True Crime All The Time - Rodney Alcala Part 2

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Rodney Alcala was an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for multiple murders. Alcala has been conclusively linked to eight murders, but authorities suspect he could have killed over 100 people during his travels around the country. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the infamous serial killer Rodney Alacala. In part two of the Rodney Alcala episodes, we’ll cover the known crimes he committed in 1979, how he was finally apprehended, and the outcomes of his many legal proceedings. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 452 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. Gippee, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about yourself? I am doing great. I'm actually in a super mood after we did our Patreon video and audio. For those of you who are on Patreon, I know not everybody watches the video. You should really watch this one because Gibby has on a video. shirt that says furgy, furgy, furgy, furgy, furgy. The problem is it came a little smaller than he was expecting it to. It was.

And he kind of looks like the Hulk after he's already transferred into the Hulk from Bruce Banner, this thing is almost bursting at the seams. Yeah, it was definitely squeezing me. Yeah. So you got to, you got to check out that visual. I thought we're going to have to cut it off me at one point. Well, you'd be on your own there. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts.

We had Ashley. Hey, Ashley. Jonathan Humber's. What's going on, Humbers? Hey, Adams. Hey, Adams. Selina Salman. Hey, thanks, Selena.

H. Just Stephen H. Or Stevench. Oh, hey, Stevench. I'm not sure on that one. Tina Borchick. What's going on, Tina? Gene Vancell.

Hey, Vancell. Amy. Good old Amy. Audrey Miracle. Hey, you are a miracle. And last but not least, Anna Pyrde Luca. Okay, Pyrde Luca. So we appreciate the new support.

And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Adele. Rolling through the river. Or rolling in the deep. That one, yeah. Big Adele fan, are you? She's in my playlist. Been with us a long time. So we appreciate that.

So Gibbs, right now we have a new episode out on true crime all the time unsolved where we're talking about Dr. Sneha and Philip. This is a very fascinating case. She died on September 11, 2001 during the terrorist attacks in New York City. She was thought to have been a casualty of the attacks, but she was seen alive the day before. And there's really no evidence placing her at the World Trade Center on. the 11th. So there are a lot of questions surrounding her death. And quite a few of them come from her lifestyle, which we'll get into. Very interesting case. Yes, it is. So check it out. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am ready. We're on to

part two of Rodney Alcala. In part one, we covered Alcala's early life, his known crimes in the late 60s and 70s and how sentencing laws at the time allowed him to continue praying on vulnerable young women and girls and you know those are always tough they make us mad to make the audience mad right how can this guy be out after he's already been not just accused but convicted of doing really horrible things exactly and they let him out very early in part two will cover the known crimes he committed in 1979 and how he was finally apprehended for good. According to a later confession, Alcalo picked up a 15-year-old girl named Monique Hoyt on February 12, 1979. Monique was hitchhiking in Riverside County. They drove to Alcalo's residence and spent

the night together. He claimed they had consensual sex. The next morning they went to the mountains where he took nude photos of Monique and photos of the two of them performing simulated sex acts together per people versus Alcala. At some point, Monique became frightened and began to scream and struggle. Rodney tied her up,

stopped a shirt in her mouth, beat her unconscious with a rock and raped her. He said he hadn't planned to do this but was incoherent and frightened because the situation got out of hand. Sounds like the situation was out of hand from the get-go. Yeah, and does it also bring into question his claims of spending the night together and having consensual sex?

Because it almost makes it sound like the minute he starts doing, you know, something a little out of the ordinary the next day, she becomes very, frightened. So did they really have consensual sex the night before? I don't know. He drove Monique back to town. She was able to escape when they stopped at a gas station and she notified the police. Monique identified Alcala in a photo lineup that day. He was arrested and confessed to choking and raping her. He was charged with kidnapping and rape. His bail was set at $10,000, which his mother paid. Man, she was lucky to escape that. Oh, absolutely.

Alcala gave his notice to the LA Times in April, and his last day was in May. While out on bail, he committed another murder. On June 14, 1979, 21-year-old Jill Parento was found dead in her Burbank apartment. Jill was a computer program key punch operator. She left work on June 13th to go to a baseball game. game. She didn't come to work the following morning. So the police went to her apartment to check on her and found signs of forced entry. An intruder had broken in through the windows and cut himself, leaving blood evidence behind that would later secure a conviction. Jules' body was found on the floor,

propped up by pillows. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and strangled. He's just a brutal guy. He is. I mean, there's no two ways around it. He was an absolutely brutal monster. But, you know, the one thing I want to talk about is, you know, he's out on bail for a charge of kidnapping and rape. What's the thought? I get it. People get bail.

