More on the Child Porn Guy at the L.A. Times Who Murdered Five Women — He Was Already a Convicted Child Rapist While Employed at the Paper
The other day I posted about serial murderer Rodney James Alcala, who has since been convicted of five counts of murder. As I noted in my post, Alcala was an L.A. Times typesetter who was going around showing co-workers child porn — a tidbit that somehow got omitted from an L.A. Times Column One story about Alcala.
The cover-up continues.
After Alcala was convicted, an L.A. Times blog post noted the convictions, and included a detailed timeline of Alcala’s history. Detailed . . . with one major omission: the dates of Alcala’s employment at the L.A. Times.
Unlike the Column One story, the blog post does at least mention Alcala’s past employment with the paper — if not his habit of showing child porn to his colleagues. But the dates that he was employed are obscured with a phrase describing him as a “onetime typist at the Los Angeles Times.”
Why is this interesting? Because the timeline begins this way:
1972 — Alcala is convicted in the 1968 rape and beating of an 8-year-old girl.
And we know from the L.A. Weekly — the same source that provided the details about his child-porn sharing — that he was employed at The Times in the late ’70s:
In one fantastic irony, even as the L.A. Times was publishing sensational articles in the late 1970s about the mysterious Hillside Strangler, who terrorized much of L.A. at that time, Alcala, who worked typesetting articles for that paper, was being questioned by the LAPD in relation to those very murders.
. . . .
He brought his photography portfolio to show his Times workmates, she says, and the photos were “of young girls. I thought it was weird, but I was young, I didn’t know anything. When I asked why he took the photos, he said their moms asked him to. I remember the girls were naked.”
Gonzalez adds that she wasn’t “smart enough or mature enough to know” that she was looking at child porn. Yet incredibly, she describes how L.A. Times’ management in the 1970s had a golden opportunity to turn Alcala in, but did nothing: “There were other people in the department who were in their 40s and 50s. The [Times] supervisor at the time — she saw it.” Instead, the reaction at the newspaper was, “We thought he was a little different. Strange about sex.”
So they didn’t just have a guy going around showing child porn to colleagues.
They had a guy who had been convicted of a violent child rape who was going around showing child porn to colleagues.
And management knew about it, and did nothing.
Just to flesh out the timeline a little further: the Hillside Strangler murders occurred between October 1977 and February 1978. So that would be the time period during which those murders were being discussed in the L.A. Times. While convicted child rapist Alcala was showing around his child porn, with the knowledge of L.A. Times supervisors.
And several of Alcala’s murders occurred after that:
June 24, 1978 — Charlotte Lamb, a 32-year-old legal secretary from Santa Monica, is found in the laundry room of an El Segundo apartment complex. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace.
June 14, 1979 — Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank is found strangled on the floor of her Burbank apartment.
June 20, 1979 – Robin Samsoe, 12, disappears near the Huntington Beach Pier. Her body is found 12 days later in the Sierra Madre foothills.
Yeah, it’s kinda little wonder they describe him as a “onetime typist” rather than fitting his L.A. Times employment into that timeline.
Thanks again to Ben S.
I remember the Samsoe murder and the fact that he lured her by offering to take her picture. He described himself as a “photographer.” Well, now we know. I had never heard the rest of it before.
Of course, the California Supreme Court has its share of blame that this creep is still alive and being tried again.
Mike K (2cf494) — 2/27/2010 @ 4:52 pmI remember that one too, Mike K, and followed the case through the criminal courts. I also remember the sad story of Samsoe’s mother, who fell prey to drug and alcohol abuse in the years after the murder.
Human excrement like Alcala leave behind so many more victims in their wake, not just those whose lives were taken. Too bad other prisoners couldn’t find a way to save the taxpayers some money.
GeneralMalaise (c58b20) — 2/27/2010 @ 5:09 pmThey know in their heart of hearts, that we can’t handle the truth, so they protect us from that great evil.
Or, is it the gathering mob carrying pitchforks and torches that makes them hesitant to admit their involvement in this matter?
“Who will rid me of these meddlesome scribes?”
