Yesterday an Orange County jury convicted a serial murderer of the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe. This was the third time the killer, Rodney James Alcala, 66, has been convicted of this crime. He was also convicted in the same trial of raping and murdering four Los Angeles County women in the 1970s.
On June 20, 1979, Alcala approached Samsoe at the beach in Huntington Beach and asked the victim to pose for pictures. After posing for a series of photographs, the victim got on a bike and rode away, heading for an afternoon dance class. The defendant kidnapped and murdered Samsoe and dumped her body near Sierra Madre in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The victim's dead body was scavenged by animals and her skeletal remains were discovered July 2, 1979.
Alcala was identified by several people as the photographer from the beach on the day Samsoe was kidnapped. Following an investigation, Alcala was charged, tried, and convicted for Samsoe's murder in 1980. He was sentenced to receive the death penalty. The conviction was later overturned by the California Supreme Court.
Alcala was again tried and convicted for the murder of Samsoe in 1986, and was again sentenced to the death penalty. The second conviction was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy told www.OC180NEWS.com he does not expect this verdict to be overturned. “The reason it will be different is because we didn’t use any of the evidence that they had a problem with. Basically, we used the evidence that was left over after they picked it over the first two times.”
Murphy indicated the first trial was overturned mainly because of testimony about Alcala’s previous convictions for rapes of 8-year-old and 15-year-old girls. This evidence was not used in the current trial.
For the second conviction, a witness who testified at the first trial was so traumatized by the crime, she could not remember her testimony at the second trial. To compensate, the prosecutors at the second trial introduced into evidence the witness’s testimony from the previous trial. “The 9th Circuit found error with that,” said Murphy.
“We have bent over backward to accommodate Rodney Alcala’s requests for discovery, and we provided every courtesy we could in order to ensure the integrity of the process. We have done everything we can to comply with the directions provided by the court of appeals and we have every confidence that it will be upheld.”
Yesterday Alcala was also convicted of murdering 18-year-old Jill Barcomb (November 1977), 27-year-old Georgia Wixted (December 1977), 33-year-old Charlotte Lamb (June 1979), and 21-year-old Jill Parenteau (June 1979).
For the murders of Barcomb, Wixted, and Lamb, the cases were investigated but went cold. Biological evidence was collected at the scenes, but DNA technology was not available at that time.
Alcala's blood was collected from the scene of Parenteau‘s murder after he cut himself crawling through a window. Based on a semi-rare blood match, Alcala was linked to the murder. He was charged for murdering Parenteau but the case was later dismissed after his first conviction for the murder of Robin Samsoe.
While awaiting his third trial for the murder of Samsoe, DNA collected from the murder scenes of Barcomb, Wixted, and Lamb was linked to Alcala. He was charged for the four Los Angeles murders, including Parenteau.
During the third trial, which ended in yesterday’s conviction of all five murders, Alcala represented himself as his own defense attorney and argued that he was at Knott's Berry Farm on the afternoon that Samsoe was murdered. Although he called a witness to challenge some of the DNA evidence, In his opening and closing statements, Alcala did not contest the charges that he committed the murders of the four Los Angeles victims.
Alcala was found guilty by a jury of five felony counts of murder and one felony count of kidnapping. The jury found true the sentencing enhancements for committing multiple murders, murder with torture, murder during the commission of rape, murder during the commission of kidnapping, murder during the commission of a burglary of an inhabited dwelling, and murder during the commission of a robbery.
The Orange and Los Angeles County District Attorney's Offices, who are jointly prosecuting this case, are seeking the death penalty based on the special circumstances. The penalty phase against Alcala is scheduled to begin Tuesday, March 2, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. in Department C-45, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano are prosecuting this case.
