The terrifying backstory behind a famous image of a serial killer smiling after winning a game show has left people chilled to the core.
Back in 1978, a woman called Cheryl Bradshaw appeared on a television matchmaking show, The Dating Game, looking for love.
She ended up picking 'bachelor number one' from a series of single men, but unfortunately, it was not set to be her happily ever after.
Bradshaw had inadvertently chosen a serial killer who'd already served prison time for other crimes - and would later be linked to as many as 130 brutal killings.
The man Bradshaw had chosen turned out to be Rodney Alcala, who was later given the moniker of 'The Dating Game Killer'.
By the time he appeared on the show, Alcala had already been to prison twice, having sexually assaulted and beaten an eight-year-old girl and a later attack on a 13-year-old girl.
Bradshaw revealed that she had declined a second date with Alcala after being left with a bad feeling about him, telling the Sydney Telegraph in 2012: "I started to feel ill.
"He was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again."
Jed Mills, who also appeared on the episode as a fellow bachelor, also revealed that he got bad vibes from Alcala, telling LA Weekly: "Rodney was kind of quiet. I remember him because I told my brother about this one guy who was kind of good-looking but kind of creepy.
"He was always looking down and not making eye contact."
And while his earlier convictions were disturbing enough, the full extent of Alcala's crimes were yet to come to light.
The Texan-born serial killer was eventually convicted of eight murders, but is suspected to have committed many more - up to 130.
In fact, by the time he'd appeared on The Dating Game in 1978, he'd already murdered four women.
His horrific run of crimes would come to an end a year later in 1979 when he was arrested for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.
The child had been beaten and sexually assaulted, before being killed, while cycling to a ballet class.
Alcala was sentenced to death for Samsoe's killing in 1980, with a retrial taking place in 1986, and the ruling was ultimately overturned in 2003.
In 2010, more horrific details about Alcala's killing spree came to light after advances in DNA linked him to the murders of Jill Barcomb, 18, Georgia Wixted, 27, Charlotte Lamb, 32 and Jill Parenteau, 21, who were all killed between 1977 and 1979.
He was sentenced to death for the third time in relation to these crimes, and was extradited to New York in 2011 in relation to the killings of two 23-year-old women - Cornelia Crilley in 1971 and Ellen Hover in 1977 - for which he received an additional life sentence.
However, despite being on death row, Alcala was never executed and died of natural causes in 2021 at the age of 77.
It is believed he may have killed far more women than originally thought, as he has since been named as the main suspect in around 130 cold cases.
Throughout the 1970s, Alcala had convinced hundreds of young men and women that he was a fashion photographer so that he could take pictures of them for his "portfolio".
He allegedly showed many of the pictures to his co-workers at the time, who noted that many were naked and sexually explicit shots.
Many of the subjects of the photographs remain unidentified and police have raised concerns that some of the people in the images could be further victims.
In March 2010, 120 of the photographs were released by the Huntington Beach, California, and New York City Police Departments, seeking the public's help in identifying the people in them, in the hope of determining if any of the women and children he photographed were additional victims.
Around 900 further photos were not able to be made public as police said they were too sexually explicit.
In the first few weeks after they were released, police reported that around 21 women had come forward to identify themselves, and "at least six families" said they believed they recognized loved ones who "disappeared years ago and were never found".
The police continue to seek help from the public in identifying the remaining people within the photographs.
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