Hollywood & Crime - The Dating Game Killer | Tali | 1

Episode Date: September 5, 2024

Eight-year-old Tali Shapiro is abducted on her way to school. At the crime scene, LAPD officer Chris Camacho finds her attacker’s student ID. His name: Rodney Alcala.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to the first episode of The Dating Game Killer. To continue the journey, you can binge episodes 2 through 7 exclusively with Wondery+. Start your free trial today in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The Dating Game Killer by Hollywood and Crime contains depictions of violence and is not suitable for everyone. Please be advised. From Hollywood, the dating capital of the world, it's The Dating Game. Here's the star of our show, your host, Jim Black. Hey!

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And welcome to the dating game. And we'll get right on your way. It's time to meet our first three eligible bachelors for game number one. And here they are. September 18, 1978, millions of TV viewers tuned in to one of America's most popular game shows. In living rooms across the country, people watched as the stage set rotated to reveal the contestants who would vie for a date with the evening's first Bachelorette. The three men sat in tall director's chairs, hidden in darkness. Good luck, gentlemen. Well, let's see, Bachelor number one is a successful photographer who got his start

when his father found him in the dark room at the age of 13, fully developed. The lights came up as the camera moved into a tight shot of Bachelor number one. He smiled wide at the audience's warm welcome, nodding with self-confidence. His brown leisure suit might have been more at home in a Hollywood disco, but he fully owned his look.

His white dress shirt was open halfway down his chest, enormous lapels flapping like bat wings above his jacket collar. His long mane of curly dark hair was perfectly coiffed, brushed back and cascading down his shoulders. And it's time to meet our young lady for game number one, and here she is. Here is a young lady with a wealth of experience. She once earned a living massaging feet, but she quit when her boss suggested that she work her way up. Arizona, now she's here to educate our three bachelors in the art of amour.

Welcome, if you will, sensational Cheryl Bradshaw. Hello, Cheryl. Cheryl Bradshaw strode onto the stage in a sparkly midi dress with puffy sleeves and revealing scoop neck. Her view of the bachelors was blocked by a bend in the flower power-inspired barrier. Host Jim Lang quickly explained the rules. She could ask the contestants whatever she liked, except for their name, age, occupation, or income.

Then he introduced the bachelors. Number one, would you say hello to Cheryl, please? We're gonna have a great time together, Cheryl. Okay, and here we go. In the style of the show, Cheryl's questions were playful and heavy with sexual innuendo. Bachelor number one was particularly adept at matching her tone in bravado and double entendre. He was comfortable in front of the camera, growling provocatively and commanding her to get over here. He played to the audience and they responded.

He was a crowd favorite. He played to the audience and they responded. He was a crowd favorite. Bachelor number one, I am serving you for dinner. What are you called and what do you look like? I'm called the banana and I look really good. Can you be a little more descriptive? Peel me. Backstage before the show began, Bachelor number one's demeanor had been less engaging.

He seemed able to turn the charm on at will, but it vanished as soon as it no longer suited his purposes. As he and the other contestants waited to take their places on stage, he got in the face of one of his rivals. I always get the girl, he snarled, his eyes dark, empty pits. And on this evening, he would be right. Welcome back to the Dating Game, and Cheryl, we have reached the moment of truth, as we call it. You've heard from the bachelors, you got some great dramatic presentations and good answers but now

I'm going to ask you a question. Will that date be bachelor number one, bachelor number two, or bachelor number three? Well I like bananas so I'll take one. Number one, bachelor number one. Bachelor number one sauntered onto the stage and gave Cheryl a kiss on the cheek. He slipped his hand around her waist as the host gave details of their upcoming date. The two would be getting tennis lessons and a trip to Magic Mountain Amusement Park. In its 13 years on the air, the dating game had introduced America to many guests who would go on to celebrated careers. Among its alumni were Farrah Fawcett, Burt Reynolds, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tonight's lucky bachelor would be no exception. Within a year, his name would be known nationwide, though it wouldn't be for landing his own sitcom or movie contract. Rather, he would be known to law enforcement agencies

from Hollywood to New York, and his dating game appearance would become legend. On this September night in 1978, the TV viewing audience would watch as Cheryl Bradshaw was introduced to Bachelor Number One by his given name. And this is is your date and i want to tell you something about him cheryl he's a skydiver so he's got a lot of nerve he's into motorcycling he's also fine photographer say hello to rodney alkala rodney come on Congratulations, Rod. You did it with a one answer. A podcast that hands you everything going on across the globe and down the street, all in 15 minutes or less. Start your day informed and anew with Up First by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart.

