‘The Dating Game’ killer Rodney Alcala dies at 77

Rodney Alcala, a man dubbed the “Dating Game Killer,” died Saturday at the age of 77, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 

In a press release, prison officials said the Alcala died of natural causes in a hospital near Corcoran State Prison in California.

Alcala, who earned his moniker after appearing on “The Dating Game” television show in 1978, had been on death row for 11 years before passing. At the time of his television appearance, Alcala had already been convicted in the 1968 rape of an 8-year-old girl, according to CNN.

The killer was originally sentenced to death in 1980 after he was convicted of the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe. After his sentence was reversed in 1984 and then overturned in 2003, he was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in 2010.

Alcala pled guilty to two additional murders in 2013 and was sentenced in New York to 25 years to life. In 2016, he was charged again for murder in the death of an individual in 1978. He had remained on death row ever since.

Alcala had also been linked to killings in Los Angeles and Marin County, Calif., Seattle, New York, New Hampshire and Arizona, the department notes.