48 Hours Mystery: The Killing Game

my patrols we just started our shift that day and I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and it received a call a beige color car with no license plates following this little girl Tolly Shapiro was an 8 year old little girl walking to school back in 1968 Good Samaritan a witness sees a little girl the little 8 year old tally get in the car thinks it's suspicious follows him and puts a call in to LAPD I went to that location and I started naki and I said police officer open the do I need to talk to you this male appeared at the door I will always remember that face at that door very evil face he said I'm in the shower I got to get dressed and I told him ok you got 10 seconds open this door I want to talk to you 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 said picture says a thousand words in that image those little white Mary Jane's on that floor with that metal bar that he used to strangle it with and that puddle of blood it just looks like too much blood to come out of it a tiny little eight-year-old like that we determined that she was dead 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 lot of ID pitcher idea of a Rodney Alcala he was a student at UCLA that's one of the first times he ever turned up on the radar for law enforcement my name is Matt Murphy I'm a deputy da for the Orange County DA's office homicide unit Rodney Alcala managed to give them the slip as things would have it we were always 15 minutes behind him all the emphasis went on where is where to go and we kept coming up empty all outward appearances right Alcoa was a handsome please welcome Rodney Alcala charming I'm called the banana and smart young man that wouldn't hurt a fly what no Polly Shapiro was only the very beginning of a long series of murders and assaults committed by rowdy alcoholic rowdy alcohol is the devil and he had to be stopped the killing tonight's 48 hours of history the Mystery Continues in 90 seconds tonight we bring you the story of Rodney Alcala which sadly is the last story reported by the late Harold Dow Harold was a 48 hours correspondent for 22 years as long as 48 hours has been on television his passion and his generous spirit are deeply woven into the fabric of this broadcast I'm Jay Dow a correspondent for W CBS in New York and a contributing correspondent for CBS News Harold was my uncle my friend and my colleague he had spent more than a year working on this story and was just finishing it when he died suddenly last month he was determined to bring this intricate tale to our viewers so tonight for the last time 48 hours presents Harold Dao you tell that she had been raped there was no breathing I I thought she was dead we all thought she was dead Los Angeles police officer Chris Camacho found eight year old Tali Shapiro battered and bleeding her throat constricted by a ten pound steel bar on that September morning in 1968 so I grabbed at all and I picked up the edge of the bar and I laid it off to the side Camacho then left tally side to continue searching the house for her attacker moments later when he walked back into the kitchen he witnessed a miracle she was gagging and trying to breathe and I thought one for the good guys she's gonna make it clinging to life Talley was rushed to the hospital it hadn't not been for that police officer Tolly Shapiro would have died on rondell Collins kitchen floor the suspect 25 year old UCLA graduate Rodney Alcala had slipped through the officers fingers when I kicked in the front door and the old officers and came running around to assist me and the suspect went out the back door but to Camacho all that mattered was saving tally when I was in Vietnam we were in combat I was trying to save this guy and then do it he died so would tele it was kind of like God gave me a second chance to save someone soon after tally healed her parents moved her out of the country by fund that they had moved to Mexico that they did not want to raise the daughter and the society any longer and that was the last I heard of them the investigation was now in the hands of detectives with Alcala in the wind detective Steve Hodel was grasping at thin air all kinds of rumors he'd gone to Mexico he'd gone to Canada gone to Europe but we kept coming up empty back then you know we didn't have a lot of the friends that you have today complicating matters it seemed no one was willing to believe the gifted student could be responsible for such a heinous crime he was a snake charmer I went and talked to his professor at UCLA he says he wouldn't harm a fly he truly believed that you know and a lot of people did and we went to the FBI you know we said this guy is gonna commit other crimes he's not going to stop in 1969 the FBI put Rodney Alcala on its most-wanted list we've got to find this guy we've got to get him off the streets we've got to bring him to justice nearly two years later came the break they had been waiting for Orange County deputy district attorney Matt Murphy two girls went to their local post office they looked and there was Rodney