AD - RtR/OS! (7d5017) — 2/27/2010 @ 5:37 pmIt would be interesting to see the names of all the LA Times’ individuals who knew of the convicted child rapist and did nothing. Many of these people must still be around and they should be given the exposure they deserve.
calandman (1f2308) — 2/27/2010 @ 7:47 pmThere’s an extra dose of fail here: no one at a newspaper remembers the difference between a typist and a typesetter?
Chris Chittleborough (34e482) — 2/27/2010 @ 9:33 pmHow long has it been since they used linotype machines?
AD - RtR/OS! (7d5017) — 2/27/2010 @ 11:17 pmbetter question: how long has it been since they used their brains, either collectively or individually?
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 2/28/2010 @ 12:01 amThe Orange County Register had heart breaking coverage of Alcala’s latest trial. He represented himself in the trial and reveled in his ability to force the mother of his 12 year old victim to answer his questions as a witness. He is pure evil and should have been given the needle decades ago.
in_awe (44fed5) — 2/28/2010 @ 12:53 pm“He is pure evil and should have been given the needle decades ago.”
You show way too much mercy, in_awe.
GeneralMalaise (c58b20) — 2/28/2010 @ 12:59 pm12 yr old Alcala-victim’s mother revealed in another article that in a prior trial Alcala had blown her kisses from across the courtroom – a woman whose 12 yr old daughter was found decapitated. I’d be happy to kill him just for that!
Bruce Ditnes (ea9254) — 2/28/2010 @ 4:40 pmSomebody should invite him to batting practice.
AD - RtR/OS! (dbf36d) — 2/28/2010 @ 4:42 pmWhile I’m happy to have you beat the L.A. Times over the head with this one:
1972-Alcala is convicted in the 1968 rape and beating of an 8-year-old girl…. June 24, 1978 — Charlotte Lamb, a 32-year-old legal secretary from Santa Monica, is found in the laundry room of an El Segundo apartment complex. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace.
How depraved a rapist and murderer does a man have to be before the state of CA will make him serve more than 10 years in prison? In a civilized society the rape and beating of a 8-year old should be a 25-year minimum sentence.
tehag (ef1704) — 2/28/2010 @ 7:03 pmtehag, in the case of the beating and rape of an 8 year old, the family should have the option of conducting a shotgun concherto for the likes Mr. Alcala.
Ones that can’t do the “time”, won’t do the crime, while the others will become fertilizer.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/1/2010 @ 10:44 amDid any of the people he was showing the kiddie porn to lift up the phone and call the cops? Or, were they like the people who heard a women (Kitty Genovese?) screams as she was being murdered in NYC in the Sixties and did nothing? There is plenty of evil to go around here. My parents left the state in the 50s after my father finished miliary service because I got lost and no one would help search for me. You don’t get off your butt and help look for a 4 year old? What kind of attitude is that? Guess things hadn’t changed much in the 70s! Look at the Roman Polanski situation now. Who is it that complains that Sarah Palin hasn’t “evolved”? She’s evil because she chose to have a Down syndrome baby?No, Ms. Ensler et al, we conservatives aren’t degenerates.
BHG (4f2804) — 3/1/2010 @ 1:15 pmIt’s worse, the Hollywod attitude has taken over Washington. Who awarded Kevin Jennings an award for his “safe schools” program? Who were the stars that turned out to see GLSEN (GLSTN) honored? The inverts and perverts have taken over with NAMBLA-adorer Jennings and his fistgaters. Alcala would find in Jennings a kindred spirit.
Write to the LA Times and complain (they backed Obama, didn’t they?) and don’t go see Polanski films. Demand that Jennings be terminated. Stand up for our children against this abuse and exploitation of children.
Are judges appointed or elected in California? See to it that your representatives/governor hear from you LOUDLY about your opinion of their appointees the way his prosecutions were handled. Did he get such lenient treatment because cops, defense/prosecuting attorneys, psychiatrists/psychologists, and judges were fellow pedophiles? Pedophile picture takers usually like to “share” with others and form rings of “hobbyists” who are in law enforcement and other fields with access to children.
Did Alcala receive any therapy in prison? Are the families of his later victims considering wrongful death lawsuits against anyone? Why not sue the LA Times? If you stop and help anyone after an accident occurs and things don’t work out you can be held liable in CA, what about failing to turn in someone like Alcala?
The LA Times is not discussing any of these issues, are they? Of course not! Then it’s time for gentle readers of this blog to force them to confront reality.