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DEATH ROW Rodney Alcala Alcala, a UclA film. graduate, used his camera and charm to lure young Southern California girls to their deaths. by Janet Zimmerman aves smashed furiously against the cliffs at this coastal city 50 miles south of Los Angeles. Huntington Beach that June afternoon in 1979. the beginning of a typical Southern California summer. The serious surfers whose wet-suited profiles And it was, for almost everyone except 12-year-old Robin usually dot the shoreline here in the early moming had long Christine Samsoe. It was:here at I4th Street and Pacific Coast disappeared as the sun broke through the.summer haze. Highway that this blue-eyed 7th grader would peer directly A scattering of tourists was beginning to emerge, stopping into the face of death.. their cars along the dirt overhang to peer into the endless blue Death on that day took the form of a 35-year-old man of the Pacific Ocean. On a good day, they might even catch a named Rodney James Alcala. He was a lanky, soft-spoken ex- glimpse of Catalina Island, 26 miles offshore. When they'd con with an insatiable appetite for young girls and violent sex. gotten their fill of salt water and paim tees, they'd venture on AIcala wore a blue Hawaiian shirt. His hair was a thick, to the seedy downtown of Huntington Beach, filled with head wavy black that hung below his shoulders and almost made shops and outdoor hamburger stands where the locals hang him look like a woman. His weapon of choice was a 35 mm OuL camera, which he used to befriend young girls who would Teen-agers fresh out of school would catch the bus or hitch pose for his promises of fame and fortune. a ride with friends as they began work on their tans. They'd Robin and her best friend, 13-year-old Brigett Wilvert spread their toweis on the hot white sand or perch on the were reclining on the cliffs at 14th Street when AIcala cement retaining wall, listening to rock 'n roll music and approached. Like dozens of giris before them, he asked to take maybe waiting for a friend who could score them some pot. their picture for a photography contest. It appeared that this 2Oth day of June was like any other in They agreed, flattered by the attention of an older man. It POLICE OCTOBER 1993 61