But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder, on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, this is Hollywood and Crime. I'm Tracy Patton with Stephen Lang. In our new Hollywood and Crime. I'm Tracy Patton with Stephen Lang. In our new Hollywood and Crime series, we're uncovering the twisted secret life of one of America's most prolific serial killers,

Rodney Alcala, also known as the Dating Game Killer. When Alcala appeared on the popular TV show The Dating Game, millions of viewers around the country tuned in to watch. They had no idea Bachelor No. 1 was a diagnosed sociopath and convicted child molester because no one on the staff did a background check, nor did Alcala's employers at the Los Angeles Times where he worked as a typesetter. Neither his employers, his family, or the world had any idea that behind this man's quick smile and charming facade was a brutal serial killer. A man capable of ingratiating himself with prison psychiatrists, parole boards,

students, and coworkers while committing heinous murders from coast to coast. How did Rodney Alcala slip through the judicial system for so many years? How did his appearance on The Dating Game help lead to his downfall? This is Episode 1, Tally. Here's my co-host, Stephen Lang. He spots her through the windshield from half a block away. Seven, maybe eight, moving in a jaunty half-skip.

She's carrying books, no doubt on her way to school. With the slow-moving morning traffic, it's easy to keep pace with her. With the slow-moving morning traffic, it's easy to keep pace with her. As he angles closer to the sidewalk, he can see her lips moving in an improvised little tune. When the light changes to red, he pulls to the curb, leans across the front seat. He knows how he needs to sound, practices modulating his voice for every occasion. He will be the adult, authoritative yet non-threatening, the kind of person her parents have taught her to obey. He rolls down the window and smiles as she looks over at him. He motions for her to come closer. He offers her a ride to school as if it's

the most natural thing, a daily routine. She tells him she's not supposed to talk to strangers, and continues on her way. He inches the car forward alongside her. Doesn't she recognize him, he asks. She looks back at him and he scrunches his shoulders as if slightly dejected she doesn't remember him. He tells her he's friends with her parents. When he senses her uncertainty, he knows to back off just the right amount. Pull, don't push. Touch, don't grab. She stops and leans toward the window. He tells her he has a picture he wants to show her. Her parents have seen it already and said she'd really like it.

Where is it, she asks. He smiles again and reaches for the door handle, knowing he's almost there. Get in, he says, making it as casual as possible. He can show it to her on the way to school. This is the critical moment. He knows. The slightest off-note reaction from him will scare her away.

She looks at him, and he widens his eyes in a welcoming signal. She opens the door and slides into the passenger seat. Even with her in the car, he knows it's only the first step. She can jump out at any moment, so he needs to keep monitoring his every expression and gesture. His voice soft. He asks her about school. It's okay, she tells him. He turns off sunset and the traffic is lighter. She's distracted now,

looking out the window. When they turn on to DeLong Prey in West Hollywood, she says it's not the right way to school. He tells her he has to stop off somewhere for just a minute. When he pulls over in front of the apartment complex, she looks around at the unfamiliar street. He smiles again.

Didn't she want to see that picture? Well, I guess, she says. He gets out and rounds the car to open the door for her. He knows how critical the next few seconds are. They're fifty feet from his door. She seems concerned now. It'll only be a minute, he assures her, promising to get her to school on time. She walks with him to his front door.

He opens it and ushers her in. Just a minute, he tells her, he'll get that picture. She looks around. The place is littered with photographs. She guesses he must be a real photographer and it puts her mind at ease. In a moment he returns and hands her a picture. Before she can register the image

her world goes black. Donald Haynes glanced down at his watch as he did every few minutes. It was a little after 8 a.m. on Wednesday, September 25, 1968. He sighed as he looked through the windshield at the traffic inching forward on Sunset Boulevard. It was a daily routine, and knowing he'd given himself enough time to get to work didn't make the stop-and-go any less irritating. As the light up ahead turned red, he glanced casually out the passenger window and noticed a little girl ambling down the sidewalk. Donald smiled, recalling the languid rhythms of childhood,

the easy flow of time. When he looked back up, it seemed the traffic light was stuck on red. Two lanes over, a beige car crept up beside the little girl, edging toward the sidewalk. Donald couldn't make out the driver's face behind a tangle of long dark hair. The little girl looked over as the man called something to her out the passenger window. She shook her head and kept walking, and the car started pacing her. Now curious about the interaction, Donald angled over into the next lane as the light changed.

