The Dating Game Killer

California. The sunshine state. Known for its beautiful beaches and year-round perfect weather. It's also quite popular for murder. Serial killers from California are some of the most horrifying and prolific in the history of the U.S.A.

About 1/5 of all of the nation's murders have happened in California. That's about one murder per week. There is no shortage of terror in California, but today I want to talk about the Dating Game Killer- Rodney Alcala.

On August 23, 1943, Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was the third of four children born to his parents Raul and Anna Maria. There is no evidence to suggest that Rodney had any kind of unusual childhood or that he was a troublesome child. In fact, it's been said that his family was very supportive and loving towards him. He was said to have every advantage in life that somebody could have. There aren't many known facts about his childhood. At age 5, he attended kindergarten at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary and then moved to Mount Sacred Heart.

When Rodney was 8, his grandmother fell ill. She expressed her desire to spend her remaining years in Mexico, so the family decided to relocate. Rodney attended his first non-Catholic school after the move. Shortly after, his father decided to abandon the family. After that, his grandmother passed away. When he was 11, Rodney, his sisters- Marie Christina and Marie Therese-, and their mother relocated to Los Angeles, California. Rodney was enrolled in St. Alphonsus in East L.A. and spent the next two years there.

Even though he switched schools frequently, Rodney was still considered academically gifted and had a high IQ of 135. When he was 13, he finished 8th grade and then attended high school at a private school called Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary. During his last semester, he claimed he didn't need any more religious education and insisted on attending public school. He enrolled in Montebello High school where he was quite popular. He joined the yearbook committee as well as the track team and graduated when he was 17.

When Rodney was 18, he entered into a program to become a paratrooper in North Carolina and then enlisted into the U.S. army where he served as a clerk for the next 4 years. During this time, his commanding officer made notes that Rodney was manipulative and vindictive. He resisted authority figures and disobeyed orders. He was disciplined on more than one occasion for assaulting women. When he was 19, his father passed away in Tulare County, California and even though he had abandoned the family, they all attended the funeral.

In June of 1963, Rodney showed up at his mother's house. He claimed he had hitch hiked three thousand miles from Fort Bragg to go AWOL. Shortly after, he was officially diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder (often referred to as sociopathy) and was discharged from the army on medical grounds. Sociopathy is a mental disorder where a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of other people.

After his discharge, Rodney attended California State University before transferring to UCLA. In 1968, he graduated with a fine arts degree. While at school, Rodney Alcala impressed his teachers and classmates. He was described as being highly intelligent, very charismatic, quite handsome, and charming.

For many years, it was believed that Rodney Alcala's first victim was an 8-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro, but in 2021, a new victim came forward with gruesome details no one should know. Morgan Rowan contacted retired LAPD detective Steve Hodel through a blog he had online and told him her horrific story. Hodel was one of the original investigators on the case.

In 1968, Morgan described meeting Rodney on Sunset Strip with her friends in California. They danced, laughed, and hung out with him for hours before getting into his car with the promise of heading to IHOP for some food. Instead, she claims that Rodney drove to his apartment a few blocks away where he said he was having a party. Other people were at the apartment, music was playing, Morgans friends went to mingle with the crowd and Rodney dragged Morgan into his room and put a bar over the door so she couldn't leave. He tied her up, put a belt in her mouth, and punched her in the stomach until she vomited blood. He then proceeded to rape and strangle her.

Her friends grew worried and came looking for her before discovering the barred door. They were so worried; they broke in through a window where they found both of them. Rodney was naked from the waist down covered in Morgans blood. The only words he said were, "Take her." Her friends dragged her from the room and into an alley behind a dumpster where Morgan threw up blood. She said they saw Rodney driving down the alley apparently looking for them while they hid.

After waiting for the coast to be clear, Morgan went home with one of her friends to clean up and report the incident. The police officer never asked for Rodneys name and blamed Morgan for what happened to her. She was 16.

On September 25, 1968 in L.A, a man named Donald Hines called the police to report a strange man luring an 8-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro into his apartment. At the time, Tali was staying with her parents at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in West Hollywood because the family's home had recently burned down. She had been on her way to school at Gardner Elementary when Rodney pulled up his car beside her and asked if she needed a ride. Tali refused until Rodney promised that he knew her parents. The little girl got into the car and Rodney began heading to his apartment, insisting he needed to show her a picture. When they pulled up to the apartment, Rodney opened the door to his car to let Tali out, she refused but he insisted saying it would only take a few moments. He took her hand and led her up the stairs to his apartment.