I understand that. But is there no thought that he's going to immediately go and do these things again while out on bail? Jill's friend, Catherine Bryant, would later test. testify that she and Jill met Rodney Alcala several times before at a club. Just six days later, Alcala murdered a young girl. 12-year-old Robin Sampso. When missing on June 20th, 1979, Robin was supposed to start her first day of work, answering phones in exchange for lessons. Before that, she went to Huntington Beach with her close friend Bridget Wilbert. A man approached

them and asked to take their picture. Bridget told CBS. I could definitely see a gentleman with dark hair. I mean, he honed in on us, like really like a shark in the water honing in on a seal. And he goes, can I take your girls' picture? And Robin goes, sure. And all of a sudden out of nowhere pops up Jackie Young, my neighbor. You know, she goes, Bridget is everything okay? Are you girls all right? And man, He took that camera, turned his head down, and you could almost see like smoke coming off his dress shoes. He just, he was gone. Did not hesitate to get the heck out of there, did he? No, because I think he saw his kind of preferred scenario, right?

Vulnerable girls or young women together or alone, now all of a sudden you've introduced. maybe an adult, an older neighbor. Yeah. And he wants no part of that. So he gets the heck out of Dodge. The girls went back to Bridget's apartment at 3.10 p.m. Robin had to hurry to get to her 4 p.m. ballet lesson. So Bridget offered her, her bite.

That was the last time she saw her friend. Robin's ballet teacher called her mom when she didn't show up for a lesson. and her family immediately reported her missing. The police questioned Bridget, and she said she believed the man who took their picture could be responsible. Bridget and witness Jackie Young helped create a composite sketch that was crucial to the investigation.

The sketch was shown by the media on June 22nd. And I get it. This seems like a very reasonable conclusion to draw. Or you have this guy who's, seems a little creepy wants to take the girls's photos, all of a sudden one of them goes missing. Not that hard to figure out that it's possible this guy had something to do with it. Yeah, sounds like maybe stalked her and kept an eye on her and took advantage of a situation when it came available to him.

Yeah, I think there was a reason why he chose them. Did it have something to do with a certain look that he was attracted to? we don't know, right, all the time what's going through these guys' heads, but it could be any number of things. Two days later, Alcala chemically straightened his naturally curly hair. When the curls started to grow back, he cut his hair short. He also replaced the carpet in his car, around this time, claiming he spilled gas on it. I mean, that's a big deal. Changing your carpet out in your car. Yeah, that's not the easiest thing in the world. now why would someone want to do that okay spilled gas you spilled some kind of toxic chemical and you couldn't get it to come out that would be one reason another reason would be to cover up blood and a you know a crime scene yeah i mean a lot of times we're talking about people replacing you know carpet or linoleum some type of flooring in a house right after somebody goes missing

that is always a red flag to me. Not that people don't do it. They do it all the time every day around the world. It's the timing of it that seems suspicious. Like with the car, I'm like, why just replace the carpet? I would think you would just go ahead and burn it. Because that's not suspicious at all? Well, it's suspicious either way, but at least if you burn it,

you're going to eliminate any potential evidence, right? Okay. I'm going to play devil's advocate on your point here. Yeah. Well, at the same time, trying to not stomp all over it. But, you know, replacing carpet, okay, not everybody's going to know you did that. Yeah. Setting your car on fire and having to find a different mode of transportation, I think a lot more people might be privy to that.

Good point. Good point. I'll give you that. I'm just saying. But if you really want to get rid of. of the evidence, then I see what you're saying. But it's also very interesting Gibbs that this composite sketch comes out. He knows it's him, right, in this sketch.

So he's going to great lengths to try to alter his appearance. And the best way for a lot of people is to, you know, mess with their hair. Yeah. Color it. Cut it a different way. What the heck what could you do at this point? wear a toupee maybe like George Costanza. That'd be interesting to see.

Yeah. Maybe we'll get one one time and just see what it looks like. After receiving several tips about a man who raped and attempted to murder an eight-year-old, Detective Craig Robinson decided to look into Alcala as a possible suspect in the SAMHSA case and went to Riverside to obtain his mugshot. After comparing the mugshot to the composite sketch, Robinson said, announced Alcala as a person of interest. So obviously he did look a lot like the composite sketch. Witnesses at the beach on the day Robin disappeared also identified Alcala in a photo

lineup. On July 2nd, Robin's body was found in a remote mountain ravine by a member of a forest service spraying crew. She was found about 40 miles from where she was last seen. Animals had scavenged her remains. Her skull was separated from her neck. Her lower teeth were fractured in a manner consistent with a blow from a hard object. A kitchen knife was found nearby that had a minute drop of human blood on it. Type unknown. A beach towel was found nearby with type A stains on it. Type A blood was also mixed with rocks and leaves in the area. The only article of clothing found at the scene was a single tennis shoe with the name Robin on it. So sad.