angled over into the next lane as the light changed. He noticed there were no license plates. But something about the unfolding scene didn't feel right. The girl didn't appear to know the man. It was only after repeated coaxing that she got into his car. Of course, that didn't prove anything. Unable to let go of the darker thoughts, he decided to follow A few minutes later, the beige car pulled over in a residential neighborhood on DeLong Prey Avenue in West Hollywood Donald watched as the man, who appeared to be in his twenties, got out, the girl a beat behind him

She looked around, appearing unfamiliar with the area, maybe a little hesitant. The man smiled as if reassuring her that everything was okay. From Donald's perspective, she seemed a little reluctant, her steps halting. It looked as if the man was cajoling her to follow him. They disappeared into a first-floor apartment. Donald Haynes headed to the nearest payphone and called the police. He told the dispatcher that he wasn't certain, but something about the situation just didn't look right. When LAPD officer Chris Camacho arrived on DeLongpre, Haynes was standing next to his car.

When Chris Camacho arrived on DeLongpre, Haynes was standing next to his car. He pointed to a door on the first floor of a nearby apartment complex and told the officer that's where he'd seen the man and girl go inside. Camacho called for backup, then walked over to the door and knocked loudly. There was no answer. He shouted through the door that he was a police officer. no answer. He shouted through the door that he was a police officer. In a few seconds, the blinds shifted slightly and the sliver of a man's face came up in the window. He didn't appear to be wearing any clothes. He told the officer he'd just stepped out of the shower and to give him a moment, but his hair didn't look wet. Camacho yelled for the man to open the door or he'd break it down.

This time he didn't wait for a response. He kicked in the door and rushed into the apartment. Moments later, backup officers arrived, entering with guns drawn. But the man was gone. Apparently he'd escaped out a back door. The officers looked around. The place was filled with camera equipment, photos mainly of young girls strewn everywhere.

Camacho followed a trail of blood leading from the living room to the kitchen, then stopped dead in the doorway. A little girl lay lifeless on the floor, a heavy metal bar placed across her throat to suffocate her. Camacho approached the girl's body, careful not to disturb the evidence. To avoid smudging potential fingerprints, he used a towel to lift the bar from her throat. He then joined the other officers in their search of the apartment. When he passed through the kitchen again, the child began to gag, struggling to breathe.

It was only then that he realized, to his astonishment, she was still alive. Camacho called for an ambulance and stayed at her side until EMS workers arrived. While officers spread out around the complex looking for the perpetrator, detectives combed through the apartment apartment searching for clues to his identity. It didn't take long. In his rush to escape, he'd left behind several documents, including a student photo ID from UCLA. The attacker might have disappeared into the bright California morning, but they had his name, Rodney Alcala.

Tally Shapiro fights to stay alive as emergency room doctors work feverishly to stabilize her. Their immediate concern is the great loss of blood and the time she spent with her airway blocked. Tally's parents hover in the waiting room, as confused as they are terrified. Only a few hours earlier, she left for school like any other day. The last thing the record exec and his wife expected was a call from the police and frantic drive to the hospital.

Tally's been warned many times about going off with strangers, yet she's a polite and obedient child taught to respect her elders. Someone with a clever ruse might take advantage of the social qualities that made Tally who she was. Tally's mother tells the officers that her daughter left their suite at the Chateau Marmont around eight for the 20-minute walk to Gardner Elementary School. The family was staying at the legendary Hollywood Hotel after a fire had recently destroyed their house. Tully liked the walk to school amid the rush of activity along Sunset Boulevard. Detectives ask her parents if they've ever heard of someone named Rodney Alcala. Do they know anyone fitting his description?

The Shapiros understand the officer's urgency, but right now their entire focus is on their daughter. Will she make it through the night? Will Tally still be Tally? Thank you. is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, ladies and gerbs, boys and girls. The Grinch is back again to ruin your Christmas season with Tis the Grinch holiday Podcast. After last year, he's learned a thing or two about hosting, and he's ready to rant against Christmas cheer and roast his celebrity guests like chestnuts on an open fire.

You can listen with the whole family as guest stars like Jon Hamm, Brittany Broski, and Danny DeVito try to persuade the mean old Grinch that there's a lot to love about the insufferable holiday season. But that's not all. Somebody stole all the children of Whoville's letters to Santa, and everybody thinks the Grinch is responsible. It's a real Whoville whodunit. Can Cindy

Lou and Max help clear the Grinch's name? Grab your hot cocoa and cozy slippers to find out. Follow Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Unlock weekly Christmas mystery bonus content and listen to every episode ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. By the time he'd gotten the Tally Shapiro case, LAPD detective Steve Hodel had worked burglary, robbery, auto theft, juvenile, and homicide. His first impression was that the savage attack on the 8-year-old didn't track with what he was learning about the suspected assailant Rodney Alcala.

