Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt.

This week's story is about a serial murderer who's all the more terrifying because of just

how easy it was for him to escape justice for so long. It spans years, distance, and

even game shows because you're about to find out a slick surface can hide depths too horrifying

to even fathom. This is the story of Rodney Alcala, the dating game killer.

On September 25, 1968, eight-year-old Tally Shapiro is living with her parents in Los Angeles.

She's walking to school when a man in a beige car pulls over to the sidewalks next to

her, and he asks her if she wants a ride to school. But Tally is no dummy. She remembers

what her mom and dad have been telling her since she was very little. Don't talk to strangers.

So that's what she tells the man. Oh, that's okay, he says. I know your parents. They

said that it's all right, and I have this beautiful picture I want to show you if you get in

the car. And something about this man's offer peaks Tally's curiosity. And this man

he just seems so believable. I mean, he spoke to her parents. He must know her parents.

He must not be a stranger at all. So she gets into the car and the man drives off.

What Tally and the Strange Man don't know is that another driver was watching this interaction

and saw everything that just happened. And this person knew in their gut it was wrong.

So this driver starts following them. He follows the two in the light colored sedan through

Los Angeles all the way to an apartment building. When he sees where the Strange Man is

taking the little girl, he immediately leaves and calls 911 to report the Strange incident.

Now when I was initially like learning about this story, I got just this not in my gut at

this point because I imagined all the ways that this could go wrong. Like an operator who

didn't think this was serious, a responding officer who would just assume like it was

...