Yeah, I mean, we're talking about a 12-year-old girl here. Yeah. And, you know, the description is rough, right? Skull separated from the neck, lower teeth fracture. Now, some of that could have been done by animals while they were scavenging, but the teeth, they made it sound like that came from an actual blow, right, with some type of object. So just imagining that, you know, is cringe-worthy. According to People v. Alcala, due to the advanced decomposition, it was impossible to

determine the time and cause of death and whether Robin had been sexually assaulted. Rodney Alcala's former parole officer also saw the composite sketch and called the police suggesting they take a look at him. At the time, he was still living with his mother in Monterey Park, close to the mountains where Robin was found. So multiple people, Gibbs, saw this composite sketch, and their first thought was, oh, that looks like Rodney Alcala. Yeah.

So I think two things. One, the people who gave the descriptions were very accurate. and two, the artist was very good at turning that into a sketch based on their description. To me, that's just a total talent to be able to do something like that. Yeah, it is because I can't draw anything. And so anybody who can really draw, I'm amazed by it. But when you think of these sketch artists, okay, they're not, you know, Bob Rock, Rossing it, right? They're not drawing a little happy tree here and a happy tree over here.

They're having to try to recreate a real person, not ever having seen this person, only based on what people are telling them. It would be so difficult to do. Not to besmirch Bob Ross in any way because, you know, he was awesome. And he had that hair that you just wish you could have. loved it. I mean, everybody loved the guy. He's Bob Ross. Yeah, I said that. On July 8th, Alcala told his girlfriend Elizabeth Keller that he wanted to move to Dallas to broaden his career opportunities. On July 11th, he rented a storage unit in Seattle,

Washington. The next day, he returned to L.A. to see Elizabeth and tell her he would be moving to Texas. permanently on July 24th. That very day, the police showed up at his home with a warrant. Alcala was booked on suspicion of murder and had his bail set at $250,000. Okay. You know, the first time, it was $10,000. His mother paid it. They opted to $250,000.

I mean, I think at the very least, you got to make it tougher for this guy to get back out on the street. Oh, for sure. Rodney attempted to get. given alibi after he was arrested. He claimed that at the time Robin disappeared. He was at Knottesbury Farm in Buena Park, applying for a job as a photographer for a disco contest. Disco.

I mean, this whole thing is very 70s. Yeah. I've never been to Knott'sberry Farm. I've heard of it. It's pretty iconic. I don't even know if it's still around. But a photographer for a disco contest. Disco, it doesn't get much more 70s than disco.

But I have a feeling that you know how to disco. Well, I did consult a little bit on Saturday Night Fever. I was only like four, but I think I did a pretty good job. Probably with a little point the finger in the sky. Yeah, that's where it came from. Alcalo's sister Maria Christine came to visit him in jail. Their conversation was recorded. At one point, Rodney told her he had a storage locker in the

Seattle that the police didn't know about, he asked her to clear it out for him. We've talked about this many, many times. How do these people know they're not being recorded? I mean, I think it's even more perplexing today with all the technology, the signs even say, hey, your calls are recorded and all of that. But it didn't really matter because the police had already found a receipt for a storage Junet in Seattle during the search of the house. On July 25th, an officer drove to Maria's home.

She and her mother provided alibis for Alcala on multiple occasions where he was witnessed elsewhere. And that's one of the real issues I have with alibis. You know, it comes up in a lot of cases where, you know, mom alibis her son. Yeah, he was home with me all night. Well, that could be true. Yeah. Or it could be a mom who doesn't want to see her son get in trouble. It could be a girlfriend who doesn't want to see her boyfriend get in trouble.

Alibis are a tricky thing, especially when it's just somebody's word. Yeah. It's not a timestamped picture or a video or clocking in at work. And even that one can be faked, as we've seen in some cases. But, you know, mom will probably always try to protect her kid. Yeah, I get that. Now, you shouldn't lie, but the parental instinct is very powerful. It is.

It really is. Now, where I start to draw the line is when you call me at like midnight and say, hey, I can't go into the details, but I was with you all night, if anyone. asks. Luckily, no one ever has because I'm not going to jail for you. I'm just saying that right now. Yeah, you're going to say the truth, huh? I don't know what I will say if it comes to that. Maybe I don't know what he's done, but you should definitely take a look at him. Did you ever go out to that piece of property owns? Also, make sure you search his vehicle thoroughly because he has a a lot of hidden compartments.

That day, officers returned to the house to search for the storage unit receipt they saw the day before, but they couldn't find it. Police obtained a warrant for the unit and flew to Seattle's search. Inside the storage locker, investigators found hundreds of photos of women, girls, and boys, many of them nude photos. Underneath all of the other items was a small silk bag full of earrings. Alcala claimed they were his. But when the police showed the jewelry to Robin's mother,

she recognized a pair of her gold studs. Robin liked to borrow. I'm just wondering if this was his sister Marie that went there, he got there before the police, and you opened this up and you've seen all this stuff. How do you feel about your brother at that moment? Yeah, maybe you're a little bit less inclined to stick with some of the alibis that you've given.