His neighbors on DeLong Prey Avenue had little to offer investigators. They barely knew he existed. He hadn't lived at the complex long and had made no friends. He kept to himself, was often seen entering or leaving his apartment lugging a tripod and camera bag or other photographic equipment. Up until the moment he kidnapped a child on her way to school, his life had appeared quiet and unremarkable. But with his years of experience, Detective Hodel knew better than to trust first impressions. A harmless persona was exactly the weapon predators used against unsuspecting prey. The attacker's hasty escape through a back door meant his apartment was left filled with evidence, including an immense collection of photographs. Overwhelmingly,

they were of girls and young women, many in playful or sexually suggestive poses. While not explicitly pornographic, his interest in underage girls was unmistakable. When Hodel questioned Alcala's professors and fellow students at UCLA, they were so taken aback they insisted it had to be a case of mistaken identity. The Rodney they knew was incapable of such a heinous act. He was friendly and engaging, dated frequently and hung out with friends, no different from any other guy his age. One of his professors summed up the consensus among faculty and peers, Rodney Alcala wouldn't hurt a fly.

In the fall of 1968, a young man named John Berger applies for admission to NYU's School of Fine Arts. If it's odd that he shows up six weeks into the semester, the administrator doesn't press him on it. Charming and soft-spoken, the prospective student makes a strong first impression. His hair is long and shaggy, but his manner is smooth and polished. He might look like a hippie, but his confidence bespeaks a man familiar with the ways of the world. He answers her questions forthrightly, freely expanding on his passion for photography. The thought of working with the likes of legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski, a guest instructor that year, excites the young applicant. NYU decides to accept him into its undergraduate program.

Within weeks, John Berger has established himself as a New Yorker. He finds an apartment, gets work as a security guard. He spends his free time frequenting Greenwich Village's renowned coffee houses and small clubs. And everywhere, it seems, are the young women, sauntering free and fluid, all color and motion in the swarming streets. Hippies flock to the Fillmore to see Credence or the airplane, Mayall and the Dead. The East Village is a crush of bodies on Friday nights. Tompkins Square Park, cloudy with the pot smoke as the firefly joints flicker everywhere.

This is a new freedom, new to the world and new to him. Where L.A. is breezy and slow and everywhere bright, this is darkness come alive, brutal and merciless, jangled and expectant. He is at home in these New York nights, these noisy streets, his photographer's eye alive to the beauty in the dirt and grime. He's not part of it, this warmth of motion and press of bodies. His distance is the camera's distance, his eyes cold lenses that see what the rest don't. And he moves among them like a wraith, observing, always observing, calculating the space between them and him.

These kids who are his peers and yet aren't. He wanders in the cold and damp of the clubs, listens to the words of the new poets, Dylan and Ginsberg, McGuinn and McGuire. Every now and then he picks one out of the crowd, watches her through the evening. He follows her out into the streets, watches her descend into the subway, oblivious in her new freedom. He observes, of the world and not, one among a generation and not. He embraces his otherness, his secret, what he has done and what he is capable of. Once in a while he follows a girl down to the subway platform late at night. She might look at him, or not, see him, or not.

He knows what he can do, knows her freedom is his weapon, and he turns away and heads back up the street. Knowing what he can do is sometimes enough. Knowing what he can do is almost as good as doing it. In Los Angeles, Detective Hodel was researching Rodney Alcala's childhood. In Los Angeles, Detective Hodel was researching Rodney Alcala's childhood. What he found was a picture of ordinariness that mirrored the descriptions of those who knew him as an adult. Rodney James Alcala was born on March 23, 1943.

He was the third of four siblings, living in a middle-class section of San Antonio, Texas. Throughout primary school, he produced excellent grades, was described as intelligent and thoughtful. Following a brief stay in Mexico to care for his ailing grandmother, the family returned to the States in the early 50s, settling in East Los Angeles. By now, his grandmother had died and his father had left his mother. Tracking down former classmates at Montebello High School, investigators learned that Rodney's teen years were indistinguishable from most boys his age. He was outgoing and friendly, dated frequently, participated in sports and music. Nothing in his childhood indicated he was capable of the extreme violence he let loose on young Tally Shapiro. Upon graduating high school in 1960, he joined the Army.

