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Additional associations, charges, and convictions

New York State

After his 2010 conviction, New York authorities announced that they would no longer pursue Alcala because of his status as a convict awaiting execution.[32] Nevertheless, in January 2011, a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for the murders of Cornelia Crilley, the TWA flight attendant, and Ellen Hover, the Ciro's heiress, in 1971 and 1977, respectively.[3][44] In June 2012, he was extradited to New York, where he initially entered not guilty pleas on both counts.[45]



In December 2012 he changed both pleas to guilty, citing a desire to return to California to pursue appeals of his death penalty conviction.[46] On January 7, 2013, a Manhattan judge sentenced Alcala to an additional 25 years to life.[2] The death penalty has not been an option in New York State since 2007.[47]



Washington

In 2010, Seattle police named Alcala as a "person of interest" in the unsolved murders of Antoinette Wittaker, 13, in July 1977, and Joyce Gaunt, 17, in February 1978. Alcala rented the Seattle-area storage locker in which investigators later found jewelry belonging to two of his California victims in 1979.[48][49] Other cold cases were reportedly targeted for reinvestigation in California, New York, New Hampshire, and Arizona.[50]



San Francisco

In March 2011, investigators in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco, announced that they were "confident" that Alcala was responsible for the 1977 murder of 19-year-old Pamela Jean Lambson, who disappeared after making a trip to Fisherman's Wharf to meet a man who had offered to photograph her. Her battered, naked body was subsequently found in Marin County near a hiking trail. With no fingerprints or usable DNA, charges are unlikely to be filed, but police claimed that there is sufficient evidence to convince them that Alcala committed the crime.[51]



Wyoming

In September 2016, Alcala was charged with the murder of 28-year-old Christine Ruth Thornton, who disappeared in 1977. In 2013, a relative recognized her as the subject of one of Alcala's photos made public by Huntington Beach PD and NYPD. Her body was found in Sweetwater County, Wyoming in 1982, but was not identified until 2015 when DNA supplied by Thornton's relatives matched tissue samples from her remains.[5][52]



Alcala admitted taking the photo, but not to killing the woman, who was approximately six months pregnant at the time of her death. Thornton is the first alleged murder victim linked to the Alcala photos made public in 2010.[53] The 73-year-old Alcala was reportedly "too ill" to make the journey from California to Wyoming to stand trial on the new charges. He remains in California State Prison, Corcoran pending further appeals of his death sentences.[54][55][56][57]

Rodney Alcala was put on the FBI’s most wanted list. Unbeknownst to authorities, Alcala left California for the east coast and changed his name to John Berger. It was much easier to do something like this in the seventies, as background checks were limited. Alcala was able to live as John Berger for years. As John Berger, Alcala went to NYU film school and studied under Roman Polanski. It was in Manhattan that he committed his first known murder.



In 1971, Cornelia Crilley was found in her apartment, strangled to death. This case would go unsolved for almost 40 years. A fingerprint found at the scene was positively matched to Alcala in 2010. After he murdered Crilley, he moved to New Hampshire and began working as a counselor at a summer camp. Three years after he attacked Tali Shapiro, someone recognized him. Two of the girls at the camp saw the FBI wanted poster at the post office and turned Alcala in. He was arrested and sent back to California.

Alphonse Says:

May 9, 2019 at 1:41 pm

One of the loose ends that I’ve wondered about is “James Camaro”. Supposedly his real name is different, but very similar to James Camaro. Rodney Alcala fits the general physical description of Camaro, but his series of intermittent arrests, trials and incarcerations in California would seem to present scheduling conflicts with Camaro’s alleged activities.



So, if not Alcala, then who? And where? Realizing that his description and resume were circulating thru various law enforcement agencies, not to mention best-selling crime books, I’m guessing that Camaro would feel the need to get out of town. Someplace far away, maybe across the country where he wasn’t known but could still make a connection to the important things in life, you know, like cocaine, prostitutes, and satanic cults.



Hmmmmmmm…



Hey, how about Santa Cruz, California? Home of the 4-P/Chingon cult, with plenty of hookers & coke, and nice weather too!



If you take a name similar to James Camaro, like James Marino, for instance, and google “James Marino” in conjunction with “Richard Bandler” and “Corine Christensen” I think you will find a vile vat full of all of Camaro’s favorite ingredients. Virtually nothing is known about James Marino. After his trial and “acquittal”, he seems to vanish into thin air quicker than you can say Nicolaj Amman. No background, no foreground. Musta had important friends somewhere. He could be anywhere. He could be anyone. Maybe even James Camaro for all I know.

Alphonse Says:

May 10, 2019 at 4:17 am

The only description of Camaro that I know of is “Vinnie’s” memory of a photograph that he may have seen no more than once. Camaro was remembered by Vinnie as being in his late twenties to mid-thirties, so there is a possible discrepancy in age, with Marino being in his early to mid-forties at the time. Marino is described in 1987 at age 54, as being lanky and relatively fit for a long term cocaine abuser, as well as having had cosmetic surgery at some point, and dyed tips in his hair indicating a pattern of concern with his personal appearance toward looking younger than his actual age, which would be a shrewd move for someone with past aspirations as a porno star or, conversely, a shrewd strategy for distancing oneself from a past as a would-be porno star and drug dealer/pimp. So it’s a long shot, but certainly not out of the question.