I mean, okay, somebody has to be. photos, naked photos of adult women, you know, you can make of that, which you will. But naked photos of young girls and boys, there's really no getting around that. There's no explanation for that. Investigator also found a pair of rose-shaped earrings that had DNA on them, which would later become a key piece of evidence. So this is the problem with the serial killers. You've mentioned it several times before. They like, to keep trophies. And it can a lot of the time lead to their downfall, right? Because you're basically saying, okay, here's all the evidence that I killed, you know, this many people.

When you think about having or keeping people's driver's license or, you know, things that can ultimately have DNA on them, that's never going to work out good for you in the end. on July 28th, Alcalo pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, committing a lewd or lascivious act upon a child under 14, murder and robbery. Okay, so there's a very serious charges, right, kidnapping, murder. Now, the lewd or lascivious act upon a child under 14, you would think would be a very serious charge. unfortunately it seemed back then that, you know, people weren't held accountable as much for those types of acts as they should have been. In October 1979, Alcala was supposed to appear in court for the attack on Monique Hoy in Riverside, but she was deemed unfit to testify and required

to undergo psychiatric evaluation. And that's something that we don't talk about a lot. You know, many times you're discussing the mental health of the killer or the attacker. But what about what happens to the victims emotionally? We know there's physical harm a lot of the time, but the emotional and mental after effects. In this case, you know, she's not able to even testify against him. because of what she went through. It just makes me hurt for her. Yeah.

You think about that. Oh, you feel horrible. You can imagine her possibly reliving, you know, this traumatic event over and over and over. And you can only wonder what that would do to somebody. Rodney Alcala's murder trial started on March 6, 1980. Despite a lack of forensic evidence, prosecutors sought to prove he was the man who kidnapped and murdered Robin Sampsa. A deputy coroner testified that Robin's remains were chewed by animals,

which accounted for their scattered and mutilated state. However, a forensic dentist opine that chips in the lower teeth were likely produced by forceful contact with a blunt object, whether before or after death. And again, we talked about it earlier, but to me that's very important. You know, when all you have, his skeletal remains. And when those skeletal remains are scavenged by, you know, predator animals, I think the defense has a lot of room to work.

Well, how do you know this was an injury sustained versus something done by an animal post-mortem? But this thought that her teeth were knocked out by a blunt object. or blunt force trauma rather than something done by animals. It is a big deal. It is. The prosecution presented witnesses who helped establish Alcala's pattern of approaching young women for photos.

15-year-old Tony Asparza and 14-year-old Joanne Murkland testified that they were at Huntington Beach on June 19th, 1979. A man they both identified as right. Rodney Alcala asked to take their pictures for a bikini photo contest. It's his thing, right? He's just trying to get in front of these girls. And, you know, the thing about Rodney is I just, I get the sense that he's just out trolling, right?

He has a camera and he's just out looking for young girls who, I'm assuming he finds attractive. and then he's going to approach them with this ruse. And it can probably vary, but it's all around him taking their picture. Yeah. Whether it's to getting to acting or in this case for a bikini photo contest. Did you ever tell the story on here about that Speedo photo contest you were in when you were in college? I don't know that I have told that one. Unfortunately, I was disqualified.

because my speedo was not big enough. You weren't expecting that one, were you? See, you try to set me up, and that's your downfall. He offered them a ride in marijuana and tried to get their phone numbers. The girls later contacted the police when they saw him on the news. 15-year-old Lori Works testified that she had a similar experience with Alcala on June 20, 1970, 1970, it's Sunset Beach. Police found her photo in the Seattle storage lot.

Lori recalled the encounter to 2020 years later saying, he was asking me all kinds of questions, like where I'm from, my name, my age. He tried really hard to get me in the car. He tried to get me in the car and leave my friend on the beach. She refused and saw him drive towards Huntington Beach. And like the question you're always asking, Gibbs, you know, what is Lori thinking? That many years later, after all the details about

Rodney Alcala come out, I can only assume she's thinking, if I had gotten into that car, I might not be around now to even tell this story. So, you know, he has this chest of pitchers. Sounds like some of them were the ones that he killed. And some of the pictures were from the women, girls that either got away or did not get in the vehicle with them and, you know. Right. The ruse didn't work on them, but he still took their picture. And that's, you know, the big part of this case, right? So many pictures.

And they haven't yet, and we'll get into it more as we go along, but they haven't yet been able to identify everyone. So they don't know if some of these women are still alive or if some of them are dead. It's just creepy to think about that. If you were her, one of these women, girls, this guy's got your picture. And what's he doing with is? And, you know, it's just stuff you don't even want to think about. In court, Robin's friend Bridget Wolford identified Alcala as the photographer.