That call placed from a payphone by Donald Hines led L.A.P.D officer, Chris Comacho straight to Rodney's door. He knocked and said he could hear someone running around inside. He shouted out who he was and told Rodney he needed to speak with him. Rodney peered out through the curtains and told the officer he couldn't open the door because he had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed. Chris Comacho noticed the man was not wet at all. He had no towel and no clothes. This raised all of the red flags. He told Rodney that he needed to open the door right now, that he needed to come in immediately. Rodney replied with, "Let me put my pants on." Officer Comacho told him he had three seconds. He claims to have waited about five before kicking the door open. He was immediately horrified by what he saw.

Comacho recalled seeing a dining room to the right, a living room to the left and straight ahead was the kitchen. On the kitchen floor was a little girl. Tali's tiny body was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. "There was blood everywhere," Comacho recounted, "There were clothes, shoes and a dress thrown to one side. There were coins on the floor, and she had this steel bar across her neck which probably weighed about two pounds." Officers on site recalled the pipe used to strangle her as something they will never forget. They claim there was more blood than should ever be able to come out of a little girl next to these little white Mary Jane shoes.

The video below contains graphic details and pictures from real crime scenes. Viewer discretion is advised.

Rodney Alcala had raped and beaten Tali with the steel bar so brutally, Officer Comacho as well as other officers who had shown up to render aid were sure that she was dead. They began searching for Rodney. Officer Comacho said he went back to check on Tali because he just couldn't bear to leave her there like that. He said he grabbed the nearest towel he could find and grabbed the pipe and tossed it to the side before witnessing a miracle. Little Tali was gagging for air. She was alive. She was rushed to the hospital and treated for her injuries. She spent 32 days in a coma and several months in recovery. When she was released, Tali and her family relocated to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Amongst the chaos of the police finding Tali, Rodney had managed to escape. He slipped out of the back door and fled. Police began to search his apartment for clues as to who this man was. Inside they found a lot of photography equipment as well as many pictures of young girls and boys in various stages of undress. They also found his UCLA school ID. This was all they had to go on to begin their search for him. Everyone they spoke to told them that Rodney would never hurt anyone. They praised his academic achievements and went on and on about what a great person he was. According to them, he could never be responsible for something so horrific.

The L.A.P.D. turned to the F.B.I for help and had Rodney Alcala added to the Most Wanted list by 1969.

Rodney was long gone by then. He had fled to New York City and decided to enroll in the NYU film school under the name of John Berger. He also obtained a camp counselor job for the summer months at the New Hampshire arts camp for children in 1971. He began working for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association alongside Richard Cottingham (another serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 18 young women in New York and New Jersey), small world, right? Neither claimed to know the other and there has been no evidence suggesting that they did.

In June of 1971, Cornelia Crilley's body was found raped and murdered in her apartment. She had been strangled with her own nylon pantyhose. Her murder remained unsolved until 2011. It later became known that Rodney had gotten into her apartment by claiming he could help her move her furniture inside.

On August 12, 1971, two teenage girls from the summer camp Rodney (Or John Berger as he now called himself) was working at went to the post office to send off some letters. While there, they noticed a wanted poster with "John Bergers" face on it. At first, they thought they must be mistaken. After all their camp counselor was named John Berger, not Rodney Alcala. He was very nice, friendly, had a great smile. Also, this man was wanted out of California, not here in New Hampshire. They still decided to take the poster to their Dean and he noticed the same resemblance. He immediately identified the man in the photo to be John Berger and he called the police.

The police told him they would be out shortly and, in the meantime, he and everyone else should act normal and not give John Berger any reason to be suspicious. The next day, the officers showed up and arrested John Berger. They compared his fingerprints to Rodney Alcala's and confirmed a match. They contacted California and told them he was caught. Rodney was then extradited to California where he was sat down and asked about Tali Shapiro. In response, Rodney said, "Oh, that. I forgot all about that. I don't want to talk about the things Rod did." In his mind, he wasn't Rodney Alcala. He was John Berger, and John Berger had not committed that crime.