It was two years into his enlistment that something seemed to change in him. Without warning, he went AWOL from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, hitchhiking cross-country to Los Angeles. He appeared at his mother's door in a manic state, explaining in bits and pieces that he was unsuited for military service, that joining the Army was the biggest mistake of his life. As he stalked around the small house like a caged animal, Mrs. Alcala tried to fathom what had happened. What was behind the dramatic change? Why was her polite and respectful son suddenly rambling and incoherent? Eventually, she calmed him down. Though he was still vague on the details of his apparent breakdown, she convinced him to turn himself in at a local recruiting station. After an interview with an Army psychologist, Rodney was transferred to a hospital in San Francisco to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Conferring with his superiors at Fort Bragg, doctors learned that for several, Rodney had been unable to perform his usual duties. He seemed to have undergone some sort of mental collapse. With no sign of improvement in his emotional state, it was determined Alcala was no longer fit for military service. He was discharged from the Army in February 1964. He was discharged from the Army in February 1964. According to the psychiatric report, he'd been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, chronic, severe.

The defining characteristics of the disorder were a disregard for right and wrong, a lack of empathy for others, and an inability to feel guilt or remorse for their deeds. Detective Hodel put the Army report down on the table. It was the first documented appearance of the Alcala who could have assaulted eight-year-old Tally Shapiro. The mystery was how the man psychiatrists declared antisocial could be described by colleagues and acquaintances as unable to hurt a fly. That was how he convinced the eight-year-old to get in the car with him. And that meant Rodney Alcala was extremely dangerous as long as he remained on the loose.

Night spent hanging out at Greenwich Village's Café Roi, or Bitter End, don't seem to interfere with John Berger's schoolwork. He maintains a 3.5 grade point average his first semester at NYU. As summer of 1969 approaches, he decides a getaway from the city bustle might do him good. He applies for and gets a position as counselor at the New Beginnings Arts and Drama Camp for Girls in rural New Hampshire. He easily adopts the posture of the bohemian traveler, fresh from New York's heady art milieu. He's a friendly and engaging instructor, always patient with his young charges, and having studied film with Roman Polanski makes him a rare find for camp administrators.

Everyone seems to like the charming, gregarious John Berger. When he returns to New York to pick up his studies in the fall, the future seems a road of endless possibilities. He continues to excel in his studies. He spends his free time wandering the streets of Manhattan, camera hanging from a strap around his neck. He walks the sidewalks, pointing his camera and filling his portfolio with images rendered complete by his artist's vision. He is more certain than ever of his career path. The world, three-dimensional in its complexity, becomes comprehensible when viewed this way. Images to be possessed, manipulated, bent to his will.

The lines of New York, the colors and movement become extensions of his eye. What he views becomes part of him. What he sees, he possesses. And wherever he looks, young women own the streets with their easy grace, meeting his eye with a piercing boldness. These are not the girls of his youth of San Antonio and Mexico, quiet eyes watching their feet as if to avoid the smallest misstep. This new generation of women, his generation, are bold, occupied with their own sense of purpose. They look back at him, smile or wink as he snaps photos of them in their mini skirts or skin-tight bell-bottoms, their flowery blouses and leather sandals. This is the world he was born to be in, and the world he creates with his photographer's eye. The world he possesses inside and out.

Detective Hodel learned that Alcala had moved back in with his mother following his discharge from the Army in 1964. Relieved of the pressures of military life, he seemed to be returning to normal. He was the old Rodney again, talking about the future and the life he planned to carve out for himself. He'd always been interested in photography and now decided on it as a career path. He went to the library, gathered materials from California schools,

eventually deciding on UCLA. With his excellent high school record and high IQ, it was within reach. After attending classes at Cal State to earn the credits necessary for transfer, he was admitted into UCLA's liberal arts program. He thrived at the lively Westwood campus, easily making friends and going on dates. On weekends, he would take forays to the desert or mountains, the many beaches, always with camera at hand.

And more and more, he found himself taking photos of young women who were happy to pose for him, perhaps in hopes of being discovered by the handsome young photographer. L.A. was thick with aspiring actresses, newly arrived with fantasies of a glittering future in Hollywood's land of dreams. And Rodney was only too happy to become their stepping stone to stardom. He knew how to flatter, told them they were the next Monroe or Natalie Wood. His career at UCLA was unremarkable, except for its consistency. Rodney studied hard, earned good grades, avoided the excesses of the day. When in 1968 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts,

it seemed he was on his way to a career in photography. As LAPD detective Steve Hodel was learning, little about Rodney Alcala stood out from the ordinary until the morning he attacked young Tally Shapiro. Leon Borstein feels a little foolish asking officers of New York's Upper East Side Precinct to accompany him over to his girlfriend's apartment on 83rd Street. But her family hasn't heard from her all day, and when he went over to her place and knocked at her door, there was no response. Cornelia Michael Crilly, or Michael as she was known to her friends, just moved in and was eager to show off her new digs.

