Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer: A True Crime Podcast · Dark Pass Productions

165 The Dating Game Killer, Rodney Alcala Part 1

·1 hr 13 min·5 clips

Officer Chris Camacho found Alcala lying about a shower, then heard moaning from inside the apartment.

1. Crimes, Killers, Cults, and Beer covers Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer, in a two-part episode. 2. Bill hosts with Kevin Carlton, who is described as the interim co-host and the lead host on every episode of 2026. 3. The episode asks how Rodney Alcala could move from a UCLA photography student and Army veteran into a serial predator. 4. The hosts say Alcala was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1943 and grew up as one of four children. 5. They describe his father Raul Alcala Bacor leaving the family, first moving them to Mexico and then abandoning them when Rodney was 11. 6. The show says Alcala joined the Army, went AWOL in 1963, and was evaluated by an Army psychologist for a nervous breakdown and antisocial personality disorder. 7. The hosts note an IQ of 135 and then connect it to his later ability to manipulate people and hide in plain sight. 8. They say Alcala enrolled at UCLA, graduated from the College of Fine Arts, and learned photography with an SLR, film, and darkroom work. 9. They also say he used drugs in college, including pot and cocaine, while no clear childhood trigger for his violence is identified. 10. The first confirmed attempted murder discussed is the September 25, 1966 attack on eight-year-old Tally Shapiro in Los Angeles. 11. A passerby follows the car, Officer Chris Camacho notices the lack of license plates, and Alcala falsely claims he just got out of the shower. 12. Camacho hears moaning, kicks in the door, and finds Tally naked, covered in blood, with a heavy bar around her neck. 13. The hosts say Camacho removes the bar, calls an ambulance, and Tally survives after being rushed to the hospital. 14. Police find Alcala's wallet, driver's license, camera, UCLA student ID, and many photos of women, teenage boys, and teenage girls in sexually provocative poses. 15. The show says his professors at UCLA could not believe he was the suspect, which underscores how easily he passed as a normal student. 16. The episode then follows Alcala after the attack as he adopts the alias John Berger and moves to Greenwich Village in New York City. 17. Under that name he gets a legitimate ID, rents an apartment, attends NYU's film school, and meets women through photography. 18. The hosts also say he teaches photography at a teenage girls' camp on Lake Sunapee, which makes his access to girls look planned rather than accidental. 19. The tone is loose, joking, and digressive, with the hosts interrupting the case for personal stories, side jokes, and running bits about knives, cameras, and prison deals. 20. People who like long-form true-crime casework with dark humor will like it, while listeners wanting a tight, serious narrative may skip it.

As heard by us

Rodney Alcala's camera opens a grim case discussion shaped by uneasy detail and loose host banter.

Rodney Alcala's camera sits at the uneasy center of this episode, turning photography into both a practical excuse for approaching women and a darker route into the case.

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Why you'd press play

Want a true-crime listen where an expensive camera becomes a shortcut to trust while Bill and Kevin keep the room loose?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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