Release of serial killer Alcala's photos by NYC police leads to 8 tips

SANTA ANA — New York City authorities have received eight responses after asking for public help in identifying potential victims of serial murderer Rodney Alcala, authorities said.

New York police on Tuesday released the same 226 photos Huntington Beach did, and as of 8 p.m. Eastern time reported receiving seven phone calls and one e-mail.

Two women called New York police to say they recognized themselves in some of the photos, which were confiscated from the serial killer's storage locker near Seattle in 1979, according to New York police.

Orange County prosecutors have said the release of Alcala's photos generated tips about potential victims in Seattle, New Hampshire, Phoenix and Orange County.

Meanwhile, one of those leads in suburban Seattle did not pan out. King County Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said a tipster reported that one of the photos taken from Alcala looked like Cherry Greenman, who was last seen leaving a jail in 1976. But after receiving a better copy of the photo and showing it to the family, investigators concluded it was not her, he said.

Seattle investigators said they are reviewing two other cold cases from the time Alcala was in the Pacific Northwest, after killing a child in Orange County.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, who prosecuted Alcala in the most recent trial, in which he was convicted of five murders, said today that authorities have a few good leads, but nothing definite yet.

"There are a few new cases that look interesting,'' Murphy said. "It looks like some of these cases could pan out.''

Alcala was convicted Feb. 25 of murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe of Huntington Beach and four women in Los Angeles County in the 1970s. He was sentenced to death on March 30.

Alcala abducted Robin while she was riding a bike to ballet class on June 20, 1979. It was his third conviction and death sentence for that crime, as both earlier convictions were overturned on appeal.

He was convicted -- for the first time -- of killing Jill Barcomb, an 18-year-old runaway slain in the Hollywood Hills on Nov. 10, 1977; Georgia Wixted, a 27-year-old registered nurse killed on Dec. 16, 1978; Charlotte Lamb, 32, slain on June 24, 1978; and Jill Parenteau, 21, killed June 14, 1979.

New York investigators have three cases that may be tied to Alcala, Murphy said.

But because Alcala will either die of natural causes or be executed at San Quentin, and New York has no capital punishment, it's unlikely that New York prosecutors would want to pursue Alcala.

In court-ordered searches of Alcala's Monterey Park home and the rented storage locker, detectives recovered hundreds of photos that were apparently taken by Alcala, Murphy said.

Authorities believe the former freelance photographer used his camera to lure his victims.

Most of the people in the photos are unidentified. Anyone who recognizes someone in the photos — which are posted at orangecountyda.com — was urged to contact Huntington Beach police Detective Patrick Ellis at (714) 375-5066, or send an e-mail to pellis@hbpd.org.