All language subtitles for People Magazine Investigates Surviving A Serial Killer - S01E01 - Surviving the Dating Game Killer

[narrator]
The sadistic monster
Rodney Alcala

tortured and posed
his victims.

Robbie Alcala was
a predatory, vicious
serial killer

from the '60s
all the way up to 1979.

He preyed on young women
and children.

And I hope and believe
that he will rot in hell.

[Alicia Dennis]
He even had the audacity

to appear on a TV game show

causing the media to dub him

"The Dating Game Killer."

We're going to have
a great time together, Cheryl.

[Alicia]
And there are potentially
many, many more victims

that we may never know about.

[Matt Murphy] When they found
those photographs

every hair on the back
of their neck stood up.

[Alicia] At People Magazine
we're telling the story

of someone who survived
this man's rampage.

And it's a huge responsibility
because they're trusting us

to share the truth
with the world.

She should have died,
but she was a fighter.

This woman kept her story
a secret for 50 years

until she realized
she wasn't the only survivor.

[theme music playing]

[Steve Hodel] The myth
of Hollywood in the '60s

was just that, it was a myth.

Kids would come out
expecting to find peace
and love,

but a lot of juveniles
were taken advantage of
by the mean streets

and some really
rough characters in Hollywood.

[Morgan Rowan] In 1965,
I was 13 years old

and I lived in
North Hollywood, California.

My family moved
from Rochester, New York

for my father to work
a classified government job.

My mom and my dad
had both been marines.

I went to a Catholic
girls' school,

and it was very restrictive.

My sister, who was
six years older than me,

had gone to that school.

And my sister
was the golden child,

but I had a hard time
in school because

I was timid, and shy,

and was always just
kind of on the edges.

Morgan Rowan's home
and school life

is conservative
in the mid-60s,

but she and her friends
would soon discover

a different side
of Los Angeles.

[Morgan] My old neighborhood.

Where I lived. Where I played.

By 13, I was really
branching out,

and from here you just
walk onto the corner

and you're right
on the other side

of the mountain
from Hollywood.

And Hollywood was
the place to be

when I was a teenager.

All the teenagers went there.

Was very easy for us
to just walk there,

hitchhike, and go across
the canyon.

And I think
going into Hollywood

was kind of a way
to convince myself

that I'm not
a Catholic school girl.

Was really
a pretty innocent time,

and it just got in my blood,
you know. [chuckles]

This, at one time,
was The Hullabaloo Club.

It was probably
the biggest, uh, nightclub
for teenagers.

They didn't serve alcohol,
so people of all ages
went there.

Everybody who was
ever famous in the 60s

pretty much has played
at The Hullabaloo Club.

It was the place to be.

[Christine Pelisek] The club
was a completely different

experience for her.

It was all free love,
and friends,

and so it was a lot different
than what she was used to

compared to that strict
upbringing she had.

But Morgan soon discovers

that it's not all about love,
peace, and harmony.

[Morgan] It took me 50 years
to finally tell this story.

It was a tough decision but,

[sniffles]
it's important to me.

-When I...
when I first met Rod?
-[producer] Mmm-hmm.

One second.

[chuckles]

[sniffles] Um...

[sniffles]

I was 13 when I first met Rod.

That day we'd gone down
to The Hullabaloo Club

to watch the bands come in.

We were standing
in the parking lot,

and there were two
older guys there.

My friend said,
"Hey, that's Rod.

He was very charismatic.

He really drew people to him.

He was tall, attractive,

laughed easily, told stories.

Young girls loved him.
They just loved him.

I never saw that as dangerous,

but actually it was.

He kept looking over at us,
smiling, winking, playful,

and eventually
he kind of waved us over.

And after a few minutes
my girlfriend saw somebody
that she liked,

and she kind of took off
and said, "I'll be back."

I wanted his attention

so I kind of lightly scratched
his arm with my fingernails,

and he put his arm around me,

hugged me tight, smiled,
and laughed.

So a couple of minutes later
I did it again,

and then he needed to go,

so he would start
kind of hugged me harder
like, "Stop,"

and said, you know,
"Don't do that again."

And as I was 13 and stupid
so I did it again.

And he grabbed my arm

and dragged me into an alley
at the back of the club.

I think he slammed my head
against the wall

because I was unconscious.

When I woke up

I had, uh, something pressing
hard against my chest.

What it was was
a big industrial dumpster.

