Metro

‘Dating Game’ serial killer pleads not guilty in ‘70s slayings of Manhattan pair

“Dating Game” serial killer Rodney Alcala pleaded not guilty today to charges that he murdered a pair of 23-year-old Manhattan beauties in the 1970s.

The scraggly-haired Alcala, wearing orange jumpsuit and shackled by his wrists and ankles, uttered “not guilty” to murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree.

His next date in court was set for Oct. 30.

“Remand the defendant, please,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner said as Alcala was led out of court.

The creepy photographer Alcala was convicted in 2010 of strangling four women and a 12-year-old girl in Southern California in the 1970s. Alcala is on Death Row for those California slayings.

Now he’s facing the music in Manhattan, where he’s accused of killing Cornelia Crilleyand Ellen Hover.

“After more than three decades, the defendant will finally face the justice system in New York for the murder of two victims,” said Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said today.

“My Office’s Forensic Sciences/Cold Case Unit was created because all crime victims and their families deserve closure, no matter how long ago the crime occurred. Today’s arraignment brings us a step closer to obtaining justice for Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover.”

Crilley was a TWA flight attendant, who was raped inside her Upper East Side apartment in 1971. She was strangled with her own panty hose, law enforcement sources said.

Crilley had just moved into that apartment within a day of her death. It’s believed Crilley met Alcala on the street as she was lugged boxes upstairs, sources said.

Hover’s dad Herman ran the famed Hollywood hot spot, Ciro’s, and her godfathers were Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.

When Hover vanished on July 15, 1977, she had an appointment with photographer “John Berger,” according to her personal calendar, sources said.

In charging documents, prosecutors said Alcala had the alias “John Berger.”

Hover’s remains were found a year later at the vast Rockefeller estate near North Tarrytown, where Alcala was known to take women for photos, sources said.

“It is my hope that this indictment brings a small measure of peace to the families and friends who have spent decades searching for answers, and justice,” Vance said.

Alcala, 68, appeared on a Sept. 13, 1978 episode of “The Dating Game” as Bachelor No. 1.

He won the date with bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw, after exchanging cheesy double entredes.

“Bachelor No. 1, I am serving you for dinner. What are you called and what do you look like?” Bradshaw asked.

“I’m called the banana and I look really good,” Alcala answered. “Peel me.”

The school teacher ultimately declined to go out with Alcala, because she found him to be creepy.

California authorities two years ago published hundreds of photos that Alcala kept in a locker in Seattle. Several people stepped forward to identify themselves and confirmed they were unharmed

No new charges have been filed from the massive picture dump so far., an Orange County DA rep said.

New York authorities now are combing through those same photos — and jewelry found in that Seattle locker — to see if they match any more missing cases here, sources said.

With additional reporting by Laura Italiano and Brad Hamilton