The Infographics Show: Rodney Alcala Featured in New Episode

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: January 29th, 2025
Updated: August 22nd, 2026

Rodney Alcala: The Dating Game Killer Revisited

A snippet from the episode.

The Infographics Show, a popular YouTube channel, released an episode in early 2025 examining the life and crimes of Rodney Alcala, the serial killer widely known as the "Dating Game Killer." The episode, titled "How They Finally Caught the Serial Killer With the Highest IQ," offers a brief overview of one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history.

Alcala's story has received renewed attention in recent years. In 2024, Netflix released Woman of the Hour, a film directed by and starring Anna Kendrick. The movie dramatizes Alcala's appearance on the television program The Dating Game in 1978, when he appeared as a contestant despite being a dangerous serial offender.

Woman of the Hour and the Rodney Alcala Case

Woman of the Hour introduced the Rodney Alcala case to a new generation of viewers. The film focuses particularly on the disturbing circumstances surrounding his appearance on The Dating Game and the fact that Alcala was able to present himself as an ordinary, eligible bachelor while hiding his violent crimes.

The film is a dramatization rather than a comprehensive documentary about Rodney Alcala. For someone who wants a broader overview of the Rodney Alcala case, the shorter The Infographics Show episode provides another way to revisit the story, including the investigation that ultimately led to Alcala's capture.

Rodney Alcala's Photographs and the Search for Victims

The first time I learned of Alcala was back in 2010, when a locker full of photographs belonging to him was found. Many of the photographs were subsequently published in the hope that members of the public could identify the people pictured. The story certainly made its rounds in true crime chat forums.

Some women recognized themselves as subjects of the photographs, while other images depicted people who were not identified. Accordingly, the photographs became an important part of the continuing effort to determine whether Alcala had additional unidentified victims.

July 25th, 1979. LA Times.

It is important not to assume that every unidentified person in the photographs was a victim. Some people may have simply encountered Alcala and survived their interaction with him. Others may never have been identified at all. But it's that uncertainty that is one of the most unsettling aspects of the photographs. 

The Infographics Show's Rodney Alcala Episode

The episode from The Infographics Show is short, running just 22 minutes and 31 seconds. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a general review of Rodney Alcala's life, crimes, and eventual capture.

Where to Watch the Rodney Alcala Episode

Watch the Rodney Alcala episode of The Infographics Show on YouTube.

Originally published January 29th, 2025. Updated August 22nd, 2026.