Not hearing from her all day, Michael's mother called Leon and asked him to check on her daughter when he got off work. Borstein is an assistant district attorney in Kings County, and he knows most of the cops at the precinct. Several accompany him to the apartment. It's just before 9 p.m. on June 24th, 1971, when they arrive at Michael's door and knock loudly. When there's no response, the officers

ask Borstein to stay in the hall. They leave the building and climb up the fire escape. One of the policemen turns on his flashlight and peers into the dark apartment. Nothing appears out of place. They use the back end of the flashlight to break in, then climb through the window and turn on the lights. Michael and her two roommates are in the process of moving in, and haphazard furniture and shipping crates are all over the place. The kitchen is empty except for cardboard cartons. They glance into the first bedroom. When they find nothing amiss, they move on down the hall.

At the door of the second bedroom, they stop cold. Lying on the floor is the battered body of a young woman. A nylon stocking has been tied around her neck so tightly, her skin has formed a dark groove around it. What appear to be articles of her clothing are stuffed in her mouth. Bite marks are visible on one of her breasts. Leon Borstein looks up as the front door opens. He knows immediately from the look on the cop's face that it's bad.

I'm sorry, says the officer, leaving only a few seconds for his words and tone to settle in. But I'm going to need you to identify her. For a moment, Leon's mind races, casting about for some alternate explanation to what he knows is happening. He's been in law enforcement long enough to know what those words mean, but he can't bring himself to move, can't go into that apartment. He tells the cop he doesn't want to see her that way. The officer nods, offering a brief description of the woman lying dead only yards away. Young, twenties, pretty, dark-haired. Leon steadies himself against the wall and nods.

And even in the haze of shock and disbelief, the assistant DA knows what will happen next. With no signs of forced entry, it appears Michael let her killer in, which means she likely knew him. As her boyfriend, suspicion would naturally fall on Leon. When the officers ask him to accompany them back to the station, he numbly complies, suddenly in an alien and incomprehensible world.

He will answer their questions, try to eliminate himself as a suspect as expeditiously as he can, so that the police can set about finding the monster who did this. Even more painfully, he knows it will fall upon him to tell Michael's mother. And as much as he would like to avoid it, he knows he will be the one to positively identify his girlfriend's body at the morgue, to spare her family the gruesome chore. girlfriend's body at the morgue to spare her family the gruesome chore. When he gets there, he knows there is no way to brace himself for what is to come. She lies on the stainless steel tray, a sheet pulled up over her breasts.

Vorstein tries to regain composure as he exits the room, leaving her body to the medical examiner. The autopsy will determine the cause and manner of death to be asphyxiation by strangulation. The examiner will document all the defects perpetrated upon her, mostly while she was alive. He will notice a dried substance around the deep bite marks on her breast. Though there is no data bank for comparison, he will take a sample to see if DNA is present. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal

quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now, exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me,

and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding, and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app,

Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Slowly, Tali Shapiro became more responsive. At first, she was able to move her fingers and toes or open her eyes. Then she focused on her mother and father standing at her bedside. She smiled at them and whispered a few words. Her parents tried to hide their horror at how bruised and battered she was, but somehow she was still there, the Tally they knew. Every day, the doctors would perform more tests to see if she would walk again, to see if she had suffered any personality changes due to the trauma to her brain.

Each day, she seemed more alert, and soon she was able to carry on a conversation. She asked about school, if she was in trouble for missing class. Mercifully, she could recall almost nothing about the attack. When detectives gently questioned her, she remembered Alcala showing her a photograph in his apartment. Then everything went black. Investigators surmised that was when he struck her from behind, rendering her senseless. What he did to her after that, he did while she was unconscious. In the summer of 1971, John Berger returns to the Green Hills of New Hampshire for the summer.

to the green hills of New Hampshire for the summer. Having completed his studies at NYU, he looks forward to another season at the New Beginnings Arts and Drama Camp. The teenage girls are eager students, and he enjoys the attention they pay their handsome young photography instructor with his hippie-looking long hair and easy manner. He likes how they look at the camera as he takes their picture,

striking silly or sexy poses, impromptu models amid the verdant local flora. And he knows how to focus on each girl as if she's the only one who matters, as if she's somehow special. When he looks at her through the camera's eye, there is no question she has his full and intimate attention. Beyond describing different lenses and film stocks, he offers himself as a confidant and confessor, friend and advocate. If there's anything they need to know on their entry into adulthood, John is always ready to lend an ear and offer advice. On August 10th, two of the young campers decide to walk to the county post office to mail some letters home.