Police tried to reach out to Tali's family with no luck. The family refused to let Tali testify. They didn't want her to be subjected to a horrific recounting of what she had been through. Without her and her story, the police couldn't hold Rodney accountable for it. Instead, Rodney was able to plead to a lesser charge of child molestation and served 34 months in prison. He also had to register as a sex offender.

Less than two months after his release, Rodney was arrested again for smoking marijuana with a 13-year-old girl known in the trial reports as "Julie J". An emergency call had come in claiming that she had been kidnapped by a man in Huntington Beach. She told police that she had been waiting for the bus when Rodney offered her a ride to school. She got in but panicked when he refused to let her out. He drove them to Bolsa Chica State Beach and then dragged her to the cliffs where he forced her to smoke weed and kiss him.

He denied everything. He told police she was the one who had the marijuana and offered it to him. He was convicted only of violating parole and furnishing a minor with marijuana. He went to jail for another 2 and a half years and was again released on parole in June of 1977.

After his release, and despite the fact that he was a registered sex offender, Rodney Alcala managed to land himself a job at the L.A. Times as a typesetter during the midst of their coverage of the Hillside Strangler murders. His sexual assault charges prompted police to interview him as a potential subject in these murders, but he was ultimately cleared of the crimes. During this time, Rodney was able to convince dozens of young women that he was a professional fashion photographer. He photographed many of them for his 'portfolio'. To this day, most of the women in these photos remain unidentified and are believed to be more possible victims.

For reasons unknown, Rodneys L.A. parole officer allowed him to let Rodney (a known flight risk and repeat offender) travel to New York City for a 'vacation'. While there, he spent most of his time on the streets asking people if he could take their photo for his portfolio. If he really liked the person, he would set up meetings to take more photos. On July 15, 1977. Ellen Hover was reported missing. When police searched her apartment, they found her calendar with an entry that said "John Berger". They immediately recognized that name and questioned Rodney. Not much could be done because Ellen was only considered missing. No body had been found. Rodney told the police that he had taken photos of her and then she went home. Nothing more. Without a body or any solid evidence linking Rodney to the crime, police were forced to release him from custody.

Her skeletal remains were recovered 11 months later buried under heavy rocks on a hillside overlooking the Hudson River. This is the same place other women claimed 'John Berger' took their photos. Rodney wasn't officially tied to this crime until 2011.

Rodney Alcala went back to California with no charges against him. He continued photographing women as well as young boys. From November 1977- December 1977, Rodney violently raped and murdered 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted.

On Sept. 13, 1978, a woman named Cheryl Bradshaw appeared on an episode of The Dating Game. The show at the time didn't run background checks on any of the contestants, so no one knew about Rodneys criminal record. He was introduced as "a successful photographer, who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed". Cheryl asked him to describe what kind of meal he would be, and Rodney responded with, "I'm called 'The Banana' and I look really good... peel me." Ultimately Cheryl chose Rodney as the winner due to his charm. However, when they met face to face, she claimed he was 'acting really creepy' and decided not to go on the date.

The video below is an edited version of the episode of The Dating Game Rodney appeared on:

Between June 1978- June 1979, the bodies of 31-year-old Charlotte Lamb, 21-year-old Jill Parenteau, and 12-year-old Robin Samsoe were found. All bodies showed signs of violent sexual assault, severe beating, strangulation, and stab wounds. After her body was found, Robin Samsoe's friends came forward and told police that she had been approached on the beach by a man who wanted to take pictures of her and that was the last time they saw her. Detectives created a sketch of the photographer and Rodney's parole officer recognized him. This prompted police to search his mother's home where he had been staying and while inside, they found a rental receipt for a storage locker in Seattle. They obtained a warrant for the locker as well.

Rodney was booked on July 14, 1979, on suspicion of the murder of Robin Samsoe at the Huntington Beach jail. Bail was set at $250,000.00. Sergeant McErlain and Detective Robinson flew to Seattle, Washington to search the storage unit. After a three-hour search, the officers had collected a mountain of evidence including over 1,700 photos and negatives in boxes. These photos were said to be very sexually graphic and very violent.