I'll call his photo on the FBI ten most wanted list and they looked up and said oh my gosh that's mr. burden the girls knew Alcala as John burger their counselor at an all-girl summer camp New Hampshire they report it to the Dean because the authorities they arrest him take him into custody I get a phone call from the FBI saying we've got your man in custody he's a ready to be picked up in fact Rodney Alcala had been hiding in plain sight for the last three years why he'll call after raping and almost killing Callie Shapiro he fled to New York he made friends he charmed people he got into NYU film school and he was living the life kind of the Mahim Ian lifestyle of a film student in the in the early 70s in August 1971 with Alcala finally in custody detective Hodel had a chance to speak to him well I asked him so tell me about the Tali Shapiro incident basically says oh I want to forget all about that I don't want to talk about things that brought al Khalid in as if it was a different person but with Tali living abroad and unavailable for trial prosecutors had no choice but to enter into a plea agreement part of the problem with the prosecution back then is that Tali Shapiro family had relocated down to Mexico so I think that created some logistical problems for the DA back then in 1972 Rodney Alcala pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of child molestation but he ultimately was convicted of child wast he received one year to life back in the old indeterminate sentencing laws one year to life and the parole board let him go after thirty four months after what he did to shell telly Sapiro indeterminate sentencing meant a parole board not a judge would determine how much time an inmate actually spent in prison the emphasis was on rehabilitation and he was able to charm the psychiatrist just like he charmed his victims I mean this guy should have never been released based on on the crime itself but less than three years later Rodney Alcala was a free man again III was flabbergasted to say to Lisa it just amazed me and alcala had no trouble charming his way back into the swing of things he was hired by the Los Angeles Times to work as a typesetter he took photos at weddings and he was a registered sex offender during all of that and nobody ever checked we understand that while kala was actually a guest on the dating game that's right please welcome Rodney Alcala and he was chosen that's right well I like bananas but the decision to release Rodney Alcala would have catastrophic consequences his thrill is is seeking his prey capturing torturing he's a sadist of the highest order what he learned in prison was I'm not going to let my victims live it was the spring of 1979 in Southern California and the disco era was in full swing but in Huntington Beach 12 year old Robin Sam so enjoyed far simpler pleasures we just live to tough fun Bridget Wilfred was Robins best friend everybody could be complaining about being bored and me and Robin would find ourselves doing cartwheels and back walkovers the other love of Robins life was her mom Marianne she was probably the most loving child a mother could have everything she did she did to please me I loved her Warren and she was the little sister older brothers Robert and Tim doted on she loved ballet she loved dancing she loved gymnastics she was the glue to the family she was my best friend On June 20th 1979 Robin was going to start her first day of work answering phones at the ballet studio in exchange for lessons but first she planned to play for a few hours with Bridget she arrived at my house at about I should want to say 11:00 how much fun can we have during that time and then I had a great idea let's go down to the beach and have a cartwheel competition shortly before 3:00 the girls left Bridget's apartment and headed across the Pacific Coast Highway to the beach I could definitely see a gentleman with dark hair I mean he he honed in on us like really like a like a shark in the water honing in on a seal and he goes can I take your girl's pictures I'm you know in a photography class or for a photo contest and Robin goes sure and all of a sudden out of nowhere pops up Jackie young my neighbor you know she does bridget is everything okay are you girls all right yeah man he he took that camera turned his head down and you could almost see like smoke coming off his dress shoes he just he was gone shakin Robyn and Bridget turned to go back home and Robyn had thrown her beach town everything into her bag and she's like well I'm gonna get going AGGA will take my bike take my bike it's right downstairs take my bike and don't stop that was the last time anyone saw Robin she was supposed to be home 4:35 from her lesson when her ballet teacher called to say she hadn't made it to class her family immediately called 9-1-1 we spent the next I did anyway hours and hours riding up and down the path you're on your bicycle mm-hmm looking for your sister for hours and hours the hours turned into days Robyn's mother feared the worst it was probably most horrifying time of all not knowing