TALI Shapiro was just 8-years-old when she was attacked by the Dating Game Killer Rodney Alcala.
Thankfully, a passerby managed to save Tali from the serial murderer whose TV appearance on the Dating Game was dramatized in Netflix’s Woman of the Hour.
Tali was walking to school on September 25, 1968, when she crossed paths with Rodney Alcala.
Just a month earlier, Rodney had committed one of his first horrific crimes, when he attacked a 16-year-old called Morgan Rowan.
Thankfully, Morgan was saved by her friends before Rodney could kill her.
Tali had not heard about the attack, while staying with her parents at the Chateau Marmont, so she didn’t immediately think that Rodney seemed dangerous.
Later in life, she opened up to the experience to 20/20 and said: “I told him I didn’t talk to strangers,”
“That is when he told me he knew my parents.
“I really didn’t want to get into the car but I was raised to respect my elders.
“I didn’t know to fear people.”
Rodney took her to his apartment under the pretense of showing her a picture, before sexually assaulting her and attacking her with a steel bar.
Tali’s life was saved by Donald Haines, a passerby who phoned the police when he saw the eight-year-old get into Rodney’s car.
He followed Tali and Rodney to the apartment, which allowed the police to locate them in time.
Rodney fled from the scene and Tali was left in a coma for 32 days.
Rodney fled to New York after the crime, where he murdered a woman named Cornelia Crilley while using the alias Jack Berger, sometimes spelled Burger.
The soon-to-be-named Dating Game Killer was put on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives in 1971.
Two children attending an arts camp noticed his photo at a post office and reported Rodney to the police.
He was extradited to California to face justice for his attack on Tali, but her family had already moved to Mexico by this time.
They refused to allow Tali to testify at the trial, which made it difficult to charge Rodney with rape or attempted murder.
However, he did get convicted of child molestation which saw him stay behind bars until 1977.
Rodney was granted parole briefly in 1974, but was re-arrested after attacking a 13-year-old girl.
Rodney appeared on The Dating Game show in 1978, where he tried to charm Cheryl Bradshaw into choosing him as her date.
Eventually, she did pick him but Cheryl later backed out of the date when Rodney’s ominous comments made her feel uneasy.
He referred to nighttime as his favorite time of day, because it meant that “ you’re really ready” and said that he was a “banana”, before inviting her to “peel me”.
Rodney’s killing spree intensified after Cheryl rejected him but he was finally caught after the tragic murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.
Robin’s friends saw Rodney’s face and were able to describe him to the police, who circulated a sketch of the killer.
At this time, Rodney had adopted a new tactic to kill his victims which involved posing as a photographer to trick them into going to remote locations.
Rodney’s parole officer, who was assigned to him after his attack on Tali, recognized him and reported him to the police.
He was arrested in 1979 and sentenced to death in 1980, but this sentence was overturned four years later.
Instead, the Dating Game Killer spent the rest of his life in prison before dying from natural causes in 2021.
Rodney’s appearance on the Dating Game is dramatized in Netflix’s thriller Woman of the Hour.
The film was directed by Anna Kendrick who also stars as Cheryl Bradshaw.
Woman of the Hour is available for streaming on Netflix from October 16, 2024.
