1972 — Alcala is convicted in the
1968 rape and beating of an 8-year-old girl.
Nov. 10, 1977 — The body of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb
is found in the Hollywood Hills. She had been sexually assaulted,
bludgeoned and strangled with a pair of blue pants.
Dec. 16, 1977 — Georgia Wixted, 27,
is found beaten to death at her home in Malibu. She had been sexually
assaulted and strangled.
1978 — Alcala appears in an episode
of “The Dating Game” as Bachelor No. 1.
June 24, 1978 — Charlotte Lamb, a 32-year-old legal
secretary from Santa Monica, is found in the laundry room of an El
Segundo apartment complex. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled
with a shoelace.
June 14, 1979 — Jill Parenteau, 21, is
found strangled on the floor of her Burbank apartment.
June 20, 1979 – Robin Samsoe, 12, disappears near
the Huntington Beach Pier. Her body is found 12 days later in the Sierra
Madre foothills.
July 24, 1979 — Rodney James
Alcala, an unemployed photographer, is arrested at his parents’ Monterey
Park home.
September 1980 – Alcala is convicted of the 1978
rape of a 15-year-old Riverside girl and sentenced to nine years in
state prison.
June 20, 1980 — Orange County Superior Court Judge
Philip E. Schwab sentences Alcala to death after he is convicted of
Samsoe’s murder.
July 11, 1980 — The Los Angeles County district
attorney’s office files murder, burglary and sexual assault charges
against Alcala in the slaying of Parenteau.
April 15, 1981 — The L.A. County district attorney’s office
tells a judge that prosecution of Alcala in the Parenteau case could
not proceed because a key witness admitted that he had committed perjury
in another case.
Aug. 23, 1984 — The state Supreme Court reversed
Alcala’s murder conviction in connection with Samsoe, ruling that the
jury was improperly told about Alcala’s prior sex crimes.
June 20, 1986 — For the second time, Alcala is
convicted of Samsoe’s murder and sentenced to death in Orange County
Superior Court.
Dec.
31, 1992 — The California Supreme Court unanimously upholds
Alcala’s death sentence.
April 2, 2001 — A federal appellate court overturns
Alcala’s death sentence in the Samsoe case, ruling that the Superior
Court judge precluded the defense from presenting evidence “material to
significant issues.”
June 5, 2003 — The Los Angeles County district
attorney’s office files murder charges against Alcala alleging that he
killed Wixted during a burglary and rape.
Sept. 19, 2005 — Additional murder charges are filed
against Alcala in connection to the deaths of Barcomb, Wixted and Lamb.
Jan. 11, 2010 — Alcala’s trial for the five murders
begins. He represents himself.
March 9, 2010 — Alcala is again sentenced to death.
— Kimi Yoshino
For Times coverage of the Alcala sentence see: Orange County jury orders death for Alcala for third time. Click here for more
photos.