police continually questioned the one person they thought might know where Robin could have gone her best friend Bridget and I I said I go it was the man that man that took our picture I really was the only person that could tell you the exact color of his eyes the height of his cheekbones the color of his skin just every detail July 2nd 12 days after Robin last said goodbye to her friend and wrote off on her bike detectives delivered the news no one wanted to hear this was here he said we can't do that I said let's move anyway of course I can't see her why not he said because it took us three days to identify her I said what's wrong with you people how many little girls with long blonde hair disappeared and it took her three days he shook my shoulders and her tears were coming down his face Theresa's there was no hair this is pretty much the exact spot where Robin Sam sews remains were located a fire crew conducting routine fire prevention maintenance found Robins remains in a remote location more than 40 miles from where she was last seen Orange County DA Matt Murphy has visited the site many times and there were 12 days for the the animals to scavenge Robin's remains by the time the fire crew actually found her body she was just bones the pressure was on to find the killer Bridget's description resulted in this composite sketch which was released to the media all over Southern California his parole officer saw that and and called the detectives and said look there's a guy that used to be on my caseload you really need to take a look at him his name is Rodney Alcala it had been nearly 11 years since Acala had left eight year old Holly Shapiro of her dead and almost gotten away with it but Alcala was easy to find this time he lived with his parents in Monterey Park a stone's throw from the mountains where Robins remains were located Rodney Alcala is a intelligent well-mannered Pleasant fun outgoing great individual Beth Keller her was a college girlfriend at the time were you in love with him yes Beth was 22 when she met la jolla in the spring of 1979 they shared a common interest photography would you think of as a photography work it's a lot of pictures of girls and then that didn't bother me at all yo girls young girls I'd say probably from 12 13 to probably about 30s your death before meeting Beth Rodney Alcala charmed other women the best time is at night nighttime he's bachelor number one in this episode of the dating game from September 1978 that's a perfect example of of the charm of Rodney Alcala when you watch it he was he was charming we're gonna have a great time together Cheryl he was funny he joked I'm called the banana and he actually got picked No so when news spread of Robins June 20th disappearance and then murder Beth had no reason to suspect her boyfriend they had just spent a weekend together in Northern California there was no difference in personality no difference in the things we did the things we talked about but Beth couldn't account for his whereabouts on June 20th as they really focused in on mr. Alcala they learned that he had no alibi that he nobody could account for his whereabouts at the time and investigators soon learned that Alcala had added to his record Rodney Alcala was on bail for a kidnapping rape at a Riverside that had just been committed you know within a couple of months of the the murder of Robin Sam so the more they learned about Rodney Alcala the more perfectly riding I'll call a fit into the profile essentially the person that they were looking for Rodney Alcala was arrested on July 24th for the kidnap and murder of Robin Samsun but the struggle to prove it had only just begun the Nick Rodney Alcala what does that day mean to you today it means evil it means whore means pain not anger Robin Sam so's mother Mary Ann was convinced Rodney Alcala had murdered her 12 year old daughter as soon as he was arrested in July 1979 so were the Huntington Beach police we're gonna treat this as a homicide now and he becomes a prime suspect every one of those detectives was sure that they had the right guy but behind the scenes investigators were working feverishly to sure up what they knew was a shaky case against Alcala they conduct an interview they asked him you know when you ever go to the beach and take photos and and he said well from time to time he would do that and they said any pictures of people and Rodney Alcala kind of looked up and he said not that I recall and alcala said he wasn't the curly-haired photographer Brigid had described he essentially told the police that he hadn't been to Huntington Beach since 1974 detective Pat Ellis said Huntington Beach police got an unexpected tip when our college sister came to visit her brother in jail the conversation was being recorded when when he mentions him having a storage locker in Seattle Washington the cops don't know about he says this it's a good they don't know about this alpha tell him about it so give me a favor get the stuff out of there get it get it clear it out but what Alcala didn't know was that police had found