Serial Killer Rodney Alcala Suspected in NorCal Cold Case

Los Angeles - Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala was identified today as the primary suspect in the 1977 slaying of a 19-year-old woman in Marin County, but prosecutors won't seek to put him on trial for the murder because of insufficient evidence.

Marin County sheriff's investigators closed their case Friday in the October 1977 slaying of Pamela Jean Lambson, according to Marin County sheriff's Lt. Barry Heying.

The investigation was reopened in March of last year, about the time Alcala, now 67, was sentenced to death for the murders of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe of Huntington Beach and four Los Angeles County women in the 1970s.

Alcala faces charges in New York City for the murders of two women there. He was charged with those slayings in January.

Lambson disappeared on Oct. 8, 1977, and investigators believe she was last seen with Alcala at a Fisherman's Wharf clothing store, Heying said. A Marin doctor on a morning run found the young woman's body on a Mt. Tamalpais trail.

Lambson's parents and co-workers told investigators that Lambson met a photographer at an Oakland A's game and the planned to meet later at Fisherman's Wharf for a photo shoot, according to Heying.

Store clerks described Alcala, who was once a "Dating Game" contestant, as "handsome," Heying said.

A police sketch of the suspect was released across the country, which resembles Alcala, but the case went cold.

Investigators submitted evidence in 2000 to a crime laboratory for a new look with modern technology, but it did not yield any suspects.

Marin County investigators turned to Huntington Beach police for help a year ago, after they publicly released hundreds of photographs of women that were seized from Alcala's storage locker.

The Huntington Beach detectives said the police sketch from 1977 appeared as if Alcala sat for the artist, Heying said.

The evidence from the crime scene was sent to Orange County for DNA analysis last year, but the samples had deteriorated too much over the years to positively link Alcala to the murder.

Pamela Lambson's mother told the Orange County Register she was relieved when detectives told her Alcala was their suspect because he is behind bars and likely will never be freed.

"But I already had closure because of my faith," Jean Lambson said. The woman, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said she forgave the killer a long time ago.

In addition to Samsoe's murder, Alcala was convicted last year of killing Jill Barcomb, an 18-year-old runaway whose body was found in a remote area of 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, who was killed June 14, 1979.

In New York, Alcala has been charged with murdering Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover, both 23, in New York City in the 1970s.