Rodney Alcala got the call
He spent a year working on this story, and was determined to bring this complex story for our viewers. He was just finishing it when he died suddenly on Aug. 21, 2010.
“I was out doing my patrols. We just started our shift that day. I rode Sunset Blvd. And I got the call,” Los Angeles
Policeman Chris Camacho recalls that September morning in 1968. “Beige-colored car with no license plate was then a girl.”
“Tali Shapiro was an 8-year-old girl walking to school in 1968,” says
Orange County Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy.
“Good Samaritan, a witness saw a little girl, little 8-year-old Tali get in the car. I think that is suspicious … follows him and makes a call to the LAPD,” said Los Angeles detective Steve Hodel.
“I went to this place,” Camacho says. “And I started to knock. I said:” Police. Open the door. I need to talk to you. “The man appeared at the door.
“I’ll always remember that the person in the door – a very evil person.
“And he said:” I’m in the shower. I have to get dressed. I told him, “OK.” You have 10 seconds. Open the door, I want to talk to you. Finally, I kicked the door in.
“The image will be with me forever … We could see the kitchen was a body on the floor, lots of blood.”
“They say picture tells a thousand words,” Murphy says, “and this image of those little white Mary Jane’s on this floor with a metal bar, which he used to strangle her with … and that a pool of blood, it just looks like too a lot of blood to come out – a little 8-year-old case. ”
“She was raped. There was not breathing … I thought she was dead. We all thought she was dead,” Camacho says. “So I grabbed a towel and I picked up the edge of the bar and I – I put it aside.”
“We started searching for home … there was a lot of pictures of equipment,” Camacho continued.
“We were all amazed at the number of photos he’s young girls, very young girls.
“We found a lot -. ID, picture ID Rodney Alcala He was a student at UCLA -. The total number of students”
“This is one of the first times he ever was in the field of view of law enforcement,” Murphy said. “Rodney Alcala failed to give them a slip.”
“Unfortunately,” Camacho says, “other officials – when I kicked the door – came running to help me – the suspect left through the back door.”
But minutes later, when Camacho returned to the kitchen, where Tali was, he witnessed a miracle.
“She was gagging and trying to breathe. And I thought:” One of the good guys. “She’s going to do it.”
Clinging to life, Pulley was taken to hospital.
“If it were not for that police officer, Tali Shapiro would have died on the kitchen floor Rodney Alcala,” said Orange County Deputy DA Matt Murphy.
“When I was in Vietnam … and we were in a fight I tried to keep this guy … and did not do it. He died,” he tells Harold Dow. “So with the Jacks, it was kind of like God gave me a second chance to save someone.”
Shortly after Tali has healed, her parents moved her out of the country.
“I learned that they moved to Mexico, they do not want to raise a daughter in this society anymore. And it was the last thing I heard about them,” said Camacho.
Investigations are currently in the hands of detectives. With the wind Alcala, Los Angeles, Det. Steve Hodel was grasping for air.
“All kinds of rumors. He went to Mexico, he went to Canada. He went to Europe. But we came with empty hands,” Det. Hodel says. “At that time, you know, we did not have much expertise you have today.”
Complicating matters, it seemed no one wanted to believe a gifted student may be responsible for this heinous crime.
“He was a Snake Charmer” Hodel says. “I went and spoke to his professor at UCLA. He says that he can not harm a fly … he really believes that, you know. And many people did.”
Hodel says investigators went to the FBI. “… We said:” This guy is going to commit other crimes, he was not going to stop. ”
In 1969, the FBI put Rodney Alcala on the most wanted list.
“We must find this guy, we need to get him off the street, we must bring him to justice,” said Hodel.
Almost two years later came the break they were waiting for.
“Two girls went to the local post office … and they looked, and there was no photo Rodney Alcala’s -. Ten FBI’s Most Wanted list and looked up and said:” Oh my gosh, that Mr. Berger, “Murphy said.
Girls know Alcala, John Berger, adviser to the camp for girls in the summer in New Hampshire.
“They inform the dean. … He called the authorities. They arrest him, take him into custody,” Hodel says. “I got a phone call from the FBI saying:” We’ve got your man in custody, he is ready to be picked up. ”
In fact, Rodney Alcala was hiding in plain sight over the past three years.
“Rodney Alcala, after the rape and murder of nearly Tali Shapiro, he fled to New York City,” Murphy said. “He made friends, he charmed people. He got into film school at New York University. And he was living life, a sort of bohemian life in a student film in the early 70′s.”
In August 1971, Alcala, finally, in conclusion, Det. Hodel had the opportunity to speak with him.
“I asked him:” So tell me about this incident Tali Shapiro. And basically it says: “Oh, I want to forget all about that. He said:” I do not want to say that Rhode Alcala did. “As if it was a different person.”
But with Tali living abroad and unavailable for trial, prosecutors had no choice but to enter into a plea agreement.
“Part of the problem for the prosecution at that time was that the family Tali Shapiro were relocated to Mexico,” Murphy explains. “So I think that creates logistical challenges for the DA at that time.”
In 1972, Alcala pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of child molestation.
“In the end he was convicted of child molesting,” Murphy says Harold Dow. “He’s got one year to life in the old indeterminate sentencing laws. For one year to life and the Parole Board to release him after 34 months. … After what he did with Tali Shapiro.”
Indeterminate sentence means, Parole, and not to judge, will determine how much time is actually a prisoner spent in prison.
“The emphasis was on restoring then,” Hodel says. “And he was able to charm the psychiatrists, as he charmed his victims. This guy should have never been released on the basis of the crime itself.”
Less than three years, Rodney Alcala was a free man again. Murphy said that there were no problems charming his way back into the swing of things.
“He got the job. He was hired by the Los Angeles Times, as a compositor … He took pictures at the wedding, “he says.” And he was a registered sex offender in all this, and nobody checked.
Rodney Alcala was even a candidate for the TV “Dating Game” and was chosen as his bride.
The decision to release Rodney Alcala would have catastrophic consequences.
“His excitement is looking for its prey, capture, torture, pain. He sadist highest order,” said Hodel. “What he learned in prison, I’m not going to sacrifice my life.”
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