‘Woman of the Hour’ Serial Killer Rodney Alcala’s Actions With His 16-Year-Old Victim Were So Heinous She Was “praying to die”
- 'Woman of the Hour' highlights 1970s' brutal serial killer, Rodney Alcala.
- Alcala’s attack on his young victim Morgan Rowan was so horrific that she prayed for death.
- Alcala, believed to have killed up to 130 people, was convicted of seven murders and died in 2021.
!!TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains graphic descriptions of abuse!!
Serial killers often go unnoticed as they are known for blending well into society. Netflix’s Woman of the Hour presents the story of one such killer from the 1970s– Rodney Alcala. Anna Kendrick successfully brings together the glamor of 1970s television and Alcala’s shocking crimes.
Rodney Alcala, the “Dating Game Killer,” was not just a typical criminal. He was a contestant on The Dating Game who was hiding a sinister secret. Among the many victims who fell prey to his sins, one was a teenage girl who had experienced unimaginable horror.
Morgan Rowan’s Terrifying Encounter With Rodney Alcala
Rodney Alcala was not born a killer. Born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala-Buquor in 1943, Alcala began his childhood in Mexico before his family moved to Los Angeles when he was eight years old. He was a bright kid, even finishing college at UCLA with a fine arts degree in 1968. But beneath all these, there brewed a monster.
Alcala’s secret weapon was his charm. In 1978, he was on the TV show The Dating Game, which was about bachelors competing to go on a date with a bachelorette. Although Alcala won a date, the bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw, refused to date him, calling him “strange” and someone with “weird vibes” (as per ABC News).
She was not wrong. According to People, Alcala had murdered at least two women and been in prison for r*pe accusations. One of his earliest known victims was Morgan Rowan. Rowan first met Alcala in 1968, when she was only 16 years old.
Alcala managed to lure Rowan under false pretenses and lock her in a bedroom. He wrapped his fist with a belt and viciously beat her, breaking her ribs, and r*ped her. In an interview on People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer, Rowan revealed,
I watched his transformation..I watched his face turn purple. He punched me between my eyes with a belt buckle. I saw stars shooting, and I dropped to my knees.
The terror became so intense for Rowan that even her prayers took a dark turn. She said,
I wanted it to be over. I wasn’t praying to live. I was praying to die.
By a stroke of luck, one of her friends broke into the house and she managed to escape, covering herself with only a ripped shirt. She spent the night in a dumpster shed. Rowan, who is now 72, survived, but the trauma of that night stayed with her.
Rodney Alcala’s Conviction and Where He Is Now
Alcala went on with his assault on young girls. Rowan survived, but many others did not. He managed to escape justice and continued his killing spree and was not captured until 1979.
Rodney Alcala’s karma hit back after the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979, for which he received the death penalty in 1980. Yet, because of several reversals and new trials, it took many more years to get justice.
According to People, during this time, the authorities linked him to other murder cases, and Alcala was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in 2010. Authorities believed that he could have killed up to 130 people or more, but he was only convicted of seven murders.
Alcala died of natural death at 77 on July 24, 2011, in California while he was on death row. However, his criminal activities were not washed away. Investigations still continue as families of victims search for answers.
Rodney Alcala’s story still shocks the world. From the 2022 Sky Original docuseries Dating Death to the 2024 thriller Woman of the Hour, his crimes serve as a reminder that evil can often be hiding in plain sight.
Woman of the Hour is now streaming on Netflix.