a receipt for the locker during her search of his home at the time of his arrest they be there okay and they get inside there's the mother lode inside the locker cache of photos hundreds if not thousands of these of these different images and there are dozens upon dozens of these young women that in the pictures clearly are in positions of supreme vulnerability police learned Alcala had rented the storage facility and moved his belongings there nine days after robbing Sam saws remains were discovered so they wondered what he could be hiding they found no photos of Robin or Brigitte but shots of this young girl rollerskating along a familiar boardwalk caught their eye those detectives being in Huntington Beach actually told that area the area was Sunset Beach near Huntington Beach the very place Alcala had denied visiting police released the photo hoping someone would come forward this girl she ran over to my front door she said Laurie you're on the front page of the paper they're looking for you Marie Wirtz the girl in the photos was 15 years old my friend Patty and I were at Sunset Beach we just saw this man with a big camera first he was trying to tell us that he worked for a magazine and telling us that he was in a contest and you know I thought well shoot I'll be in a magazine that would be cool Laurie's friend had marked the date in her diary June 20th that was the same day about two miles away from where Robert samsø was was kidnapped so that that photograph was of incredible importance to other 16 year olds said Alcala had approached them on the beach the same day we had approached these teenage girls and he would use essentially the same line and then at the end of these encounters to try to get them into his car with several independent witnesses identifying Alcala as the photographer on the beach June 20th police now formed a theory that Alcala had been out hunting for prey so when Al Collard ran into Robin a second time he wouldn't be denied this is the street that she would have been riding her bike up do you think she got in the car willingly Robin Sam so was the one that was she was only 12 she was innocent she was naive and she was trusting and she was also very late just like he promised ally Shapiro there's no doubt he convinced Robin to get into the car too police were never able to recover Robin's bicycle and there was still no forensic proof tying Alcala to Robin detectives went back to the contents of the storage locker hoping for more clues buried under all this stuff was this tiny little soap bag filled with Harry's Alcala claimed those were his earrings but when police showed the jury to Robyn's mother Mary Ann she recognized a pair of gold ball studs that she said Robin often borrowed how do you think they ended up in running a college possession maybe after he'd killed my child after he murdered her I think he was one of these kind of predators that keeps trophy and investigators learned that in the days following Robyn's murder Alcala began to dramatically change his appearance than 24 hours of the release of that composite which looks exactly like him he made arrangements to cut his hair totally different the long curly hair was gone around the same time Alcala had also changed the carpeting in the back of his car he told his girlfriend Beth he was trying to get rid of the smell of spilled gasoline but to investigators the whole story stunk so at that point those are all the nuts and bolts that you need for a successful prosecution in February 1980 the only one year after Robin Sam SOEs murder Rodney Alcala went on trial over the course of two and a half months there were almost 50 witnesses that testified it was a very long very difficult case the jury victus Alcala and sentenced him to death supports changed my daughter's life but maybe it'll save someone else's Bay in being gone but the relief would be short-lived today in a five to one decision the California State Supreme Court ruled that Rodney Alcala did not receive a fair trial the decision would devastate Robyn's mother but the fight for justice was far from over you know it is only one perpetrator there those don't but the ripest keep going and those victims and victims and victims and victim after the California Supreme Court overturned Rodney Alcala 'he's first conviction in 1984 he was tried and convicted a second time we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant Rodney James Alcala guilty of the crime of a death penalty whatever be rendered in a case such as this but once again the verdict was overturned in 2003 the task of putting together the case again fell to Matt Murphy who in 1979 was about the same age as Robyn Sam so you're dealing with the guy who made a career out of working the system two trials two convictions twice sentenced to death twice overturn how do you prepare for a case like this when they reversed it they also removed a substantial amount of evidence so when it went up on my desk we had to basically start from Ground Zero and work our way up Murphy would soon get a huge break during the 22 years