“Haunted by the Past: The Chilling Encounter Between a Survivor and ‘The Dating Game’ Killer That Unveiled Dark Secrets”
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“I am not one of those people who are fascinated by serial killers. I don’t even like horror films. But I couldn’t stop searching, reading, asking. When Alcala died in 2021, I thought I was finally done. Then the new, inescapably popular Netflix film Woman of Hour, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick, showed me that there are some experiences that never really go away.”
She said Detective Wendell Stradford, the NYPD officer largely responsible for extraditing Alcala from California to New York City, had arranged the jail visit.
The woman added: “We sat down in a partitioned-off side area on low plastic, primary-colored chairs, so close that my nose twitched with the stench of his alkaline prison soap. The guard said he’d be outside and walked away. Alcala smiled at me, thin lips concealing the same teeth that had bitten off nipples according to the FBI reports I had read. He seemed excited, thrilled even — I could have been a beautifully wrapped present he was about to dismantle.”
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“We met at the East Side Bookstore. Alcala was killing and raping during those years,” she said.