It's a muggy day, and when the skies finally crack open with thunder and rain, the girls are safely inside. Happy with the excuse to stay in town longer, the pair decide to make an afternoon of it, wandering the old building as if it were a museum. They giggle when they spot the FBI's most wanted list, fixed to the wall like a movie prop. Their faces are in profile, or staring back at them,

black and white images over descriptions of their crimes, murder, arson, bank robbery. The girls invent instant fictions to go with the crimes. Daring escapes from moving trains. Midnight crossings into the Mexican desert. But the game ends abruptly when their eyes land on a familiar face. They stare at it a moment,

then at each other, and back at the photo. No way, exclaims one. They lean closer to the poster, as if to somehow resolve this impossibility. Is it some kind of mistake? A lookalike? It can't possibly be John Berger, one of their favorite counselors. But no, they reassure themselves. The name above

the photo says Rod James Alcala. The more the girls read, the more they're convinced it isn't the photography instructor they know. The fugitive is wanted for kidnapping and rape. It says he hit an eight-year-old girl on the head with an iron bar, that he should be considered very dangerous. Well, that decides that the girls conclude that John they know, who jokes around with them and is always patient and eager to help, could never hurt a little girl. They can't imagine him hurting anyone. They look at the wanted poster again. If it isn't John Berger, it's his identical twin. Didn't they hear somewhere that everyone has a double?

Maybe Rod James Alcala is John Berger's double. Camp director George Schenkman looks up as the two girls enter his office, talking quickly, half to him, half to each other. Over his years at New Beginnings, he's gotten used to handling squabbles and petty grievances. But when he gets them to focus, he realizes this isn't the usual teenage drama. They tell him they've seen a wanted poster at the post office that looks like their photography instructor, John Berger. He smiles at the girls' vivid imaginations, tells them not to worry, it's probably just a coincidence. John is one of the art camp's most admired and reliable counselors.

This is his third season at the summer camp, without a hint of impropriety. Still, more out of curiosity than concern, he decides to make the short trip into town to check it out for himself. When he sees the poster, he's no more certain than the girls. It certainly bears a striking resemblance to the popular instructor. Is it possible that easygoing, affable John Berger is really Rod James Alcala, wanted for kidnapping and raping a little girl? Director Shankman returns to the camp certain of one thing. He's not going to risk the safety of his young charges.

As soon as he's back in his office, he puts in a call to the FBI. It was almost a month before Tally Shapiro was strong enough to return to the family's suite at the Chateau Marmont. More months would pass before she was strong enough to walk unaided. By the time she returned to class, the school year was half over. Her resilience showed through as she returned to the life of a schoolgirl. But the trauma of events proved too much for the family. They couldn't bear living in such proximity to where the attack had taken place.

in such proximity to where the attack had taken place. It was hard to drive down Sunset without recalling how Alcala had lured Tally into his car. And the apartment where the assault had occurred was within minutes of her school. That the monster who had so disrupted their lives was still on the loose was a constant source of anguish and concern. Tally's parents talked it over and presented the plan to their children.

Her father would quit his job in the music industry, and the family would leave L.A. Within months, they were resettled in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Tally continued to put back together the pieces of her childhood. The family would not return to the United States again, not even to testify at the trial of her attacker. Camp Director Schenkman is taken aback by the response he gets from the FBI. Far from putting him at ease about a possible case of mistaken identity, the agent immediately warns him

to do nothing that might alert John Berger. He's to act normally around the photography instructor until the authorities arrive. The two girls who spotted the wanted poster need to keep quiet about it. If it is the fugitive, he's already escaped once and won't hesitate to flee again if he senses anything out of the ordinary. Keep your composure around him. Alcala is highly intelligent and may pick up on any suspicious cues.

Above all, do not allow him an unguarded moment with any of the girls. When several cars pull up on the grounds of New Beginnings in the morning, campers and counselors don't know what to make of them. As the dark-suited men emerge, they are met by Camp Director Schenkman. They proceed to the cabin where John Berger is staying. They proceed to the cabin where John Berger is staying. A buzz ripples through the kids as they watch the popular counselor being brought out in handcuffs and placed in the back of one of the cars. The two girls who spotted the wanted poster nudge each other, wide-eyed and transfixed.

