Serial Killer Rodney Alcala Faces New Murder Charges in New York

Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, aged 67, faces new charges of killing two New York women in 1970s.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., announced the indictment of Alcala on murder charges in the deaths of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover. Decades after these crimes occurred, the Manhattan District Attorney's Cold Case Unit presented these cases to the Grand Jury, which indicted Alcala on murder charges in the deaths of two young women.

Cold cases are not forgotten cases -- our prosecutors, investigators, and partners in the New York Police Department (NYPD) do not give up, said District Attorney Vance said in a statement.

Ms. Crilley, a 23-year-old Trans World Airlines flight attendant, was found raped and strangled inside her Upper East Side apartment in June of 1971, while Ms. Hover, who was also 23 and living in Manhattan, was found murdered in Westchester County in 1977.

Last year, officials began an exhaustive re-examination of these two homicides, including a full re-investigation of evidence, and new interviews with more than 100 witnesses.

This re-focus on these cases, combined with information made available during the defendant's trial in California, finally gave prosecutors the evidence needed to secure today's indictment, Vance said.

The NYPD has been investigating this case since 1971, and followed leads across the United States to build the case against Alcala.

Alcala, who is currently imprisoned in California, after being convicted of five murders in that state, is known as the Dating Game Killer due to his 1978 appearance on the American television show The Dating Game in the very midst of his murder spree. Alcala was accepted as a contestant on The Dating Game, despite being a convicted rapist and registered sex offender.

Alcala had worked as a photographer in the 70s, but apparently used the profession to attract women and gained his victims' trust by asking them to model for him.

Alcala remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California following his Feb. 2010 conviction.

Now, the latest charges against Alcala include intentional murder, felony murder, and murder in the second degree. All the three charges are classified under Class A felony, under which a convict is punishable by 25 years to life in prison.