Dating Game Killer Sentenced To 25 Years In New York


The “Dating Game Killer,” Rodney Alcala, has been sentenced in New York to an additional 25 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing two women in the state in the 1970s.

Alcala is already serving time in California for the 1970s murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl, but he was transferred to New York to stand trial there.

NBC Los Angeles reports that Alcala planned to plead guilty, and told the press so last month, saying that he wanted to get back to California to appeal his death penalty conviction. He also complained about his jailers in New York, saying that they did not give him access to a laptop computer and legal records.

Alcala was dubbed the “Dating Game Killer” after he appeared on the TV show The Dating Game in 1978. The man also represented himself at trial and showed a clip of him on the TV show as part of his defense.

The serial killer was eyed as a suspect in both New York deaths for several years and a detective traveled to California to speak with him in 2005.

Yahoo! News notes that Judge Bonnie Wittner held back tears as she sentenced the so-called Dating Game Killer, describing his crimes as “an inexplicably brutal, horrible act.” She also called Alcala’s the most gruesome case she had dealt with so far during 30 years on the bench.

Authorities say that Alcala lured his victims by offering to take their pictures, because he was a professional photographer. Dozens of members of the New York victims’ families appeared in court for the sentencing hearing. Katie Stigell, the sister of Cornelia Crilley, stated, “You broke my parents’ heart. They never really recovered. It saddens me to think that that pretty smile of hers, you were the last one to see it.”

Ellen Hover’s death was also hard on her family. Her brother turned to drugs and eventually committed suicide, while her mother became addicted to alcohol, which eventually killed her as well.

Following his conviction, Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer, will be transported back to death row in California. Should he win his appeal to overturn his conviction there, he will be sent back to New York to serve his time there, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

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