They also found a small, beaded pouch. Inside the pouch, two sets of earrings were found. One pair of earrings were later identified as belonging to Robin Samsoe. The other pair contained DNA belonging to Charlotte Lamb.

With this evidence, police were able to finally convict Rodney of Robin's murder. He had plead innocent to the charges of kidnapping, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under fourteen, murder, and robbery that were filed against him. The trial was a mess. Rodneys public defender was forced to step down due to a conflict of interest and a new one was appointed to him. The preliminary hearings began. Rodney was also supposed to stand trial not only for Robins murder but also another victim who had survived. However, this victim was determined to be 'unfit to testify' and was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. The judge ordered that all of Rodneys previous offenses related to any abductions or sexual misconduct would be allowed into evidence and on March 6, 1980, the opening day statements for the trial began.

A key witness testified that she had seen Rodney forcing a young blonde girl into the woods in June of 1979. She claimed she returned to the site a few days later and saw a body. Inmates that knew Rodney in prison were made to testify against him, but their testimony was discredited because the defense claimed they were lying to earn an informer's bargain for themselves. The defense asked for dismissal of kidnapping charges because they claimed there was no physical proof that a kidnapping had ever occurred. Many other people were called to testify on his behalf as "alibi witnesses". Among them were Rodneys sisters and an ex-girlfriend who swore he couldn't have been involved in Robins murder. All of them were considered to be biased witnesses. Final arguments began. The jury took two days to deliberate and ultimately found Rodney Alcala guilty on the charges of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and forced kidnapping. Rodney Alcala was sentenced to death.

Rodney was placed in San Quentin to await an appeal to the Supreme Court. While there, the L.A. County district attorney's office filed charges against Rodney for burglary and the murder and sexual assault of Jill Parenteau. He was also convicted for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Riverside girl and sentenced to 9 years in state prison. He faced another trial where he was found guilty of the rape of the victim that was previously declared 'unfit for trial' and sentenced to another 9 years.

An appeal was filed on his behalf for the death penalty conviction, and it was approved due to the inmates having allegedly delivered false testimony. The case against him for Jill Parenteau was also dismissed due to discrediting one of the witnesses. On May 28, 1981, Judge Schwab determined that the testimony made by the inmates was indeed truthful and Rodney was returned to death row but on August 23, 1981, the Supreme Court reversed the death penalty sentence.

Everyone had to return to court a second time for the murder of Robin Samsoe owing to the fact that the Supreme court ruled the jury had been improperly told about Rodneys previous crimes, which had nothing to do with Robin Samsoe. He was again found guilty. He tried to fight it and asked for the case to be dismissed because he was convinced, he wasn't provided a fair trial. This request was denied. The jury began their deliberation and Rodney Alcala was convicted and sentenced to death for the second time in Orange County Superior Court on August 20, 1986.

On December 21, 1992, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld this decision. However, on April 2, 2001, a federal court overturned the death sentence yet again. They claimed that the Superior Court judge precluded the defense from presenting evidence and Rodney was again taken off of death row.

On June 5, 2003, The L.A. County district Attorney's office filed murder charges against Rodney for the rape and murder of Georgia Wixted. During this time, Orange County investigators learned that Rodneys DNA matched semen found at the rape/murder sites of two different women in L.A. By 2005, he was charged for the murders of four other women that he was also linked to through DNA.

The video below is part of Rodney's defense:

In 2010, he represented himself in the trial. He said he had been at Knotts Berry Farm the afternoon that Robin was murdered so it couldn't possibly have been him. There were no witnesses to this... in fact, there were many other eyewitnesses that testified to seeing him at the beach where Robin came up missing that day. Representing himself made it possible for Rodney to cross examine Robins mother, Marianne Connelly. He spent a lot of his argument attacking and attempting to discredit everything she said. He claimed she made up the story of the earrings found in his storage locker belonging to her daughter. His argument was that nobody testified, (other than her mother) that Robin even had pierced ears. He said none of her friends were aware of her ears being pierced and that the body was never searched for a sign of any piercing. By this time, it had been decades and the remains were in no shape to exhume.

He also claimed the earrings in the storage locker belonged to him and insisted on showing the footage from the Dating Game to convince the jury he had owned the earrings for at least a year before Robin was ever murdered. He claimed he wore the earrings on the show but was torn to shreds by the public for this. The video did not clearly show his earrings and the public insisted this was just a case of show boating. He was criticized by everyone claiming that he was just proud to show off how he had been chosen on a game show for his "charismatic personality".