He had put me behind it
and pushed it against me.

I ran and pounded on the door,

and the owner of the club
called his wife.

She helped me,

and put ice on my head,

and cleaned me up
a little bit.

After that I would make sure
I stayed away from him.

[Alicia]
Over the next three years

Morgan is sure to steer clear
of Rod

until one night
in early August of 1968.

[Morgan]
So when I'm 16 years old

I found out that we were
moving back to New York.

My father's job was done,

and we would be
transferring back.

I was so upset by it.

I didn't want to leave
my friends.

I thought moving
from Los Angeles to New York

was like moving back 20 years.

[Christine] Four days before
she's set to move back
to New York with her family

Morgan and her friends decide
to go celebrate
on the Sunset Strip.

[Morgan] Huge crowd of people,
and Rod just suddenly appeared
in the crowd.

And I was absolutely
creeped out.

Maybe an hour or so later

my two friends came up
and said,

"Come on,
we're all going to IHOP.

You want to go?"

So we got in a car.

My friend Mike
was on one side.

My friend Evie
was on the other.

I was in the middle.

Then suddenly, Rod got into
the driver's seat

and just took off.

He kept looking up
in the rearview mirror,

and just with this weird look
on his face,

which was disturbing.

So we went in the restaurant,

and he pretty much ignored me.

I got up, and I went to go
to the bathroom,

and I past a pay phone,

and my dad always taped a dime
inside all of my shoes

so I'd be able to call
for help if I was in trouble.

So I took the dime.

And I just kind of stood there
thinking about

that I had four days
with my friends,

and I wanted to be
with my friends,

and I didn't call my dad.

If I could go back
I would have called my dad.

When I turned around
Rod was just standing there
watching me,

and he said, you know,
"We're ready to go.
I'll take you back."

So I got back in the car.

We were driving back
towards the Strip,

and he suddenly made a turn,

and drove a couple of blocks,
stopped in front of a house,

and he said, "Come in, guys,
I've got pot."

My friends thought
that was great.

Everybody was sitting around.

Loud music. People talking.

I was anxious to leave,

and I didn't want to sit down
so I would just pace.

As I walked
into the other room

Rod grabbed my arm

and threw me into a bedroom.

And when I turned around
he was holding a metal bar.

He had brackets
on both sides of his door,

and he dropped the bar
down into the bracket

so you couldn't open the door.

I started to know
I was in trouble,

and I kept backing up
until I was against the wall.

He took his belt off
and wrapped it around
his fist.

I tried to...

...be brave and I said,

"You know you can't
keep me here."

And he just punched me
between my eyes

as hard as he could.

And my head hit the wall,

and sparks just flew.

I dropped to my knees.

I was seeing stars.

He had a knife,

and he cut the tie
off of my neck.

I could feel blood
start to flow down my chest,

and I remember thinking,

"He cut my neck.
I'm going to die."

[narrator]
The sadistic monster
Rodney Alcala

tortured and posed
his victims.

[reporter]
Alcala faces charges

in the brutal slayings
of four women in LA County.

[Alicia] A serial killer
can act like an animal

that is trying to get
his prey.

In early August of 1968,

inside Rodney Alcala's bedroom

Morgan is fighting
for her life.

His face was red and swollen,
and his eyes were glassy,

and he was just
out of control.

He just looked like an animal.

He took the belt,
and he folded it,

and he pushed it in my mouth,

and it blocked my airway,
and I was fighting for breath.

And he started punching me
in the stomach

until I could feel
my ribs breaking.

Then he took the knife
and cut the rest
of my clothes off.

And he stood up
to take his pants off, um,

put the knife down,

and I could see it next to me,

and I kind of fixated on it,
and I kept thinking,

"If I can move to where I can
get on top of the knife,

he can't pick it up
and kill me with it."

And he raped me.

Um, I fought really hard.

I was a virgin. This was...

...devastating.

I couldn't get up.
I couldn't move.

I couldn't even
find reality anymore.

I started to feel like
I was falling down a well.

Just a really long dark well.

[Alicia]
Despite the loud music
and partying,

Morgan's friend Mike
and her other friends

noticed that she and Rodney
are missing
from the living room.

[Morgan] He was on me,

and then there was
a lot of commotion,

and my friends
were pounding on the door,

but I kept slamming up against
the metal bar.