Jackie Young also confirmed her previous identification. A key witness was Dana Krapa, a forest service worker who was a member of the spraying crew that found Robin's body. On July 2nd, according to People v. Alcala, Dana had been uncooperative in interviews and was evasive at the preliminary hearing. Most of what she said at trial was new,

and she seemed to be distressed on the witness stand. She previously admitted to almost getting into a collision with the distinctive Dotson, like the one Alcala had, on the evening of June 21st, 1979. The dotson was parked at rendezvous turnout, less than a mile from the crime scene. Beside the car was a man wearing Levi's in a stained shirt. His car appeared to have dirt kicked up under the tires.

Krapa confirmed these details at trial, but she revealed that she saw the same dots in the previous evening, between 5 and 5.30 p.m. The June 20th sighting occurred at Marker 11, a turnout less than 3.3.5.000. 300 feet from where Robin was found. She saw two people, a man and a small girl, with their backs, turned to her. The girl had long blonde hair, like Robin. They were walking up the ravine. Away from the road, the man was sort of forcefully steering the girl.

This is according to Dana. Kappa could not see whether he was touching or holding a weapon. The man turned and looked straight through. Dana. She thought something might be wrong, but continued on. And this, you know, testimony, it almost gives me the chills because you can only surmise that she was potentially seeing Rodney with Robin Samsoe. Yeah. Shortly before she was killed and her body dumped. Nightmarish. At the preliminary hearing, Krapa testified that the June 21st cited, occurred between 10 and 10.30 p.m. But at trial, she changed the time to 8 to 8.30 p.m. She also testified for the first time that she returned to Marker 11 between 7 and 7.30

on the evening of June 25th and walked up the ravine with a flashlight. According to People v. Alcala, with extreme difficulty, the prosecutor elicited that she had discovered a body. part of the face was gone and the body was uncloped and pretty cut up the hands and feet were missing but she couldn't say whether they had been cut off and couldn't remember whether the legs were hacked up the head was next to the body and she couldn't tell if it was severed nearby she saw a blue and yellow shoe and what looked like shorts and a t-shirt she did not see a night there were tire tracks in the area, she was horrified and left.

But she told no one what she saw. So we talked about the finding of these remains and the state they were in. But this testimony provides a lot more detail, right? If this is true and she is finding Robin's body, she's able to give quite a bit more detail than what authorities could gather from the skeletal remains alone. And let's face it, they're gruesome. Very gruesome. Informative.

Yes. Yeah, both. But then there's this part, you know, about her leaving and not telling anyone. And you just wonder why that is. I mean, what goes through your mind? You see a dead body. The scene is and would be absolutely disturbing. Why not call the police?

Kind of a mystery, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, is there some fear that they might think you had something to do with this? You know, are you going to have to explain why you're out late at night with a flashlight searching this ravine? Yeah, probably. Four days later, she was part of the spring crew when her coworker William Pepke came upon a pile of bones. He thought the remains were dear.

So he picked up a bone and threw it at her. however she knew it wasn't a deer that night she returned to the scene her flashlight caught on a shiny object she thought it was a knife she also saw the body and found blonde hair the shorts t-shirt and tennishu were still there three days later pepke found the skull and the police were called so you know to me this is it's just fascinating because it wasn't just once it was twice that you know know, she went out on her own late with a flashlight to check on this body. Yeah. Now, the first time she went out, there was still some body there.

And then eventually it was just skeletal remains. But it sounds like that process happened fairly quickly. Seem like it. Robin's mother, Marianne Cum, confirmed that the earrings found in the storage locker looked like a pair Robin likely borrowed from her. It had also been missing since Robin disappeared. Orange County inmate Robert Dubb testified that he overheard a conversation between Alcala and inmate Michael Herrera.

According to Dove, Alcala denied stabbing Robin and claimed he had only slapped her unconscious. Alcala later told Dove himself, nobody seen me take her. He also said he would never be convicted without, the film and the bike and the police would not find the button. And I think, you know, everyone's always leery about jailhouse informants, right? But let's just say this guy's telling the truth. And what Rodney Alcala said was true. He said he would never be convicted without the film and the bike.

And the police would not find the bike. So that means to me that somewhere he had pictures of Robin Sampson that he had taken, which would help tie him to her. And then this bike, obviously in his mind, would also tie him to the murder. In a conversation about photography, Alcala said he liked to go to a place in the mountains near water towers where you could see city lines. He also mentioned big Tunga Canyon. According to People v. Alcala, the crime scene was in Santa Anita Canyon, but it was near water towers and city lights are visible from the road nearby. Michael Herrera testified that Alcala said he had talked to a lawyer who thought the case was weak because it's no crime to take pictures at the beach and there was no positive identification. I guess you could say, oh, yeah, you're allowed to do that.

