'Dating Game Killer,' Who Disposed Of 1 Victim In The HV, Dies

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — The so-called "Dating Game Killer," who disposed of the body one of his victims in Westchester County, died Saturday morning at the age of 77.

Rodney Alcala, who became known as the "Dating Game Killer" because of an appearance on the game show in 1978, was sentenced to death row in California for murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1980.

That judgment was reversed in 1984 by the California Supreme Court and Alcala was granted a new trial, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 1986, Alcala was sentenced to death a second time for Samsoe’s murder; however, a federal appeals court in 2003 overturned the sentence, and Alcala was given a new trial. His DNA matched evidence in other murders and Orange County prosecutors indicted Alcala for the murders of four other women.

In 2010, an Orange County jury convicted Alcala of five counts of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death for the killing of Samsoe as well as the 1977 deaths of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted; the 1978 death of 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb, and the 1979 death of 21-year-old Jill Parenteau.

His New York victims were Trans World Airlines flight attendant Cornelia M. Crilley and Ellen Jane Hover, an aspiring orchestra conductor. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to their murders.

Hover disappeared in 1977 and her skeletal remains were found 11 months later on the Rockefeller Estate in Sleepy Hollow, the OC Register reported.

Alcala died of natural causes at a hospital near Corcoran State Prison.