[banging at door]

And then suddenly there was
a feeling of cool air

-and glass breaking...
-[glass shatters]

...and noise,

and my friend Mike had

broken through the window.

And he got off of me,
then he went to the door,

took the metal bar
off the door.

And he stood there,

my blood all over his shirt,

and he just said, "Take her."

If my friend Mike
hadn't broken the window

I would definitely
not be here today.

He was definitely
going to kill me.

There is no doubt in my mind
he was going to kill me.

I ran out of the house.

I had just a ripped blouse on,
nothing else.

And I just couldn't
take it anymore,

and I just walked out
in the middle of the street

-and walked in front
of a moving car.
-[tires screeching]

[Alicia] The car screeches
to a halt

with a man and woman inside,

and Morgan and her friends
forced their way into the car,

and they all drive off.

[Morgan] I really don't know
where we went.

A woman just held me,
and I think she was praying.

I looked up at her face
and just the pain in her eyes.

You know, I just...
I could just see my mother.

At that moment I just knew
I could never ever

doubt my mother and my father.

I could never do this
to my mother, ever.

My mother was fragile.

My mother would not
have been able to handle it.

And my friend Michael took me
to his apartment
out at the beach.

I called my parents,

told them I'd be home
in time to leave,

that I wasn't coming home.

I didn't tell them why.

Michael's neighbor
was a male nurse.

He helped me cough the blood
out of my lungs,

and wrapped my ribs in tape,

and butterfly-closed
all the open wounds.

Michael took care of me
for four days.

And he really saved my life.

She eventually goes home,

and her parents are outside
in the driveway

just ready to drive back
to New York.

And so she climbs
into the back seat of the car,

and then they drive seven days
back to New York.

[Morgan]
When I got to New York

the person that I had been
was gone.

I was morose, and quiet,
and troubled.

I couldn't sleep at night,

and I would sleep next
to my parents' bed at night.

This is the only way
I could sleep.

My parents just thought,
you know,

that I was sad
from leaving California,

and I was upset.

Morgan does her best
to forget the assault,

holding all of the horror
of it secret,

but just a few weeks later,
back in Los Angeles,

Rodney Alcala will show
what a monster he really is.

I believe that people
need to know the truth

about what goes on.

For the first time
in more than 50 years

Donald Haines
is publicly sharing his story

of what happened
on September 25th, 1968.

[Doanld Haines] In 1968,
I was a sales representative,

and I drove a lot that day.

I drove up to Hollywood,

and I was going along
Wilshire Boulevard,

and I wanted to turn around,

but there was a car
in the crosswalk.

Inside was a man,

and he was talking
to a young girl,

evidently, on her way
to school,

and he was smiling
and talking to her,

just fixated
on this little girl.

That disturbed me.

He sees this little girl
getting into the car
with this man.

[Donald]
He had that little girl
in the backseat.

All the warning signs
were there.

He didn't like what he saw,
and he got worried.

So he ended up
following the car.

Donald Haines follows the car
a few blocks

until it pulls over
on the side
of De Longpre Street.

Donald watches the man
and the girl exit the car
and enter a house.

And I thought, "What the hell
do I do now?

He may have a gun. Who knows?"

So I thought, "Well,
I'll go find a pay phone

and I'll phone the police."

[Chris Camacho] In 1968,
uh, I was right,
right at this intersection,

and I received a call
to see the man

about a possible kidnapping
at Las Palmas and Sunset.

There's a gentleman
right on this corner
waving me down.

Donald tells the LAPD officer
what he saw,

and then he shows him
where the house is.

Two backup officers arrive,

and Officer Camacho
approaches the front
of the house.

I'm knocking at the door
and I hear somebody inside,

and finally coming
to the front door.

He pulled the covering
aside enough

that I could see
he was completely naked.

He had a rage in his eyes.

I told him, "Open the door
and get some clothes on."

He said, "Give me one moment."

I put my ear to the door
and I'm hearing moaning.

Within seconds
I kicked in the door.

As I entered,
the first thing I saw

was a little girl
laying on the floor

with blood around her.

There was a bar
across her neck.

She had a white dress,
white shoes, white socks.

She was unresponsive.

That kind of violence,

it still haunts me.

[Alicia] With no sign
of the attacker
anywhere in the house,

the officers return
to the little girl

who isn't moving.

[Chris] I went back
into the kitchen
to check on the little girl.

There were three officers.
We all thought she was dead.

The bar was still on her neck.