But it's still creepy. Taking pictures of multiple young women. Some of whom later wind up found dead? Yeah. Yeah, that's creepy. I mean, you also have to couple what they find in the storage shit. That's true. All these pictures of young girls and boys, some of them nude.

All right, what's this guy into? Alcala told Herrera, he got Robin in. into his car. By offering to pay her for some magazine photos that wouldn't take long, he told her he would drop her off where she needed to go. He had some trouble getting her bike into the car. Once they were driving, he locked Robin's car door. He was evasive about the route he took, but talked about the Pacific Coast Highway. Herrera indicated that he thought Robin was worried, scared, and wanted to get out of the car. At some point, Alcalo, Calais, asked Robin if she had ever posed nude.

Robin was crying. And Alcala started slapping the shit out of her. It was a weird situation and a trip. Now, you know, these are quotes, right? So, I mean, again, she's 12 years old. Yeah. Who, what 12 year old wouldn't be scared? Because at some point, Gibbs, she had to realize that this situation,

wasn't what she thought it was. Okay. He wants some pictures for, you know, a magazine. He's going to pay me for those. He's also going to drop me off at some point during that car ride. The realization has to set in. Either we're not going the right way or now he's asking me these questions about whether I've posed nude, you know,

uncomfortable is not strong enough a word. Yeah. Had to have been downright frightening. Yeah. Be freaking out. Robin lost consciousness and Alcala thought about taking her to some mountains. Herrera remembered the name San Gabriel. Alcala decided to leave her where she was.

He later abandoned the bike behind a thrifty drugstore or thrifty mart or some kind of thrift store. he denied shooting or stabbing Robin during this conversation with Herrera. So again, right, all of this is coming from Michael Herrera. We have no idea whether or not he was offered or any of the informants were offered anything for their testimony. But he's got a lot of details. He does. If they're real.

The bike Robin borrowed from her friend was never found. but the manager of a charity thrift store in El Monte testified he found a yellow bicycle with turned up handlebars behind the store in July 1979, which he sold. At trial, the jury was allowed to hear evidence regarding the attempted murder of Talley Shapiro in 1968 and the kidnapping and rape of Monique Hoy in 1979. This was meant to show that Alcala had a history of luring young girls. into his car, taking them to isolated places and subjecting them to forced sexual activity and violence.

Well, telling those two stories should have helped that out immensely. Yeah, but you know, it's interesting because a lot of times that type of stuff is not let in at trial. Like prior acts isn't always allowed in. And if it is, it can be used, you know, an appeal action later attempt. And I get it. The law is the law. But, you know, to me, what somebody has done in their past, and, you know, especially when it relates to the charge they're currently facing. It seems like the jury should know about that. But I get it, you know, legally, maybe it's, it's not allowed all the time. Is it they don't want the jury to be prejudiced against? Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, if this guy has a history of luring young girls into his car,

Seems like that's something that should be part of the case, but... I agree with you. Witness Tim Fallon testified for the defense that on June 21st, the day after Robin disappeared, he saw her riding a yellow bike in Huntington Beach 20 minutes before a police officer showed him her picture. He felt sure she was wearing a white t-shirt, but all other witnesses said she was wearing red. When asked to compare Robin's photo with that of a picture, he felt sure she was wearing a white t-shirt, but all other witnesses said she was wearing red. When asked to compare Robin's photo with that of a picture, another blonde girl, he identified them as the same person.

The defense sought to cast suspicion on a man named Raul Vasquez. Sierra Madre police officer Gerald Crawford described his encounter with Vasquez at 11.15 p.m. on June 22nd at the marker 11 turnout in the mountains, Crawford said that Vasquez was walking toward the road from the ravine. Crawford asked what he was doing. and Vasquez said he was relieving himself and waiting for his girlfriend. He didn't give his name when asked. Crawford patted him down and found a heavy wrench in his back pocket.

The guy seemed shaky, nervous and upset as though he didn't want the officer to find something in his car or in the area. The left rear passenger window of Vasquez's car was broken out and a large beach towel covered the back seat. There was broken glass on the room. rear seat floor and a six pack of beer on the front floorboard. I'm kind of picturing the car in Pulp Fiction after they clean it up. I mean, after they, after John Travolta accidentally shot that guy in the phase. Yeah. But, you know, this is a very interesting encounter, right?

Marker 11, this turnout, we said it. It was very close to where Robbins, remains were found. This guy seems, at least according to the police officer, nervous. Like he doesn't want him to discover something. And my thought is, unless you're just a slob or, you know, you put things off, this broken glass on the rear seat of the floor probably happened pretty recently. Yeah. You know that feeling when you're around somebody that you know they're trying to hide something with kids. Oh, kids especially.

