Rodney Alcala, one of America’s serial killers, was abandoned by his father at an early age. He started developing antisocial personality disorder. This caused him to be discharged from the army. Rodney was first convicted for raping and battering 8 year old Tammy Shapiro in 1968. He was sentenced to 1 year to life but got out in 35 months. In adulthood, Rodney became a charmer. He was very handsome and knew how to get women to smile. Rodney was a photographer and used his skills to take pictures of women. He would convinced some of the females that he was in a competition in a magazine and that he needed a womans picture.
After Rodney was released, nobody heard from him until 1979. June 20, a girl named Robin Samsoe went missing. Turns out Rodney has been taking pictures of both Robin and her friend Bridget earlier that day at the beach. Robin was then found dead and reported to her mother. Her mother said that at first they didn’t let her see Robins face and she was angry but then she was told that it took the 3 days to identify her because of how bad the damage was.
The case for Robin was being solved and Rodney was not convicted. He then found a girlfriend, Beth Kellaher. In the documentary she states that they were both photographers and that he had a lot of pictures of females from ages from 12-30 years old. She didn’t think anything of it because he was a photographer.
A year after Robin’s death, the search for her killer continued. The police found a storage locker where Rodney kept his pictures and found the pictures of Robin that he denied taking early in the investigation. They also found a pouch filled with earrings in the storage locker and Robin’s mother recognized hers. Rodney was then convicted.
The state of California then decided that Rodney did not get a fair trial. With time, technology advanced coming out with DNA sampling and fingerprinting. Rodney Alcala was then linked to 3 other unsolved murders of 18 year old Jill Barkum, 27 year old Georgia Wicksted and 32 year old Charlotte Lamb, who were killed 1977. These women were all raped battered and killed.
31 years after Robin Samsoes trial, Rodney went on trial again, as his own lawyer. He played the song “Alice’s Restaurant,” for the judge. The song’s title may not scare you but once you listen to it you will realize what horror this brought to the judge. Rodney was then sentenced to death. With the photos taken and the investigators looking through Rodney’s photos he was linked to four other murder victims. Rodney’s murder victims were tortured and were usually they were women or young boys.
After Rodney was released, nobody heard from him until 1979. June 20, a girl named Robin Samsoe went missing. Turns out Rodney has been taking pictures of both Robin and her friend Bridget earlier that day at the beach. Robin was then found dead and reported to her mother. Her mother said that at first they didn’t let her see Robins face and she was angry but then she was told that it took the 3 days to identify her because of how bad the damage was.
The case for Robin was being solved and Rodney was not convicted. He then found a girlfriend, Beth Kellaher. In the documentary she states that they were both photographers and that he had a lot of pictures of females from ages from 12-30 years old. She didn’t think anything of it because he was a photographer.
A year after Robin’s death, the search for her killer continued. The police found a storage locker where Rodney kept his pictures and found the pictures of Robin that he denied taking early in the investigation. They also found a pouch filled with earrings in the storage locker and Robin’s mother recognized hers. Rodney was then convicted.
The state of California then decided that Rodney did not get a fair trial. With time, technology advanced coming out with DNA sampling and fingerprinting. Rodney Alcala was then linked to 3 other unsolved murders of 18 year old Jill Barkum, 27 year old Georgia Wicksted and 32 year old Charlotte Lamb, who were killed 1977. These women were all raped battered and killed.
31 years after Robin Samsoes trial, Rodney went on trial again, as his own lawyer. He played the song “Alice’s Restaurant,” for the judge. The song’s title may not scare you but once you listen to it you will realize what horror this brought to the judge. Rodney was then sentenced to death. With the photos taken and the investigators looking through Rodney’s photos he was linked to four other murder victims. Rodney’s murder victims were tortured and were usually they were women or young boys.