And I removed that bar
from her neck.

And that's when he heard
the little girl

starting to gag for breath.

-[siren blaring]
-[Alicia] An ambulance rushes
the child to the hospital

as she clings to life.

[Chris] As we're searching
the house,

I found a wallet
on an end table,

and I picked it up,
I opened it.

I found ID belonging
to a Rodney Alcala.

[Morgan] Back in New York,
I got a letter

from the girl that I had
been with that night.

I went up to my bedroom,
shut the door.

When I opened the letter,

a newspaper clipping, uh,
fell out on the floor,

and I picked it up,

and it said that Rod had raped
and tried to murder

an eight-year-old girl
in the same house.

And I was overwhelmed.
It was my fault.

I hadn't done anything.
I could have stopped it.

I should have told my parents.
I should have done something.

I should have gone back
to the house
and killed him myself.

[Morgan]
I just fell to my knees,

and thank God to forgive me,
it was my fault. [sniffles]

I fully felt
that it was my fault,

that I should have
done something. [sniffles]

So I...

I, uh, I tried to call,
um, [sniffles] back to LA,

tried to get a hold
of somebody

to see if she was alive.

I didn't even know
if she was alive.

No one could tell me

because of privacy
and because of her age.

So no one could even tell me
if she was alive.

And it broke me.

I had a real hard time
after that.

I dreamt about her
all the time.

She had no name, no face.

She was just kind of a ghost.

[Matt] This is 1968.

So Rodney James Alcala
has no arrest record
with the LAPD.

And when police start looking
in his background

they find that he grew up
in Monterey Park.

He went to
Cantwell High School.

He was actually
a successful student.

Gone to UCLA Film School.

And they also learned

that he was previously
in the army.

And they diagnosed him
as a antisocial
personality disorder,

but they also realized
that he had a very high IQ
of 135.

So they learn a tremendous
amount about Rodney Alcala.

Except what they didn't learn
was where he was.

Alcala is in the wind.
He's gone.

We have no idea where he is.

He's left the neighborhood.

He's probably left the city.

We're not finding him.

So we needed help.

We need to get this guy
on the FBIs Most Wanted.

So that's what we did.

Soon, wanted posters of Alcala
are hanging in every
police precinct

and post office
in the country.

In New York, I thought
about that eight-year-old girl
all the time.

I would go to the library

and look up LA Times
on microfilm,

and look for anything
that told me whether
she lived or not.

[Matt] Fast forward now.
It's 1971.

You have two girls
that are attending
an all-girls' summer camp

in New Hampshire,

and go into
a local post office,

and the look up on the wall
and they see

one of their camp counsellors,
Mr. Burger,

only the name is different,

and the name
is Rodney James Alcala.

They immediately alert
camp counsellors

who immediately alert police.

And next thing you know
Rodney Alcala is arrested
in the state of New Hampshire

and extradited back
to Los Angeles.

Rodney Alcala is prosecuted
for the attack
on the eight-year-old girl,

but the prosecution takes
an unlikely turn.

[Matt] Rodney Alcala's
originally charged
with attempted murder,

rape, kidnapping,

but when the prosecution
learned that this
eight-year-old girl

would not be available
to testify

they decided to give him

what is known as a plea deal

where Rodney Alcala agreed
to take a reduced charge
of a simple child molest

in exchange for receiving
a sentence of one year to life

in California State Prison.

[Morgan] Around that time

I went down to the library
and looked it up,

and it said that
the eight-year-old girl

had been unable to testify.

And that broke my heart.

I thought that she
was badly brain damaged.

I didn't think
she would have a life.

I was really, really hurt.

[Christine]
At the time in California

your sentencing
was up to the parole board.

And after 34 months in prison

a psychiatrist deemed him
no longer a threat.

So the parole board
released him after 34 months.

Then he's arrested
less than two months later,

kissing and smoking marijuana
with a 14-year-old girl.

They returned to state prison
and they released him again.

[Alicia] Rodney Alcala manages
to evade the LAPD
for the next several years.

That is until June of 1979.

[Matt] June 20, 1979,
Huntington Beach, California.

about 3 o'clock
in the afternoon,

Robin Samsoe is on the beach
with her friend Bridget,

and they are right about
12, 13 years old,

and they get approached
by a man who says,

"Hey, I'm a photographer.
You're beautiful.

Let me take your picture."

This is the type of thing
that Rodney Alcala would do.

