Are There More Rodney Alcala Victims? Police Reach Out to Public with Hundreds of Photos
SANTA ANA, Calif. (CBS/AP) Investigators are asking for the public's help in identifying any potential victims among hundreds of pictures of young women and men. The photos were apparently snapped by Rodney Alcala, who was recently convicted in the serial murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl.
PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: New Victims?
Most of the subjects in the photos have never been identified, and officials worry that they might have uncovered a trophy case of additional victims of Alcala.
"We'd like to locate the women in these pictures," prosecutor Matt Murphy told the Orange County Register. "Did they simply pose for a serial killer, or did they become victims of his sadistic, murderous pattern?"
Hundreds of photos recovered during court-authorized searches of Alcala's Monterey Park home and a storage locker were released Wednesday.
PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: New Victims?
Police say some of the photos show women and young girls in the nude and engaging in sex acts.
Prosecutors said Alcala, the 66-year-old amateur photographer and UCLA graduate, used his camera as a way to convince victims to trust him.
A jury on Tuesday recommended a death sentence for Alcala for five murders he committed in the seventies. Jurors took just an hour to return the death recommendation after a six-week trial in which Alcala represented himself and took the stand in his own defense.
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PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: New Victims?
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