Rodney Alcala murdered at least seven women and girls between 1971 and 1979. Some investigators believe his actual victim count could be as high as 130. But long before the killing started, Alcala was a kid from San Antonio, Texas whose family fell apart around him.
So what did Rodney Alcala's father do to him? The short answer is: he abandoned him. And that abandonment may have set off a chain of psychological damage that turned a troubled boy into one of California's most prolific serial killers.
This article looks at Rodney Alcala's childhood, his family, his mental health diagnoses, and how early trauma may have shaped the killer he became.
A Pattern of Violence
Alcala's first known attack happened in 1968 when he lured 8-year-old Tali Shapiro into his Hollywood apartment. A witness saw the girl enter the apartment and called police. When officers broke down the door, they found Shapiro alive but severely beaten. Alcala had already fled.
He enrolled at NYU under the name "John Berger" and was featured on the FBI's Most Wanted list before a colleague recognized him and turned him in. After serving a brief prison sentence, he was paroled in 1974 and almost immediately began killing again.
Alcala's method involved approaching women in public places, often claiming to be a professional photographer. He carried a camera everywhere and used it as a prop to gain trust. After his arrest, police discovered over 1,000 photographs of unidentified women and children in his storage locker. In 2010, Huntington Beach police released 120 of these photos to the public, hoping to identify potential victims. Several women in the photos have never been identified.
The Horrific Crimes
Rodney Alcala has been convicted of the rape, torture, and murder of seven female victims. He was given the death penalty in 1979 for the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old child.
Many people speculate that there could be between eighty and 130 victims strewn through his killing fields in the short span of eight years. These assumptions may never be solved, as Rodney Alcala died in prison due to natural causes on July 24, 2021.
Alcala's confirmed victims include Robin Samsoe (12), Jill Barcomb (18), Georgia Wixted (27), Charlotte Lamb (32), and Jill Parenteau (21). In 2010, New York authorities charged him with two additional murders from the 1970s. He was also linked to cases in Wyoming, Washington, and Arizona, though he was never formally charged in those states.
Alcala had an IQ of 170 and attended UCLA and NYU film school, earning a degree under a false name while actively committing crimes. His intelligence made him exceptionally good at evading detection, and he slipped through law enforcement's hands multiple times before his final arrest.
The Dating Game Killer
Rodney Alcala earned the moniker "The Dating Game Killer" after appearing on the game show as contestant number one. He won the date with the bachelorette. However, she refused to go out with Rodney, finding him "creepy." This rejection may have fueled Rodney Alcala's next murder spree of three women quickly after the show appearance.
The Dating Game episode aired in 1978 and has since become one of the most infamous moments in television history. Alcala appeared charming and witty during the show, cracking jokes that made the audience laugh. The bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw, later said something about him felt "off" and she refused the date despite selecting him as the winner. Bradshaw's instinct may have saved her life.
What did Rodney Alcala's father do to him?
Although Rodney was born in San Antonio, Texas, the family moved to Mexico when Rodney was just eight years old. While in Mexico, Rodney's father abandoned the family three years later. The reasoning seems to be that Raoul Alcala couldn't find work. The family was homeless and destitute.
Rodney's father leaving was a blow to the family. He was "the man of the house," now being the oldest male child. At the tender age of eleven, Rodney tried to understand why his father left. He also felt obligated to find ways to help his mother and siblings survive.
Rodney's father, Raoul Alcala Buquor, was born in Mexico and had moved to Texas to build a better life. When the family relocated back to Mexico in the late 1940s, Raoul struggled to find steady work. Rather than stay and face poverty, he simply left. There was no custody arrangement, no child support, no contact. He vanished from his children's lives entirely.
For Rodney, the abandonment hit especially hard. He had idolized his father and suddenly found himself thrust into the role of provider at age 11. Researchers who later studied the case noted that this type of abrupt paternal abandonment during pre-adolescence is one of the strongest predictors of antisocial behavior in adulthood.
Being abandoned by a parent puts an incredible amount of fear, uncertainty, and guilt on a child. This emotional turmoil wreaks havoc on a young brain. Young children especially, as they cannot rationalize traumatic events.
The guilt, shame, and rejection could have led to the eight-year killing spree. Traumatic events frequently lead to mental health issues that go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and untreated.
When Rodney was 11-years-old his mother moved the family, Rodney, and his two younger sisters, back to the United States. The family settled in Los Angeles, California, where Rodney's murder spree would begin.
First Signs of Trouble
At the age of 17, Rodney joined the United States Army.
Rodney Alcala was discharged from the military after being diagnosed with Antisocial-Personality Disorder by a military psychologist.
The Army discharge happened in 1964 when Alcala was just 21 years old. According to military records, he experienced a nervous breakdown that included episodes of dissociation and uncontrollable rage. The military psychologist's diagnosis was significant because antisocial personality disorder is notoriously difficult to identify in young men, and it rarely gets caught this early. The fact that it was severe enough to warrant discharge suggests Alcala was already exhibiting dangerous behavioral patterns.