Another witness that was called to testify this time was Tali Shapiro, the 8-year-old girl that Rodney Alcala had raped and left for dead in a puddle of her own blood. Tali was now a grown woman who spoke about what he had done to her on the stand. She said she had to have 27 stitches in the back of her head. She told the story of how she had been walking to school when he approached her and the last thing that she remembered was him showing her a picture in his apartment. Rodney apologized to Tali for his "despicable behavior". She claims he shouldn't have even bothered and that it made her sick to her stomach.

The video below is a partial news clip that shows Tali Shapiro after being called to testify in court:

At one point, Rodney even took the stand and questioned himself in third person, changing his tone depending on if he was representing himself as lawyer or as himself. As part of his closing argument, he played a portion of a song called "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. The specific part of lyrics he chose were, "I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, kill, kill, kill." After that, Rodney reminded the jury that he would fight a death sentence, and it would be automatically appealed. He told them that a life sentence would be in everyone's best interest.

During the trial, District Attorney Matt Murphy called Rodney a monster and said that he deserved to die. He told the jury that he was a hunter who stalked and killed his prey simply because he liked doing it. He told them that he would strangle his victims with his bare hands until they passed out and then sexually assault them. When they woke up, he would strangle them again with pantyhose, shoelaces, or pants. After they died, he would pose their bodies and take photos which he kept as trophies.

Not surprisingly, Rodney's weird strategy didn't work, and the jury wasted no time recommending the death penalty this time around. The judge upheld this decision.

On February 25, 2010, the jury found Rodney guilty on all five counts of capital murder as well as one count of kidnapping and four counts of rape. Justice Bonnie G. Wittner, the judge who sentenced him to 25 years of imprisonment, lost her composure after learning about his case. It was reported that she cried while sentencing him, considering the horrific and brutal things he had done to his victims. Later, he was also indicted for the murders of Ellen Hover and Cornelia Crilley.

On December 14, 2012, he finally plead guilty to those two murders. They remain the only two murders he ever admitted to.

During his time in prison, Rodney Alcala wrote, and self-published a book titled, "You, the Jury." In this book, he claims he is innocent and points the finger at another suspect. He also filed lawsuits against the California penal system for a fall he took while in prison and for not providing him a low-fat diet. He remained on death row until July 24, 2021, when Rodney was found dead and alone in his cell in Corcoran, California.

Throughout his reign of terror, Rodney Alcala was described as "a killing machine". His victims were usually found "posed" in carefully chosen positions and places. Many victims were found propped up on their knees. Rodney was accused of murder, rape, sodomy, kidnapping, burglary, lewd and lascivious acts against a child under fourteen, and sexual assault. Authorities believe he is responsible for up to 130 deaths.

After the trial, it was said that Marianne Connelly (Robin Samsoe's mother) never worked again. She had reported that she had shown up to the trial with a .25- caliber pistol but ultimately had decided against using it. She trusted the legal system would serve justice. It was said when Rodneys conviction was overturned twice, she developed a drug problem. it was also said that Robins siblings were never the same after her death either.

Immediately after his final conviction, the Huntington Police released 120 of Rodneys photos to the public. There was an additional 900 or so that could not be made public because they were too sexually explicit. They suspect he has many more victims. the police are still actively asking for help in identifying the women and children in these photos. Several of them have been identified. At least 21 women have come forward themselves and claimed their photos and at least six families believe they recognize loved ones that had come up missing from the photos. The search is currently still active-

The photos can be found here: https://nypost.com/2010/04/21/rodney-alcala-cold-case-photos/

You can also click on the link below this text:

Anyone willing to provide information about any of the photos is asked to call HBPD Sgt. Sam Shepherd at (714) 536-5947.

A few years before his death, a woman came forward and identified one of the women in the photos that were released from Rodneys storage locker to be her sister, Christine Thornton. In the summer of 1977, Christine and her boyfriend had decided to move to San Antonio, Texas together. Christine was pregnant at the time and somehow or another, the two of them got split up in Biloxi, Mississippi. Christine was last seen hitch hiking and was never heard from again. Five years later, the bones of an adult female as well as bones of a baby were discovered in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, along Interstate 80.

