What happened to Cheryl Bradshaw? What we know as retired detective opens up about Dating Game Killer Rodney Alcala

Cheryl Bradshaw's fateful appearance on the TV show, The Dating Game, in 1978 brought her face-to-face with the Dating Game Killer, Rodney Alcala, whom she chose unknowingly. A retired detective reveals the disturbing reality from Alcala's crimes to Bradshaw's narrow escape.

On 13 September 1978, Bradshaw appeared on the TV show, where she ended up selecting Rodney Alcala as her date from three eligible bachelors. Bradshaw was an aspiring actress at the time in LA and only appeared on the show in an effort to further her profession and find love.

Rodney Alcala at the time was already a convicted criminal. He was a sexual offender and was in the middle of a killing spree that would result in the deaths of at least eight women. No proper background check was done on the participants; Alcala was presented as an eligible bachelor who was a cameraman.

The very same evening, Bradshaw apparently contacted the show's producer, Ellen Metzger, to voice her discomfort. She said,

“I can’t go out with this guy.”

Bradshaw claimed that Alcala was giving her bad vibes and was behaving strangely. According to Ellen Metzger and her husband Mike, who was also the producer of the show, Alcala made a lot of people uneasy even before the production began. Mike claimed that he was first opposed to Alcala's participation, citing

“He had a mystique about him that I found uncomfortable.”

As Alcala's crimes came forward and shocked the nation, Bradshaw avoided becoming one of his victims by trusting her intuition, a decision that ended up saving her life.

In the years that followed, Bradshaw made the decision to leave the spotlight and relocate somewhere else to raise a family. In 2012, she described this event as a "close brush with fate." Sadly, Bradshaw passed away before the filming of Woman of the Hour, a movie directed by and starring Anna Kendrick as 'Sheryl Bradshaw.'

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Rodney Alcala: How a TV appearance and key evidence led to the downfall of the "Dating Game Killer"

The lead that led to Rodney Alcala's final capture and conviction for his heinous crimes came from a composite sketch and keen observation made by one of the detectives while watching a rerun of The Dating Game.

Following the 1979 murder of Robin Samsoe, a 12-year-old girl, Craig Robinson, the lead detective, was instrumental in piecing together evidence that ultimately brought Alcala to justice.

On 20 June 1979, Robin Samoe disappeared while riding her bicycle to her ballet lessons in Huntington Beach, California. Earlier that day, a strange man with an afro and a camera had approached Samoe and her friend at the beach. When authorities made public a composite sketch of the person of interest, a parole officer noticed it and recognized Alcala.

Alcala's criminal history, which includes the 1968 attack on 8-year-old Tali Shapiro that almost killed her, was discovered by Robinson and his team. After the incident, Alcala had run away but was caught eventually and was found guilty of child molestation. He was jailed for a short time before his parole. Many women and girls were often lured under the guise of photography.

When one of the investigators recognized Alcala from a 1978 episode of The Dating Game, it was a game changer. Alcala had been selected by Bradshaw, who eventually refused to go with him on a date, claiming she didn't feel comfortable.

A crucial piece of evidence that linked Rodney Alcala to the murder of Robin Samoe was a jewelry bag that was discovered in a storage locker that Alcala had rented in Seattle. Samoe's mother attested that the earrings were among her belongings. The same bag that connected Samose's murder to Alcala also linked to other murders that he had committed.

By 2010, Alcala had been found guilty of five murders in California and given the death penalty. DNA evidence connected him to another murder in 1977 in Wyoming, and in 2013, he later pleaded guilty to two more murders in New York.

Rodney Alcala was imprisoned from his arrest in 1979 till the time of his death in 2021 from natural causes. Looking back at the case, Robinson stated,

“What started his complete undoing was his arrest that we made in July of 1979.”

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About Women of the Hour

Woman of the Hour, released in 2023, is an American criminal thriller directed by Anna Kendrick. Kendrick also plays 'Sheryl Bradshaw,' real name 'Cheryl.' They changed the spelling to set the persona apart from the actual person. It is based on the tale of the "Dating Gamer Killer," Rodney Alcala, who made an appearance on the show a year before he was arrested and identified as the "Dating Gamer Killer."