the Sam Seok case had wandered through the appellate courts DNA technology had caught up with Rodney Alcala now Los Angeles cold-case squads suddenly linked him to three other unsolved murders DNA technology was very strong as appointed to one person and one person only and that was Rodney Alcala Los Angeles deputy da Geno Satriano charged Alcala for the murders of 18-year old Jill Markham 27 year-old Georgia Wixted and 32 year-old charlotte lamb who all had been killed between November 1977 and June 1978 right at that moment we realized that not only is Rodney Alcala vicious murder in our case but in fact he is the serial killer they we always suspected him to be there was also evidence linking Alcala to yet another la murder 21 year old Jill paronto who had been killed just six days before Robin samso disappeared Jill paren toes case was tied to Rodney Alcala back in 79 prosecutors had dropped the case at the time because they felt it was too weak but authorities now saw it fit the pattern of the other murders in addition to the sexual assault and the fact that they were all left naked and posed and to the the beatings and traumas to the head each of these women were strangled with ligatures with some sort of a tie around their neck Rodney Alcala was committing murders all over the place in an effort to work the system in an effort to confuse law enforcement in different jurisdictions that's right hoping that the law enforcement would never talk to each other that's right and for years they didn't believing they had enough evidence to convict Rodney Alcala as a serial killers Matt Murphy and Gina Satriano wanted to prosecute the five los angeles-area murders together having them together really paints the the true picture of who Rodney Alcala is and gives the jury a a realistic vision of how he commits his crimes two California counties had never shared a murder case and alcala successfully fought off the joint trial for years but the California State Supreme Court ultimately ruled for the prosecution and last January almost 31 years after Robin Samson's murder Rodney Alcala went on trial again one of the many things that hurts me is that that was the last face she saw and that bothers me because he's so ugly and he's so evil the Sam souls are now joined by four other families I'm didi Ferrante Jill perrantes sister for whom the pain of loss is still as raw as it was 30 years ago the question was always there and frequently asked by friends and family members did they ever find out who George's killer was 25 years of reliving that terrible time and always the same answer for so many years I I just felt like I was always looking over my shoulder there was somebody out there that had murdered my sister and where was he and was he coming back your heart goes out to him we've had somebody to hate for 31 years they haven't this is the case that he wants to fight Matt Murphy knows getting a conviction won't be enough we've got to get it not only a conviction but we got to get a conviction that's going to be upheld on appeal complicating the legal challenge for prosecutors Rodney Alcala is serving as his own attorney even though he stands accused of five vicious murders as Rodney Alcala addresses the court it is clear that for him one case stands apart he knew the facts cold and he'd spent 30 years on death row memorizing every single photograph every single police report every single detail of the case he had even written a book about the samso case and alcala is so eager to defend himself he takes the stand by taking a sin it allowed the door to be open to so many things Murphy could now attack a caller using statements he made in his book it was published in 1994 long before these DNA tests were conducted so he was married to a certain set of facts like the facts surrounding that trophy bag of earrings found in our college storage yet no one other than mrs. Sam stone has ever come forward and Robin Hood Alcala had disputed the evidence that one pair had been worn by robin Samsa but because of new DNA evidence he could not dispute that another pair belonged to another of his victims charlotte lamb in his book he said his sister Christine gave those earrings 27 years later we were able to test those earrings and we got a DNA hit for Charlotte lamb undaunted our caller calls Robyn's mother as a defense witness there was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life having him ask me question desperate to impeach Marianne's character Alcala confronts her about her testimony at his first trial when she reportedly brought a gun to court he asked you if you brought a gun to court on the first trial and you answered yes I did were you going to shoot him I was gonna shoot him right between the eyes if I could have been my shadow what stopped you Robyn's hand on my wrist truth be known all of a sudden I smelled her shampoo and I felt this warmth in my hand I couldn't get my hand out of my purpose an even bigger miscalculation for Alcala he offered no explanation for the only cases at all ignoring the LA cases that was