He would seek out girls

and convince them
that he was
a legitimate photographer,

and he was going to do
a magazine layout.

[Matt]
And one of the neighborhood
moms sees this,

and it doesn't look right
to her.

So she comes over,

and this photographer
kind of scurries off.

Robin is late
for her ballet lesson,

and she had to go home,
jump on her bike,

and she was riding
to her ballet lesson.

And that's the last anybody
ever saw of her.

Police ask Robin's friend
to describe the man she saw
to a sketch artist.

[Matt] Police release
this sketch to every
TV station

and every newspaper
in Orange County

and pretty much
Southern California.

[Christine] Twelve days after
she was abducted

Robin Samsoe's
animal-ravaged body

was found in the foothills
of Sierra Madre.

A knife is found
next to her body,

and police believe
she's been murdered.

[Matt] So we have
the composite sketch.

Everybody is trying
to figure out
who the suspect is.

And Detective Jenkins
with the Huntington
Police Department

gets a phone call
late afternoon

from a parole officer
who says,

"Hey, I've got a parolee
who looks awfully similar
to that composite sketch.

You need to look at him.
His name is Rodney Alcala."

So this is towards
the end of the day.

Um, these police are working
18-hour days, if not longer.

And Jenkins needs a break,
so he goes home,

and sits down on his couch,

and turns on the TV,

and there's a rerun
of The Dating Game.

And there is Rodney Alcala
on TV winning The Dating Game.

[host] He's a skydiver,
so he's got a lot of nerve.

He's into motorcycling.

He's also a fine photographer.

Say hello to Rodney Alcala.

You can't...
You can't make this up.

And she actually picks him
to go on a date with.

I'll take One.

[host] Number one.
Bachelor Number One.

All right. Rodney, come on
and say hello.

[audience applauding]

Unbelievable that this guy
could have
the huevos rancheros

to go on TV.

I mean, you talk about...

...ego.

We're going to have
a great time together, Cheryl.

Authorities arrest Alcala
at his mother's house
and search it.

[Christine] They don't find
any forensic evidence linking

Rodney Alcala to the murder
of Robin Samsoe,

but they do find a receipt
for a storage unit in Seattle.

They get up to Seattle,
they open it up,

and it was a bonanza
of evidence.

What they find are hundreds
and hundreds of photographs
of young women,

girls and boys in positions
of vulnerability.

[Matt] When you look
at those photos,

I mean, you're talking
about legions of people

that are unidentified,

that are almost certainly
victims of Rodney Alcala,

and you realize the prolific
nature of Rodney Alcala

and how many victims
he must have.

Investigators also find
a silk pouch that's filled
with jewelry

Police immediately realize
that these are
Alcala's trophies.

These are items
that a serial killer
has taken from his victims.

[Matt] And they show them
to Robin Samsoe's mom.

She immediately identifies
two gold-ball earrings

that Robin Samsoe was wearing
when she disappeared.

They didn't have
any DNA evidence at that time,

but now we have something
that links Rodney Alcala

to Robin Samsoe.

In 1980, Rodney Alcala
is tried and convicted,

and sentenced to death
for kidnapping, raping,

and murdering Robin Samsoe.

There's been a gross
miscarriage of justice

for being found guilty
of something that I didn't do.

[Christine] Over the next
two decades

his conviction
is reversed twice.

Each time he's retried,

he's convicted,
and given the death penalty.

Until the case
is reversed again in 2003,

which is when
it was assigned to me.

As soon as it landed
on my desk,

he was clearly a psychopath,

clearly he killed
multiple people.

We just didn't know who yet.

[Alicia] Alcala's DNA
is already in the CODA system.

So they compare it to DNA
and forensic evidence
from other unsolved cases

around the time
of Robin Samsoe's murder,

and there's several matches.

[Matt] Jill Barcomb
was a young woman
from New York

who came to Los Angeles
like millions of others

to... to pursue her dreams,

and smashed her face
into a rock.

On December 16th, 1977,

Georgia Wixted's body
was found in her apartment
in Malibu.

She had been beaten to death
and raped with a blue hammer

that was found
next to her body.

Charlotte Lamb
was a legal secretary

whose body was found
on June 24th, 1978,

in an apartment complex
in El Segundo, California.

She had been raped,
and strangled
with the lace of her own shoe.

They also link Rodney Alcala
to the murder
of Jill Parenteau.

