial killer Rodney Alcala to death for five killings in the 1970s, marking yet another turn in a three-decade-long legal drama.

Judge Francisco Briseno's decision came several weeks after a jury recommended the death penalty for Alcala after convicting him on charges of slaying four women and a teenage girl.

Briseno said photos of the women taken by Alcala show he had "sadistic sexual motives" and that "some of the victims were posed after death." The judge said Alcala had an "abnormal interest in young girls."

It was the third time that Alcala, 66, had been convicted for the murder of Robin Samsoe, 12, last seen riding her bike to ballet class in June 1979. He had been condemned to death both times, but the convictions were overturned. He has been in custody since his 1979 arrest.

Alcala, 66, had been convicted for the murder of Robin Samsoe, 12, last seen riding her bike to ballet class in June 1979.

Well that's one case where I can come down on the side of capital punishment. Should have happened sooner.