Yeah, you learn that pretty early when they start trying to hide things from you. And you're like, I know you guys have done something. Or like when one of them eats a cookie and you ask them about it and they say, no, I didn't eat a cookie, but there's chocolate all over their face. Because they're terrible at lie. The prosecution called on rebuttal witness Robert Rose, who owned the body shop where. Vasquez worked in June 1979.

Vasquez's time card showed he worked full days on June 20th through the 22nd and always left after 5 p.m. The defense called Alcala's sister Maria Christine as an alibi witness. She stated that he was at her home near Monabello at 4.30 p.m. on June 20th. His sister Maria Tijuana testified that Alcala called her at her home in Freeman. on at 5.54 p.m. on June 20th, her bill showed that a call was made to her number from Alcala's home in Monterey Park. Alcala's former girlfriend, Elizabeth Callahard, testified that Alcala made a one-minute call to her home at 9.15 p.m. on June 21st and left a message. This call appeared on his bill. She called him back at 10.08 p.m. and they talked for 19 minutes.

So establishing some timeline, right? Yeah. I mean, and I think it's all important for the defense in trying to prove that, well, he couldn't have done this because he's at his home at this time. He's making calls at this time. As mentioned, Alcala lived with his mother, Anna Maria in Monterey Park. She denied making either the Fremont call or the call to Elizabeth Keller. her. She admitted that many of the Fremont calls on their bill were hers and that she had spoken

by phone with Elizabeth on a number of occasions since Alcal's arrest. She also conceded that her daughter, Maria Christine, often used her phone. So I think what you have there, you know, is the prosecution coming back and saying, well, he wasn't the only one at the home. Actually, it wasn't even his house. How hard would it? have been for his mom or, you know, one of his sisters, possibly to have made some of those calls. I mean, it's a valid point. And it goes back to the talking point of, you know, what would family be willing to do as far as as it relates to, you know, giving their loved one an alibi?

The defense also concentrated on discrediting witness Dana Krapa. William Pepke testified that just after their first payday, as firefighters, he cooked a pizza dinner for Crappa. She mentioned she had just had a near accident at rendezvous turnout. They received their first checks on June 13th or 14th. And June 21st was in the middle of a pay period. Krapa never mentioned another accident. And they both agreed the incident must have occurred during the first two weeks of June.

Under cross-examination, Krapa testified that her reluctance to come forward about finding the body was caused by overwhelming feelings of horror, guilt, denial, and depression. She had recurring nightmares that were not identical in details, which made her concern

they had confused her memories. She wanted to be certain of her facts before she went to the police. I mean, nothing wrong with that. No, but again, you know, we're questioning everybody. I think you have to question her as well. What she is saying could be absolutely 100% true. It could explain why she didn't go to police right after, you know, she first discovered

the body. But again, she also didn't call the police after the second time. So exactly what did she need Gibbs to be certain of the facts before she went to police? I guess is my question. Makes me wonder. I made and a few people wonder. Why such a delay? And I get it. You know, could you have these feelings?

Yeah. How could you not have some type of feelings about finding a body? But would those cause you, you know, not to call the police? The defense sought to show that much of her testimony was confabulated due to improper police interrogation methods that played upon her confusion. and emotional turmoil. Defense and prosecution experts gave conflicting views on whether the interview tapes suggested Crappa was brainwashed or led to false memories. And again, shocking that defense and prosecution experts would give conflicting testimony

or have conflicting views. I mean, that's basically what a trial is, right? when it comes to expert testimony. Yeah. Every now and then there's a curveball and everybody on both sides agrees on something, but that is so very rare. And you typically hope they agree with your side. Both parties?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Obviously you do. Finally, the defense called on inmate Joseph Drake, who insisted Alcala had given no information while in jail awaiting trial. According to Drake, he dove and Herrera. fabricated Alcala's admissions based on TV and newspaper reports as part of a plan to get a deal. There we go.

And again, that's why people are so leery of these jail, house informant confession type things. On April 30th, 1980, Rodney Alcala was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. On May 8th, the jury voted for the death penalty. On June 20, 1980, a judge upheld the jury's verdict and sentenced Alcala to death. On July 11th, Rodney Alcala was charged with the June 1979 murder of Jill Parenta. As we mentioned, two types of blood were found in Jill's apartment. One type was Jill's. The other matched Alcala to a degree that would eliminate 90% of people.

Pretty good. It's good for the judge. time. Now, obviously today, that elimination would be, or identification would be one in trillions probably, but they were dealing with the technology they had at the time. Investigators also said that Alcala met Jill at a bar and danced with her, but she rejected him when he tried to date her. She reportedly told friends that she began to receive obscene phone calls, a check of Alcala's whereabouts. showed that the call stopped when he was out of town.

