Dating Game Killer Rodney James Alcala, Dating Game Killer: Serial killer Rodney Alcala, 77 years old, brutally murdered women Dating Game Killer Rodney James Alcala died July 24 at the age of 77

New Delhi: Convicted serial killer Rodney James Alcala, known as the ‘dating game killer’ in California, United States, died on Saturday morning at a hospital near Corcoran State Prison in central California. He was 77 years old at the time of his death. Officials confirmed that he died of natural causes at San Joaquin Valley Hospital.

Alcala was sentenced to death in 2010 in California for five murders between 1977 and 1979, including those of a 12-year-old girl. However, officials suspect that he may have killed 130 people across the country. He lured women by luring them to take pictures of them. He would later strangle them or beat them to death after sexually assaulting them.

He was first sentenced to death in 1980 for the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samso in 1979, but his sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court. He was again sentenced to death in 1986, but in 2003 a federal appeals court overturned that sentence. He was later convicted in 2010.

Following Alcala’s sentencing, authorities released more than 100 photographs of unidentified women and children found in a storage unit believed to have belonged to the killer. He became known as the ‘Dating Game Killer’ as he was a contestant on ‘The Dating Game’ in 1978. However, none of his victims had any connection with the game show.