She was a 21-year-old
keypunch operator

who was living in Burbank.

Her killer had left his blood
on the window sill,

and so that blood
was eventually traced back
to Rodney Alcala.

[Matt] Charlotte Lamb
and Jill Parenteau

were posed in this
knee-to-chest position.

Jill Barcomb was also posed
in almost the exact
same position.

There's no doubt
in any of our minds

that after Rodney Alcala
completed those murders

he was taking photos
of those women.

We took Rodney Alcala
to trial,

and this time it wasn't just
for one murder,

it was for five murders.

In 2010, Alcala is convicted
of all five murders.

And during
the sentencing phase

there is one witness called

whose presence
shocks the courtroom.

It's the eight-year-old girl
who was attacked in 1968,

but managed to survive.

It was the first time
I ever had a name for her.

First time I'd ever
seen her face,

and it was
pretty overwhelming.

I was just so happy
to see her alive.

[Tali Shapiro]
My name is Tali Shapiro,

and when I was eight years old
I survived a serial killer.

[Tali] In 1968...

...I live in Los Angeles,

and I am eight years old.

Growing up in Los Angeles,

my father was
in the music business.

So we had a lot
of colorful characters

in and out of our house.

Mama Cass.

Jim Morrison was one
of my mom's best friends,

so he was always around.

Lenny Bruce
introduced my parents.

Just a slew
of colorful characters.

Tali and her family
lead a very
Hollywood lifestyle,

but in 1968,

a fire leaves them
without a place to call home.

[Tali] When the house
burnt down we moved
to the Chateau Marmont,

and I was supposed
to take the public bus
to school

'cause it was only
blocks away,

but I didn't like taking
the public bus by myself.

Tali is a precocious
and resourceful kid.

And on September 25th, 1968,

as she's walking by herself
to school,

she crosses paths
with a serial killer.

[Tali] Car approaches me.

So he had his window down.

I'm on the sidewalk,

and I'm talking to him
through the passenger window.

He tells me knew my parents,

which is totally possible.

There was so many people
in and out of my house.

It was Grand Central Station
so it's quite possible.

He says he wants to give me
a ride to school.

I got in the car.

At that point he says
he would like to show me
a poster that he has

because he's a photographer.

And we headed off
to his house.

I followed him in.

And that's all I remember.

That's... There's nothing else
to remember.

I mean, he obviously hit me
over the head
right after that.

So that was... That was it.

By some miracle that day,

Donald Haines sees her
get into the car

and follows her to that house.

[Donald] I'd saw it, and so
I couldn't just drive away

and forget about it.

I just thought
that if it was my kids

that I'd want somebody
to do something about it.

After her attack, Tali Shapiro
was in a coma for 32 days.

[Tali] I woke up
at the Chateau Marmont.

I do not remember
being in the hospital.

At this point, I don't realize
I've been raped.

I don't realize
I had been in a coma.

My parents never spoke
about any of this,

and neither did anyone else.

[Alicia]
Two and a half years later,

Tali's parents refuse
to let her testify

in Rodney Alcala's trial,

and further traumatize her.

[Tali] I'm so grateful
my parents did not
have me testify.

None of this was my knowledge,

and I didn't need to know
about those things, you know.

Knowing about them
years and years later,

I could digest that
'cause it's not part of me.

I didn't have to live with it,

but it would have totally
messed up my childhood.

[Christine] In 2010,
Matt Murphy
contacts Tali Shapiro

and asks her whether she would
be interested in testifying

during the
death-penalty portion
of Rodney Alcala's trial,

and she agrees.

Years later,
I didn't have any feelings

except of duty,

and of justice.

[judge] We, the jury,
determine that the penalty

to be imposed upon
defendant Rodney James Alcala
to be death.

[crowd applauding]

[Tali] I never once
looked his way.

I consciously
didn't want to give him
any energy whatsoever.

I didn't glance at him.
I didn't acknowledge him.

I never spoke his name.

I wasn't going to give him
any satisfaction.

[Alicia]
But there's someone at court

that Tali has been waiting
to meet for a long time.

[Donald]
I was with a group of people,

and she came running up to me

and said, "Mr. Haines,
Mr. Haines."

And I said, "Who are you?"

She says, "I'm Tali Shapiro."

And I said, "Oh,
I'm so glad to see you."

She said, "You're the only
reason I am here."

And that... that was...

...really, really something.

