Rodney James Alcala (nee Rodrigo Jacques Alcala) was born on August 23, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas. Before being caught, he killed anywhere between eight and 130 people. During this time, in 1978, he appeared on the television game show "The Dating Game" as a contestant. This is how he earned his nickname, "Dating Game Killer."
While in the Army in the early 60s, he had a nervous breakdown and went AWOL. It was around this time that the Army psychiatrist diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder. He was discharged from the Army on medical grounds. He died at Kings County Hospital following a heart attack while on death row. He died on July 24, 2021, at the age of 77.
2. Joseph Baldi
Answer: The Queens Creeper
Joseph Baldi was born on January 16, 1941, in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. His victims were all in Queens, NY, where he would climb in windows of apartments, or in other ways sneak in, and kill the victims. Because of his sneaking into the apartments in Queens, he was nicknamed "The Queens Creeper." He died in Sing Sing prison NY on October 17, 2009. No cause of death was given.
3. James Burke
Answer: Jimmy the Gent
James Burke was born on July 5, 1931, in New York City, NY. He was part of the Lucchese crime family. In 1982, he was convicted on conspiracy charges as part of the 1978-1979 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. This was a scheme in which the Mafia in the US bribed some Boston College basketball players to either lose by not covering the point spread or win by covering it, ensuring that the gamblers would win. Burke spent 12 years in prison, during which time he was also convicted of murder, and twenty more years were added to his sentence.
Burke was serving his time in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, NY, when he was diagnosed with cancer. He died on April 13, 1996, at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY. He would not have been eligible for parole until 2008. He was nicknamed "Jimmy the Gent" not because he was kind, but because he was smooth and charming while committing criminal acts.
4. Stacey Castor
Answer: Black Widow
Stacey Castor was convicted of murder in 2009 after being found guilty of killing her then-husband, David Castor, in 2005. She was also found guilty of attempted murder, having tried to kill her daughter, Ashley Wallace, in 2007. It was also suspected that she may have killed her first husband, Michael Wallace, in 2000.
The killing of her husbands gave her the nickname "Black Widow" by the media. Castor was found dead in her prison cell on June 11, 2016. The cause of death was ruled a heart attack.
5. Joseph Christopher
Answer: .22 Caliber Killer
Joseph Christopher killed at least 12 people, all African-American males, during the 1980s. Since he used a .22-Caliber sawed-off Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle, the media dubbed him the .22-Caliber Killer. He used other weapons, too, however. He chose to represent himself when on trial, pleading not guilty.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He died in prison on March 1, 1993, from male breast cancer.
6. Kendall Francois
Answer: The Poughkeepsie Killer
Kendall Francois was convicted of killing eight women in Poughkeepsie, NY in the late 1990s. This earned him the nickname The Poughkeepsie Killer. He was sentenced to life without parole in August 2000. He died a month later in prison from an AIDS related illness at age 43.
7. J. Frank Hickey
Answer: The Postcard Killer
J. Frank Hickey (1865-1922) killed three people and abused others. He earned his nickname "The Postcard Killer" because he used to send a postcard to the police department. In the postcard, he detailed how one of the victims would die. He was tried and convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1912. Hickey died in prison on May 8, 1922.
8. John William Hopkins
Answer: The Mohawk Valley Ripper
John William Hopkins killed at least three teenage women in the Mohawk Valley region of New York State. Because he used a knife as his murder weapon, he was given the nickname The Mowhawk Valley Ripper. He was sentenced in November 1980 to three 25-year-to-life sentences to be served consecutively.
He tried to appeal but was unsuccessful. On March 11, 2000, he committed suicide while in prison.
9. Charles Jackson
Answer: The East Bay Slayer
After dropping out of school in Mississippi, Jackson spent his time on the streets and soon began living a life of crime. At age 16, he was committing theft. He then moved to California with his mother. For the next 20 years, his crimes escalated. Between 1975 and 1982, he killed at least eight people. Because he committed these murders by stabbing, he became known as the East Bay Slayer.
He had a heart attack while in Folsom Prison and died at the age of 65.
10. Sante Kimes
Answer: Dragon Lady
As a child in Oklahoma, Kimes was a pyromaniac. As a teenager, she moved with her mother and younger sister to Los Angeles. Then, she moved to Nevada with another family who may have adopted her. She married a man who was a general contractor. She set fire to a house he built. Several other houses he built also burned down. They divorced in 1969.
She was also enslaving women who came to the USA from other countries illegally as maids by threatening to turn them in if they did not stay and work for her for free. Soon, she and her son started killing people, some were proven, and some suspected, or confessed to by the son, but not Kimes. The judge called Kimes "a sociopath and degenerate." She was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Another judge called Kimes, "One of the most evil individuals she had encountered in her time on the bench." Kimes died in 2014 while in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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