Officer Who Arrested ‘Dating Game Killer’ Says This 1 Thing Is What Led to Rodney Alcala’s Downfall

Mar. 15, 2025

Rodney Alcala in 2010.Photo:Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty

Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty

Rodney Alcala’s infamous appearance onThe Dating Gamemay not have resulted in an actual date, but it did set him up for a date with destiny.

Craig Robison, a retired detective with the Huntington Beach Police Department, headed the investigation into Alcala before his 1979 arrest. Now, he is giving an exclusive look into the mind of the notorious California serial killer, whose real-life case inspired the recent Netflix specialWoman of the Hour.

Alcala — who isconfirmed to have murdered at least seven women and girlsand suspected of more — had “a very high IQ,” Robison toldFox Newsin a new interview, “but the problem with a guy like that, I think, is most of his IQ isn’t focused on developing personal relationships …  it’s all focused on my next victim and how to exploit women and girls.”

Rodney Alcala in 2010.Michael Goulding/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty

Michael Goulding/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty

Despite his intelligence, however, Robison was able to pin the convicted murderer down, and it was all thanks to his appearance onThe Dating Game.In the episode, contestantCheryl Bradshawselected Alcala out of a lineup of three for a date, though it was later revealed that she opted out of the commitment, reportedly telling the producers that he was “very strange” and had “weird vibes.”

The breadcrumb trail that led to the serial killer’s capture can be traced back to the June 1979 disappearance of one of his victims, 8-year-old Robin Samsoe. Investigators had Bridget Wilvurt — Samsoe’s friend who was on the beach with her when she disappeared — sit with a sketch artist, Robison recalled to Fox News. She got a good look at Alcala as he had approached her and Samsoe and asked to take their picture.

The composite drawing that resulted from Wilvert’s description was subsequently released to the public, and a tip line was established, the retired detective explained. Soon after, detectives received a fateful call from someone who had seen Alcala in a very unexpected place: his television.

Rodney Alcala in 1980.Bettmann Archive

Bettmann Archive

“He’s reading the newspaper,” the retired detective recalled of the officer, “and you hear [Dating Gamehost] Jim Lange come on … he says, ‘And now let me tell you a little bit about your date … he’s this, he’s that, he’s a photographer, he’s all of these great things … meet your date — Rodney Alcala.’ ”

“If you believe in divine guidance … that certainly would be a good clue,” he later added. “The finger of God comes down and says, ‘Hey, you should look at this guy.’ ”

With his long rap sheet and most recent rape case, all signs pointed to Alcala. Then, with her friend still missing, Wilvert confirmed that he was the man they met on the beach. Detectives brought the elementary student into the police station, and when she saw Alcala’s face, “You could see a complete change in her demeanor,” Robison told Fox News.

“It was like her blood ran cold,” the retired cop added.

The month after she disappeared, authorities discovered Samsoe’s remains in a mountain ravine, per Fox News. Weeks later, Robison arrested Alcala for her murder.

But the investigation into the now-convicted killer didn’t stop there, and Robison and his team soon uncovered a Seattle storage locker brimming with “boxes and boxes” of implicating evidence like photographs and jewelry. “Trophies,” according to Robinson — including earrings that Samsoe’s mom recognized as her daughter’s.

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In 1980, Alcala was sentenced to death for Samsoe’s murder; the judgment was reversed in 1984, though, and he was granted a new trial. He was sentenced to death again in 1986, only for that judgment to be overturned in 2003.

However, prosecutors soon discovered that Alcala’s DNA matched evidence connected to four other women murdered between 1977 and 1979: Jill Barcomb, 18; Jill Parenteau, 21; Georgia Wixted, 27; and Charlotte Lamb, 31. In 2010, a jury convicted Alcala on five counts of first-degree murder, for whichhe was sentenced to deathagain.

source: people.com