Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, known as the ‘Dating Game Killer’ because of his appearance on the TV show as a contestant in 1978, has died of natural causes, California prison officials said Saturday.
Alcala, 77, was condemned to death row for murdering five people, including 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979.
He died at 1:43 a.m. Saturday at a hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
He was twice granted a new trial in the Orange County kidnapping and killing of Samsoe but was convicted of her murder, as well as that of four women, by an Orange County jury in 2010. He was sentenced to death.
Hellbound and Down 