In 1979, the Huntington Beach Police Department cracked open a storage unit in Seattle that belonged to a man named Rodney Alcala. What they found inside wasn’t just the usual junk. It was a massive, unsettling archive. Thousands of photographs. Cameras. Film equipment. And, most chillingly, a pair of gold ball earrings that would eventually link him to the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.
For decades, the public didn't see most of those images. Then, in 2010, authorities decided to release over 100 of the Rodney Alcala victim photos to the world. They had a single, desperate goal: identify the women and children in the frames before time ran out.
It worked. Sorta.
Some women called in, shaking, to say, "That's me. I'm alive." But for others, the photos were the last piece of a tragic puzzle that had remained unsolved for thirty years.
The Haunting Gallery of the "Dating Game Killer"
Rodney Alcala wasn't just a killer; he was a predator who used his camera as a primary hunting tool. He’d approach young women on the street or at the beach, flashing his credentials as a "fashion photographer" for disguise. He was charming. He was handsome. He even won a segment on The Dating Game in 1978, right in the middle of his cross-country murder spree.
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Honestly, the sheer volume of the collection is what staggers investigators. We're talking about roughly 1,000 photos. Most of the people in them looked like they were posing for a portfolio—sitting in parks, leaning against trees, or lounging on motorcycles. But the subtext was predatory.
When the 2010 release happened, the internet went into a frenzy. Families of missing persons from the '70s spent hours scouring the grainy, dated images, looking for a familiar chin or a specific sweater.
Who was actually identified?
It’s easy to get lost in the "creep factor" of the photos, but for a few families, this was real life.
- Christine Ruth Thornton: This is probably the most famous case tied to the photos. Christine was 28 and pregnant when she vanished in 1977. For nearly four decades, her family had no idea what happened. In 2013, her sister was looking through the public database of Alcala’s photos and froze. There was Christine. She was sitting in a desert landscape—a photo Alcala had taken just before, or perhaps during, the encounter that ended her life. Her remains had been found in Wyoming back in 1982, but they were never identified until the photo provided the missing link.
- The "Survivors": Interestingly, most of the people who were identified from the 2010 release were actually alive. About 21 women came forward within the first few weeks. They remembered the "weird guy" with the camera. They had no idea they had narrowly escaped becoming a statistic.
- The Unnamed: Despite the public push, dozens of photos remain unidentified. Some of the subjects are children. Some are men. The Huntington Beach Police Department still maintains a gallery of these images because they believe, somewhere out there, a cold case is waiting for a name.
Why the Rodney Alcala victim photos still matter in 2026
You might wonder why we're still talking about photos taken fifty years ago by a man who died in prison in 2021. The answer is simple: The math doesn't add up.
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Alcala is officially linked to about eight or nine murders. However, investigators—including former Orange County prosecutor Matt Murphy—estimate his actual victim count could be as high as 130. He traveled constantly. He lived in New York, California, Washington, and New Hampshire. He was a chameleon.
The photos are the only map we have to his "missing" years. Each unidentified face represents a potential crime scene that hasn't been found.
The Ethics of the Public Release
There’s a lot of debate about whether the police should have released the photos at all. Many of them were suggestive. Some were graphic—though the police kept the most explicit 900 images under lock and key.
The Orange County District Attorney’s office at the time, led by Tony Rackauckas, admitted it was a "balance of privacy versus justice." They knew that by putting these women's faces on the evening news, they were potentially re-traumatizing people who might have just been having a weird afternoon with a photographer in 1975. But without that risk, Christine Thornton would still be a "Jane Doe" in a Wyoming grave.
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What you should know if you look at the photos
If you go looking for the Rodney Alcala victim photos today, you’ll find them hosted on various news archives and law enforcement sites. It's not a "true crime" curiosity trip; it's an active search for the truth.
- Context is everything: Just because someone is in a photo doesn't mean they were killed. Alcala took hundreds of "test shots" of people he never saw again.
- The locations vary: While many were taken in Southern California, Alcala spent significant time in New York City (where he was a student at NYU) and Seattle.
- Physical markers: Investigators look for specific jewelry or clothing. In the case of Charlotte Lamb, a murder victim from 1978, a pair of her earrings was found in Alcala's locker. These "trophies" are often more important than the photos themselves.
How to help identify a potential victim
The Huntington Beach Police Department still wants to hear from anyone who recognizes a face in the collection. They aren't looking to "bust" anyone for what they were doing in the '70s. They want to close books that have been open for far too long.
If you or someone you know lived in the Hollywood, Seattle, or New York area between 1970 and 1979 and spent time around a man calling himself "John Berger" or "Rodney," your information could be the key.
Actionable Next Steps
- View the Official Gallery: Visit the Huntington Beach Police Department’s official website or the Orange County District Attorney's archive to see the remaining unidentified photos.
- Check Missing Persons Databases: If you recognize a face, cross-reference it with the NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) database to see if there's a matching missing person report from that era.
- Contact Authorities: If a photo looks like a relative who went missing, contact Det. Patrick Ellis (or the current lead investigator) at the Huntington Beach Police Department. Do not rely on social media sleuthing alone; DNA is the only way these cases get officially closed.
The legacy of Rodney Alcala is a long shadow of "what ifs." Every time someone identifies a face in those photos, that shadow gets a little bit smaller. We may never know the full extent of what happened in those hotel rooms and parks, but the photos ensure the victims aren't entirely forgotten.