Closing arguments begin in California serial murder trial with suspect representing self

Closing arguments begin in CA serial murder trial

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A prosecutor told jurors Monday to use common sense and convict a defendant who is acting as his own lawyer in a case alleging he murdered five Southern California females in the late 1970s.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy made his plea during closing arguments in the case against 66-year-old Rodney Alcala, telling the jury they had more than 500 years of life experience among them.

“You folks are the experts on human behavior and what people do under the circumstances,” Murphy said.

The trial is ending after more than a month of testimony.

Alcala has pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder for the slayings of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and four women.

Alcala, an amateur photographer and UCLA graduate, has been sentenced to death twice for Samsoe’s murder, but both convictions were overturned.

Alcala spent weeks presenting evidence in the guilt phase of the potential death penalty case that bordered on surreal as he cross-examined the mother of one of his alleged victims, questioned former prosecutors and police detectives, and even quizzed himself when he took the stand in his own defense.

The murders all occurred between 1977 and 1979. Prosecutors said Alcala raped, tortured and robbed some of the women before killing them.

Samsoe was abducted while riding her friend’s bike to ballet class in Huntington Beach in Orange County. Investigators could not determine her cause of death or if she had been sexually assaulted because of the condition of her body.

At the time, Alcala lived with his mother and was trying to build a freelance photography career while typing classified ads for the Los Angeles Times.

A key part of Alcala’s defense centered on a clip of himself as a winning contestant in 1978 on “The Dating Game.”

Prosecutors have said investigators found Samsoe’s earrings in a Seattle storage locker that Alcala was renting when he was arrested in 1979.

Alcala, however, claimed the game show video showed him wearing the earrings a year before the death of the girl.

Prosecutors also said the earrings were in the same jewelry pouch with one that contained the DNA of victim Charlotte Lamb.

Murphy said during trial that Alcala took the earrings from his victims as trophies — a claim that Alcala denied.

Other witnesses included people who saw Alcala taking pictures of Samsoe and her friend on the beach shortly before Samsoe disappeared. Prosecutors questioned Alcala about numerous photos of women and young girls in swimsuits found in the storage locker.

The trial marks the first time Alcala has been tried in the deaths of four Los Angeles County women. Prosecutors allege DNA testing and forensic evidence in 2005 linked him to those cases.

Also murdered were Jill Barcomb, 18, who had just moved to Los Angeles from Oneida, N.Y.; Georgia Wixted, 27, of Malibu; Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica; and Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank.

During the trial, Alcala focused almost entirely on Samsoe and did not testify about the other allegations when he took the stand.