He was just a monster. Yeah. And we're not even done, right, talking about the things that he did. But I think we know he murdered a number of people. But I think he terrorized a lot of people that he didn't kill. You and I have talked about obscene phone calls, what they can do, the type of psychological damage that can result from them. In September 1980, Alcala was convicted of the 1979 rape of Monique Hoyt in Riverside and sentenced

to nine years in prison. In April 1981, the murder case of Jill Parento was dismissed due to the discrediting of the only witness linking Alcala and Parento. The witness had committed perjury in an unrelated case. Now, you talk about a technicality, I get it. If you perjured yourself in one case, going to make it pretty tough for people to be able to rely on you in another. But if what the person had to say was actually true, then, you know, he really skirted this one based off of a technicality. Sure did.

Three years later on August 23rd, 1984, the California Supreme Court. reversed Al Cowell's conviction, ruling that the jury was improperly informed about his prior sex crimes. And that's why we brought that up, right? It happens quite a bit. Either it's ruled ahead of time that that information is not going to be allowed in, or as you rightly pointed out, a higher jury comes along later and says it was improper. And in this case, you know, they overturned his conviction. I'm still the mindset that I felt like the jury deserves to know about it, but I get it legally, apparently in a lot of places they don't and shouldn't.

Yeah, I guess they want them just to focus on the case for that time. Yes. Yeah. The court said that the information. about Alcala's past had an inflammatory impact on the jury, and there were not enough similarities between the earlier attacks and the Samso murder to waive the general rule that prosecutors may not refer to a defendant's criminal past. And maybe the judge in the case thought there was at the time. And a higher court just didn't see it that way. Yeah. So prosecutors would have

to try Alcala a second time to keep him in prison for. good in part three of the Rodney Alcala episodes will cover his second murder trial and the long path to securing justice for the victims as well as additional cases linked to Alcala in recent years. So as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, I think you said it, right? This guy, he was a monster and we're not done talking about, you know, what a monster he is. and there's also a lot that is unknown about Rodney Alcala because of all these photographs were some of these people who just allowed him to take photographs, maybe for money, but he didn't do anything to them.

Yeah. Or maybe because the opportunity wasn't there. Or I think in some cases, they've never been able to figure out, either who these people are or if they if they could figure out who they are they don't know what happened to them yeah so maybe they were a victim that makes a lot of people think that you know his victim count is so much higher than what is really known i also think he used these photos for his scouting maybe i mean as like a portfolio yeah that could be the case but it also could be what a lot of serial killers do,

they use these momentos and things to kind of relive, maybe gain sexual gratification from them or whatever. But that's it for our second episode on Rodney Alcala. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out?

Let's hear it. Hey, um, first time caller I just started listening in March and I've got a few episodes left. My fiance actually. got me into the show. I actually had an episode suggestion. I'm originally from Dawsonville, Georgia. I live in Maine, but the first

crime that really, like, hooked me was the case of Meredith Emerson. She disappeared like five minutes from my house. Her body was found within two miles of my middle school. Turns out she was killed by a serial killer. Just that'd be a really good case suggestion. Oh, I totally forgot. My name's Abby. My fiance's name's Brandon. He got me into the show. We told me for like six months, listen to these guys. They're really good. And yeah, I'm hooked. But yeah, I just figured I throw on a case suggestion. And yeah, that's it. Honestly, not a Mike or a Gibby fan. I'm a T-Cat fan. And, yeah, keep her head on a swivel. Keep your own time ticking.

Bye. You know, I could kind of hear she's kind of a Givvy fan. She just was apprehensive. about saying it and hurting my feelings. Yeah. I know that's the way you feel about all callers who say that. Well, you know. But we appreciate the voicemail and the fact that you did take the time. And we'll put that on the list.

Also, you know, thanks to the boyfriend. Absolutely. For recommending you the show and that kind of stuff really helps us out. He's got a pretty high IQ, I can tell. Yeah, you're drawn a lot of inferences from this very short. voice mail. I'm really. Sherlock.

So, gives, we actually had a lot of mailbag this week. We haven't had any for quite a while. We haven't. Mike Walston sent a Harley chip that escaped from the envelope. Oh, you hate when that happens. I do.

There was a whole about the exact size of a Harley chip, but appreciate the effort. Absolutely. And then Susan sent you a St. Louis Cardinal jersey that she said she thought was blank but when she got home and had to name gibby on it yeah and i think there's you know bigger forces that play there somehow it's a big mystery right there but i thank you stephanie barn sent a harley chip and rebecca watts sent this huge box of sweets from river street sweets in savannah

Georgia. Nice. Yeah. They're awesome. Also, my future son-in-law and his family, they lived in Savannah. Yeah. So my daughter's been down there. They've actually visited this place. Oh, really? And they like it. So they knew about it. Yeah, they knew about it. So when they saw the box, they were really excited. You're saying they tapped into it. Well, that's a given. Yeah, that's true. With my daughter and my wife, yeah, there's no sweets that are going to go unaccounted for. There you go. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Givy, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.