When the police published the photos, Christines sister immediately identified her. They were even able to find the exact spot where the photo had been taken. A DNA test would confirm in 2015 that the bones belonged to Christine and her unborn child. Other DNA found would link Rodney to the crime. By this time, Rodney was in his early 70's in a hospital bed inside his prison cell basically waiting for death. Investigators showed up with the picture from his locker and asked him if he knew who the woman was. He denied it. He said he had taken the picture but had not killed her. The investigators noted however how strange he was acting upon taking the picture from them. It was said he held the photo in his hand and traced his index finger over her outline again and again. They said his eyes darted back and forth quite quickly as if he was remembering something very intense.

He never actually admitted to it, but the DNA directly linked him to the crime. In September of 2016, he was formally charged with her murder but was reportedly too ill to go to Wyoming to face trial. Rodney Alcala died from natural causes at the age of 77. Rodney spent 30 years in different trials for different crimes. Ultimately, he spent more of his life behind bars than free.

Rodney Alcala's impression on people-

It was said that Rodney often used his good looks and charm to lure his victims. It's also said that his most brazen move was appearing on the Dating Game in 1978 after he had already killed and assaulted many women.

Cheryl Bradshaw couldn't make herself go on the date with Rodney after the Dating Game. She called the show and told them that she just couldn't do it. She claims he made her feel very ill and was acting very creepy.

Bachelor number two, Jed Mills, from the show echoed this feeling. He claimed he could barely stand being next to him. He is seen in the clip sort of leaning away from Rodney in his seat. He says now that, "There was just something creepy about him and he didn't know if he was leaning away consciously or not." He claims to have disliked Rodney even before the show started. He said he was rude, obnoxious, and creepy. He refers to him as a "standout creepy guy in his life".

Morgan Rowan-

Morgan recounted her story about her narrow escape from Rod as he was calling himself then. Before coming forward, she claims to have seen him on the news and having a panic attack so bad she had to go to the hospital. She found out about his attack on Tali Shapiro and saw photos of the crime scene. She claims the metal bar that he had beat Tali with was the same one he had used to trap her in his room before raping her and nearly beating her to death.

She claims she felt horror and guilt that she wasn't able to have stopped him before his attack on Tali. She eventually tracked down Tali and wrote her a long heart felt letter apologizing for not being able to do more.

She has gone on to write a book about her experience that you can buy on Amazon or read for free with Kindle Unlimited. It's called Stolen From Sunset: A True Story of Surviving the Dating Game Killer.

"When evil touches you, It changes you.. but evil can never own you."- Morgan Rowen

Tali Shapiro-

After receiving the letter, Tali responded telling Morgan there was nothing to forgive. She told her that it was Rodney who was responsible. No one else. The two allegedly remain friends and see themselves as survivors not victims.

Tali said that her parents never brought up the incident. It was never mentioned or spoken about again. That aside, Tali gladly took the stand in 2010 during Rodney's last trial to testify against him. She revealed every detail she could remember and was sincerely taken aback when Rodney apologized. She refused to respond to him directly however, hoping to make it clear it meant nothing to her.

She currently lives in California with a happy family of her own. She has a job that keeps her very busy but that she seems to enjoy, and it seems to me she has a lot of people who care deeply for her. It's been said however that she does seem to maintain her anger that Rodney was able to get away with so many women in his clutches. It's said that she believes she should have been his first and last victim, not one of many.

I'd like to add something I just found a bit strange while I was finishing up my research. This isn't a fact, just my own personal observation. Among the pictures found in Rodneys storage locker, one really stood out to me in the most unsettling way. This is the photo-

You might be asking yourself, "what makes that one so special?"

Remember little 8-year-old Tali Shapiro and what she looked like on the day Rodney tortured her and left her for dead? Well we know that he often posed the women and children he took pictures of. In my head, this photo seemed like a twisted version of Tali on that day. Like maybe he posed this girl to look like her so that he could revisit that moment in his sick mind... Remember, he violently assaulted Tali, she was a mess. (The hair in this photo looks as if the girl was struggling). It's also been noted he liked to keep trophies. Is it just me.. or does this seem like some kind of morbid trophy?