That got to me.

God's will.

I mean, I had some
guardian angels around me.

The good samaritan,
and I had the policeman.

Without those two people
I would not be here today.

[Matt]
Following his conviction,
we made the decision

to release 120 photographs
to People Magazine

and to the
Orange County Register

of various unknown people

and photographs
that were found

in Rodney Alcala's
storage locker.

People Magazine publishes
numerous photos

of these potential victims,

and the magazine is actually
able to locate
some of these people

and confirm that they are
in fact alive,

but there are many more
that still remain unknown.

And as a result of that,

we got tips and phone calls
from across the United States.

In 2010, it's been 42 years
since Morgan was attacked,

and she's still haunted by it.

[Morgan] Rod's face
was on the news

and I started to have
a panic attack.

It was so startling
to hear a serial killer.

I had told my husband
what had happened.

-[glass shatters]
-Told him the whole thing.

I had blamed myself
for so long,

and then I finally could see
that nothing I was going to do

was going to change
what happened.

As Morgan comes to grips
with the horror of her attack,

she feels that there is one
big thing she has to do.

[Morgan] Tali finally
had a name.

I wanted to contact her,

but how do you say
to somebody...

..."We were both raped
by the same guy
in the same house?"

I mean, just,
I felt so much guilt.

I thought she'd hate me.

I spent a couple of days

trying to write
the perfect thing

to just apologies to her,
you know.

And I sent her the letter.

She let me know that she had
great regret, and sorrow

that she held and carried
this guilt.

I said there was nothing
to forgive.

I don't hold you responsible
for anything
that happened to me.

I mean, and I don't think
that there is anything

either of us could have done
to have changed

the way things happened.

Tali saying she forgave me...

...changed everything.

It was definitely a huge step
to my recovery.

When I went to see her
I told her, you know,

I said, "For years
I've wanted to hold you,"

and are you okay with that?"

And she said, "Yes."

Just grabbed her, you know.

And I just hugged her.
I couldn't let go.

It was just wonderful.

We spent a couple
of days together,

and we were like sisters.

[Tali] She cares
for me immensely.

I... I love her.

We just have a bond.
Just... I can't explain it.

And she became
very important to me.

A very important relationship
for me.

[reporter] The so called
"Dating Game Killer"

died early this morning
whilst still awaiting
his execution.

[Morgan] When Rod died...

...I cried,

and I couldn't stop crying.

And I always thought
when he died I would laugh,

and dance, and sing, you know.

It was never more real to me
than that day.

I don't know why.

I couldn't stop thinking about

all the darkness
and all the pain he had
brought into the world.

When evil touches you,
it changes you,

but evil will never own you.

I try very hard
to live that way,

that I just will not
let evil own me,

or change my decisions.

[Steve] Both Morgan and Tali
beat the odds.

They've survived
a serial killer.

They've gone on to have
productive lives.

They were very lucky.

It doesn't, you know,

just doesn't happen.

[Morgan] Will I forget?

No, never.

Sometimes when I close my eyes
at night he's still there...

...but I'll be okay.
[sniffles]

We have cleared multiple cases

since Rodney Alcala
was convicted.

There's nine absolutely
that he committed,

but we know
that he's responsible
for many, many more.

He was prolific.

If you see something,
say something.

I mean, thank goodness,
or I wouldn't be here today.

The world is always
a better place when
citizens get involved.

When as a society
we put blinders and walk away,

that will be our downfall.

I want to share my experience

so that maybe another
16-year-old girl

doesn't bow to peer pressure,

and go some place
she shouldn't be,

and that she
calls home for help.

You know, Rod brought so much
darkness into this world.

I... I just...

I really want
to bring a little light
into all that darkness.

I just want to make
a difference.

I don't know how she survived...

I can still see him
standing there.

...but she did.

He stabbed me in my neck.

He said "I'm going
to take your son",

and I said,
"Take me instead."

I feel right into the trap
like a trapped animal.

It was said his total was
30 something people.

There really are monsters.

His plan is to kidnap
these women,

keep them in the basement
and impregnate them.

I was ready to be shot
in that garage.

At this moment I'm thinking
"Okay, I'm going to die."

Is this guy going to
bury me here?

You can choose to be a victim
or you can be a survivor.

I chose to be a survivor.

If I do make it through this

I'm going to know every
detail of your face

because I'm going to
get you someday.

I survived a serial killer.