Unlike in the movies, there is no commotion or protest, no gunplay or wild chase through the woods. John Berger walks quietly to the car and gets in. More than anything else, he seems perplexed, as if this is all a mistake that will soon be corrected. As the cars drive off, rumors begin to spread. Director Schenkman assembles the girls for an impromptu meeting. He tells the campers that John is suspected of being Rod Alcala, a fugitive from California, living under an assumed name. He is accused of very serious crimes, though it's yet to be determined if he's guilty.

He'll be flown to California so the truth may be uncovered. Schenkman doesn't go into details of the crimes Alcala is accused of. The gathering lasts only a few minutes and the girls are asked to go about their activities as they normally would. But for the rest of the day, the camp is abuzz with wild speculation. Detective Hodel looked out the window as the plane touched down on the landing strip. He knew he was about to face the man he'd been pursuing for almost three years. The past 24 hours had been a flurry of activity. He had received word yesterday from the FBI that a man resembling Rodney Alcala was working as a counselor at a rural arts camp for girls.

The thought of Alcala around the teenagers chilled Hodel. Later, the FBI agent in charge called with the news that John Berger's fingerprints matched those of Alcala from his Army records. A rush went through the LAPD cop as he realized they finally had the man who had come so close to killing young Talley. He packed a skimpy overnight bag and booked the red-eye to Boston's Logan Airport. bag and booked the red-eye to Boston's Logan Airport. After landing, Hodel rented a car and drove the two hours to George's Mills, New Hampshire. At the jail, he was brought to the small interrogation room to meet a suspect. Alcala looked up at the detective with a smile. He seemed unconcerned, as if eager to clear up what was obviously a mistake of some sort.

unconcerned, as if eager to clear up what was obviously a mistake of some sort. Hodel informed him that he was the officer in charge of investigating the kidnap and assault on Tally Shapiro three years earlier. Alcala sat there and nodded, taking it all in as if it were a matter of unpaid parking tickets. Hodel was not in a mood to play games. He asked Alcala how he could have committed such a savage assault on an eight-year-old. This time, Alcala didn't deny the accusation. Instead, he referred to himself in the third person,

as if he had really become John Berger, affable photography instructor at the New Beginning summer camp. I don't want to talk about Rod Alcala and what he did, he told the detective. Hodel stared at the suspect for a long moment, not knowing what to make of him. Was he really exhibiting some kind of fractured mental state, unable to come to terms with what he had done? Or was it an act? Was Alcala already laying the groundwork for a diminished capacity defense? Of course, that kind of determination would be left to the courts. Hodel's job was to get his prisoner back to L.A., where he would face charges of child rape and attempted murder.

On the next episode of The Dating Game Killer, after being convicted of child molestation, Rodney Alcala becomes a model prisoner and works the system to convince the parole board he is no longer a threat. Upon his release, he immediately abducts another teen. This is episode one of six of The Dating Game Killer from Hollywood and Crime. If you like what you've been hearing, be sure to tell your friends and fans of true crime. We're counting on you to help us spread the word.

The dating game killer was written and directed by Larry brand and produced by Rebecca Reynolds, Tracy Patton, and Jim Carpenter for Hollywood and crime recorded and designed by Julian Nicholson edited by Eric C. Fuentes and Julian Nicholson and mixed by Mark Holden for the invisible studios, West Hollywood.

Executive Producers Marshall Louis, Stephanie Jens, and Hernán López. You've just listened to Episode 1 of The Dating Game Killer. In episode two, the chilling truth about Rodney Alcala begins to emerge. As detectives investigate the brutal murders of young women across Los Angeles, a missing persons case in New York hints at Alcala's deadly secrets. Meanwhile, the man who twice convinced prison psychiatrists that he was rehabilitated appears on the popular TV show The Dating Game. But when his date with The Bachelorette is canceled, Alcala's anger propels him to commit more vicious crimes. Can investigators uncover the evidence they need to stop this ruthless killer before he claims his

next victim? The stakes couldn't be higher in this race against time to catch a serial predator. Episodes 2 through 7 are available exclusively on Wondery Plus ad-free. By subscribing, you can binge the rest of this gripping season and dive into other captivating true crime and history podcasts. Don't miss a moment of this chilling story. Download the Wondery app and subscribe to Wondery Plus today. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone.

Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up. I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace,

from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus.