48 Hours - Rodney Alcala: The Dating Game Killer

A report on the criminal justice system’s 50-year pursuit of serial killer Rodney James Alcala. From his 1968 abduction, rape and attempted murder of 8-year old Tali Shapiro in Los Angeles; to his 2010 conviction -- with the help of advances in DNA technology -- for the kidnapping, rape and murder of five California women; and to the subsequent discovery of other murders attributed to Alcala in New York and Wyoming. “48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 11/9/2024. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

Duration: 42m
Broadcast on: 14 Nov 2024
Audio Format: other

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] I was doing my patrols. We just started our shift that day. And I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and I received a call, a beige-colored car with no license plates following this little girl. In Los Angeles, in 1968, eight-year-old Talley Shapiro was walking to school when a car pulled up alongside her. A good Samaritan, a witness, sees a little girl, a little eight-year-old, Talley get in the car. He thinks it's suspicious, follows him, and puts a call into LAPD. Former Los Angeles police officer, Chris Camacho, reached the location and knocked on the door. And I said, police officer, open the door. I need to talk to you. This mail appeared at the door. I will always remember that face at that door. Very evil face. And he says, I'm in the shower. I got to get dressed. And I told him, OK. You got 10 seconds. Finally, I kicked the door in. The image will be with me forever. We could see in the kitchen that there was a body on the floor. A lot of blood. They say a picture says 1,000 words in that image of those little white Mary Jane's on that floor with that metal bar that he used to strangle her with. And that puddle of blood, it just looks like too much blood to come out of it. A tiny little lady rolled like that. There was no breathing. We all thought she was dead. Camacho began frantically searching the house for her attacker. Moments later, he walked back into the kitchen and witnessed a miracle. She was gagging and trying to breathe. And I thought, one for the good guys. She's going to make it. Clinging to life, Tally was rushed to the hospital. And it had not been for that police officer. Tally Shapiro would have died on Ronnie Alcala's kitchen floor. We started searching the residence. There was a lot of photograph equipment. And all of us were amazed at the amount of photographs that he had there of young girls, very young girls. We found a lot of ID, picture ID of a Rodney Alcala.

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