Alan R. Warren - The Killing Game: The True Story of Rodney Alcala the Game Show Serial killer

YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS YOUNG

The difference between humans and wild animals is that humans pray before they commit murder Friedrich Durrenmatt

Rodney Alcala was born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor in San Antonio, Texas to Raoul Alcala Buquor and Maria Gutierrez on August 23, 1943, where he lived with his three siblings, parents, and grandmother on his mothers side. Rodney's brother, Raoul, was born in 1941 and was the oldest, Marie Therese came next, born in 1942, then came Rodney, and youngest sister, Maria Christine, was born in 1947.

They lived in an average middle-class neighborhood in a four-bedroom home, near the Alamo and the San Antonio Zoo. Rodney and Raoul had their own bedrooms, and the sisters had to share one. The kids all attended either public or private Catholic schools in their elementary years, as their religious faith was very important to their mother. Rodney was known as an excellent student, respectful and kind, and above average for intelligence.

In 1951, Rodneys grandmother became ill and the prognosis was not good. After many family discussions, it was decided that they all would move back to Mexico so that Rodney's grandmother could not only spend the rest of her life in the home she was raised in, but also stay with her family.

After moving back down to Mexico, the children got to attend regular schools without the religious teachings. The girls really enjoyed it, as they didnt have to wear a uniform. After only a couple of years in Mexico, their grandmother died, and their father abandoned the family in Mexico to move back to the States.

Three years later, his mother moved Rodney, who was about 11 years old at the time, and his siblings to suburban Los Angeles. In 1960, Rodney graduated from high school at the top of his class. He was very popular among the girls at school and always seemed to have dates.

In 1961, he then joined the U.S. Army in North Carolina as a paratrooper. He also worked as a clerk, following his brother's lead, who was at West Point. He was only in the Army about one year when his father died suddenly. Even though his father was remarried, the family had reunited when they returned to the U.S. and remained close, and they all attended his funeral service . Rodney returned to North Carolina after the funeral and continued in the service.

About a year later, in 1963, Rodney suddenly turned up at home while his mother was cooking dinner one night. She was shocked, and when she asked Rodney what he was doing home, he told her that he had hitchhiked home and gone AWOL. She was frantic and urged him to turn himself in; he had to, he didnt want to wreck his life and all the hard work it had taken to get where he was. A few days later, he went into the local Army detachment and turned himself in. He was interviewed by several different officers and eventually sent to an Army psychologist, who hospitalized him and told him that he needed urgent psychological care. When the hospital checked with Rodneys superior officers back in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, they learned that in the last few weeks before he went AWOL, Rodney had been unable to perform his duties and was suffering from some type of nervous breakdown. Rodney was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder by a military psychiatrist, and was discharged on medical grounds.