bizarre It was as if those victims weren't invisible to him the scientific evidence in the LA cases totally overwhelmed him was over his head and he had no idea how to challenge it the poor Los Angeles faces is a device for secretly and honestly control the case in his own closing argument Matt Murphy ends on what is for him to the heart of the trial part of what gets that guy off over there it's not just the conquest and the sneaking around and the Ray and the killing and the torture and the sadistic infliction of pain he wants a free murder you're gonna convict him of the LA cases he knows that everybody knows that but Robert Santos day in court is today are you nervous are you angry are you afraid I'm nervous and afraid just a thought maybe he could actually win when Harold died suddenly last month he had not quite finished his work on the story of Rodney Alcala what you are about to see is the stunning conclusion to this tale told mostly in Harold's voice you will also hear me telling parts of the story he wasn't able to record your stomach's in a knot you it's up in your throat and you just you're like a zombie walking around it's a familiar feeling for Robin Sam sews family as they wait for the third jury over a period of 30 years to decide Rodney Alcala fate we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant Rodney James Alcala guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree victim Robin sees Sam so the jury takes just one day to find Alcala guilty of robbing Sam sews murder he's also found guilty of murdering the four other women Jill paronto Jill Barr comb Georgia wicks Ted and Charlotte lamb Rodney Alcala does absolutely 100% deserves to die for what he did in a separate penalty phase to ensure that Alcala gets the ultimate punishment the prosecution called a ghost from his past to the stand my name is Polly Shapiro I'm alive because I have a guardian angel Tali Shapiro who was kidnapped and left for dead in 1968 was not prepared for what Rodney Alcala said to her he apologized and I couldn't even tell you what it was exactly he said because I didn't hear him Shapiro who has a teenage son and works as a personal chef insists she's not a victim but she wants the system that said her attacker free held accountable I should have stopped with me and why why in the world are there so many other victims when it was a known fact what he did to me after Tali Shapiro's dramatic appearance the jury was finally ready to recommend a sentence for Rodney Alcala Harold Dao picks up the story Rodney Alcala addressing the same jury that convicted him of murder makes an awkward argument for clemency to join in the killing of a human being you and the families of the victims will have to wait at least 15 to 20 years while the case slowly churns through the appellate process he wanted a plan Arlo Guthrie song Alice's Restaurant and there's a part in that song where he talks about wanting to kill people and he played that incredibly for the jury Matt Murphy said that that song told you more about love nail color than anything else that he did in that courtroom that song was him I pictured him sing in the lyrics when it was on how callous perverse closing statements did not sway the jury they took only an afternoon to decide the ultimate question we the jury in the above-entitled action determined that the penalty to be imposed upon defendant rodney james Arcola to be death yeah but the saga of Rodney Alcala murderous odyssey still hasn't ended after he was sentenced Huntington Beach police released photos recovered from Al Qaeda's Seattle storage locker of more than a hundred young women and even some children investigators are hoping to identify them and learn if Alcala claimed still more victims maybe this maybe isn't the victim out there or victims someplace across the states places he's traveled that's correct the nationwide interest in the trial and the photos have given new life to murder cases that have remained dormant for years there are four other murders in New York that have been linked to Rodney alcohol we've worked very closely with the with the police and we have every confidence that that they will get the job done in New York I don't want him to go to no other states and and be held accountable for knowing that nothing else because he can only be killed once I wanted to die here I want to live one day longer than him I want to live one day without feeling or hearing the name Rodney a fella in my mind I could die a happy woman what every woman dreams of beautiful house beautiful wife they found her slumped in the driver's side seat her death immediately was suspicious it was much more than a car actually he was spotted in Toronto Syria Lebanon poof he's gone if you were to watch this in a movie you wouldn't even believe that this is possible

Channel: CBS

Views: 2,931,602

Rating: 4.4818554 out of 5

Keywords: cbsepisode, 48, hours, serial, killer, harold, dow, rape, murder, mystery, justice, report

Id: lLsH_dN_eYw

Length: 41min 55sec (2515 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2010