Cornered by high-tech forensics and low-tech sleuthing, serial sex killer Rodney Alcala took a surprise guilty plea in Manhattan yesterday, admitting he took the lives of two young woman in the 1970s.
So-called “Dating Game killer” Alcala, 67, admitted he committed the 1971 murder of TWA flight attendant Cornelia Crilley and the 1977 murder of Ellen Hover. Both women were 23.
Under his plea, the Brillo-haired monster will be sentenced by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner next month to 25 years to life in prison — a legally irrelevant term given that he will then be returned to death row in San Quentin prison in California.
Alcala had been sentenced to death two years ago for a spree of LA-area sex slays, which left four women and a 12-year-old girl defiled, bludgeoned and strangled between 1977 and 1979. In taking his plea, Alcala said he wanted to return as quickly as possible to California, so that he can fight his death sentence.