Antisocial personality disorder usually referred to as Sociopathy, is a mental disorder in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.
People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior.
Rodney Alcala was also diagnosed during the trial. The psychiatrists evaluating him could not agree on what he had. These psychiatrists diagnosed him with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Psychopathy, and Sexual Sadism Co-morbidities.
The Makings of a Killer
Whether real or imagined, trauma is the driving force behind many individuals' mental health issues. Traumatic experiences in his childhood could have pushed Rodney headfirst into mental and emotional chaos.
According to Adverse Childhood Experiences, ACEs, a part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, correlate adversity with cumulative adult mental health. Individuals' childhood experiences are the foundation of determining future emotional and mental stability.
ACEs include child abusive experiences (e.g., physical, sexual, and verbal abuse) and broader experiences of familial dysfunctions, such as witnessing violence at home, parental separation, abandonment, and growing up in a family affected by substance use/abuse, mental illness or criminal behavior.
Some studies conclude an increasing number of ACE markers are associated with mental well-being conditions, including; depression, anxiety, panic reactions, hallucinations, psychosis, and suicide attempt, along with overall mental health.
ACEs believe that the impact of any traumatic event could have long-term effects on a child's ability to maintain balance and process trauma. Some researchers have linked familial behaviors with adults' mental stability, suggesting that the impacts of ACE's markers are what push much of their cyclical nature.
Nature or Nurture?
There is not much known about Rodney Alcala's childhood before
eight, besides the family moving to Mexico. Could there have been maltreatment, violence, or substance abuse? Could Rodney have developed mental health issues after his father abandoned him? Or were the seeds of Sociopathy lurking in the depths of Rodney Alcala's mind since birth?
Supposing the ACE's assumptions are correct, Rodney Alcala could have developed his twisted thoughts and brought them to reality by his father's abandonment and subsequent tribulations in a single-parent household. Being the only boy, much of the family's burdens were placed on Rodney's shoulders. The stress and fear could very well encourage mental health disturbances.
The risk factors from ACEs show a would-be correlation between Rodney's childhood and subsequent horrific murders.
- Children and youth who don't feel close to their parents/caregivers and feel like they can't talk to them about their feelings
- Youth who start dating early or engaging in sexual activity early
- Children and youth with few or no friends or with friends who engage in aggressive or delinquent behavior
- Families with caregivers who were abused or neglected as children
- Families with young caregivers or single parents
- Families with low income
- Families with adults with low levels of education
- Families experiencing high levels of parenting stress or economic stress
- Families with caregivers who use spanking and other forms of corporal punishment for discipline
- Families with inconsistent discipline and/or low levels of parental monitoring and supervision
- Families that are isolated from and not connected to other people (extended family, friends, neighbors)
- Families with high conflict and negative communication styles
- Families with attitudes accepting of or justifying violence or aggression
Since little is known about Rodney's childhood, we can only speculate about his upbringing. However, it does seem that there was more going on behind closed doors in the Alcala household.
Alcala's childhood checks several of these boxes: parental abandonment, family poverty, a single-parent household with high stress, and geographic instability. While millions of people experience these same risk factors without becoming violent criminals, researchers point out that the combination of early trauma with pre-existing neurological differences (like those later identified in Alcala's psychiatric evaluations) creates a particularly volatile mix.
What Happened to Rodney Alcala's Family?
After Rodney's arrest and conviction, his mother and sisters largely retreated from public life. His mother, Anna Maria Gutierrez, had remarried and was living in California during his trials. She attended some of his court proceedings but gave no public statements.
Rodney's two younger sisters, whose names have been kept largely out of the press, were both children when the family returned to Los Angeles in the early 1950s. Neither has spoken publicly about their brother's crimes. Friends and acquaintances described the family as deeply private, a characteristic that may have been shaped by the shame and stigma of Rodney's actions.
Raoul Alcala, Rodney's father, never resurfaced in his son's life. There are no records of him attending any court proceedings or making contact with Rodney during his decades of incarceration. Whether Raoul was even aware of his son's crimes before his own death remains unknown.
Rodney Alcala's Legacy
Alcala died on July 24, 2021, at the age of 77, in a hospital near Corcoran State Prison. He had been on California's death row for over a decade, though the state had not carried out an execution since 2006. His death from natural causes meant he was never executed for his crimes.
In the years since, Alcala's case has appeared in multiple documentaries, podcasts, and books. The 2017 movie "The Dating Game Killer" dramatized his appearance on the television show. Huntington Beach police still maintain a website with the unidentified photographs found in his storage locker, hoping that members of the public will help identify the people in them.
For researchers studying the link between childhood trauma and violent behavior, the Alcala case remains a primary reference point. It demonstrates how a combination of early abandonment, untreated mental illness, and high intelligence can produce a predator who hides in plain sight for decades.
The question posed in the title of this article has no simple answer. Rodney Alcala's father did not abuse him physically or sexually, as far as anyone knows. What he did was leave. And for an 11-year-old boy already struggling with the upheaval of moving between countries, that abandonment may have been the crack that let everything else break through.
