Rodrigo Jacques Alcala-Buqor was born in San Antonio, Texas on August 23, 1943 and he died on July 24, 2021. After his case, he was sentenced to death in California for seven murders that were committed between 1977 and 1979.
He first lived in Mexico before he and his family moved to LA when he was eight years old. His mother, Anna Maria Gutierez, believed that he was gifted since he showed signs of maturity when he was just 13 years old. Little did she know that soon enough, this maturity would lead to her son becoming a horrible serial killer and sex offender (per The INDEPENDENT website).
His first appearance was in a popular show in the 1970’s called The Dating Game. This dating show, created by Chuck Barris, held the reward of winning a chaperoned date. Rodney Alcala made an appearance on this dating show as one of three bachelors attempting to catch the eye of a bachelorette named Cheryl Bradshaw. Rodney Alcala was able to successfully snag the date with Cheryl Bradshaw thanks to his special weapon — his charm — that he had used to lure his previous victims before the dating game. Thankfully, Cheryl got a gut feeling that something was wrong, so she decided to refuse the date with Rodney in the end.
However, Rodney did do something other than murder when he was seventeen years old. Before making his appearance on the dating show, Rodney had already murdered five victims and was also charged with attempting to murder a little girl. The issue of this dating show was that they did not do background checks so when they accepted Rodney as one of the possible candidates, they did not know the danger they were bringing to the bachelorette’s.
One of his crimes he committed were raping and beating an eight year old named Tali Shapiro (this occurred in Los Angeles, California). He met this little girl by offering her a car ride home as she was walking home from school. She stated, “I told him I didn’t talk to strangers,”That is when he told me he knew my parents. I really didn’t want to get into the car but I was raised to respect my elders. I didn’t know to fear people.” (Steve Helling writing for People’s Magazine).
She decided to go with him either way, which caught the attention of someone who believed a little girl going inside the car with a stranger was suspicious, so he decided to call the police. Alcala, instead of taking the little girl home, took her to his apartment. As the cops arrived, Rodney did not open the door. Police had to break the door down in which they saw a horrifying scene. Tali was very injured, as the police tried to stop him from escaping but unfortunately Rodney Alcala slipped away from their grasp.
However, Rodney Alcala would not go unpunished for his awful deeds and crimes that he has committed. Rodney would soon be arrested in June 24, 1979 and was sentenced to death due for the seven murders which happened in 1977 and 1979 in California in addition to two more murders that occurred in New York.. However, he died in prison while serving time before he was ever executed. He passed away from natural causes on July 24, 2021 at the age of 77 (per California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation).
Although a serial killer may be gone, two victims thankfully survived.
