Tali Shapiro: Heroic man's quick thinking saved 'The Dating Game Serial Killer' Rodney Alcala's 1st victim

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: In a chilling recount of a fateful morning over five decades ago, Donald Haines, a former sales representative, vividly remembered a moment of acute concern that ultimately averted a potential tragedy.

"It was fixated on this little girl," Haines recalled, reflecting on the morning of September 25, 1968, during his first-ever interview with 'People Magazine Investigates: Surviving A Serial Killer'.

His unease heightened as he observed a man, later identified as 'The Dating Game Killer' Rodney Alcala, engaged in an intense conversation with 8-year-old Tali Shapiro near Wilshire Blvd in Hollywood.

Donald Haines' encounter with serial killer Rodney Alcala

Haines, driven by paternal instincts, closely monitored the man in his mid-twenties with curly brown hair and the 8-year-old girl dressed in a white dress and Mary Jane shoes on her way to school.

Alarmed by what he perceived as "warning signs," he made a pivotal decision to discreetly track Alcala's car to a residence in Los Angeles, where the man and the girl disappeared inside.

Faced with the daunting realization of the danger, Haines grappled with the appropriate course of action. "And I thought what the hell do I do now?" he recalls.

Refusing to remain passive in the face of potential harm, Haines swiftly contacted 911, his actions setting in motion a sequence of events that would alter the course of a young girl's life.

Little did he know, his timely intervention prevented a heinous crime orchestrated by one of America's most notorious serial killers, who is believed to have raped and killed dozens of women and little girls. 

Tali Shapiro saved from the clutches of Rodney Alcala

Alcala, infamously dubbed 'The Dating Game Killer,' due to his stint as Bachelor #1 on the eponymous television show of the same name, raped the little girl before authorities intervened

Responding to Haines's urgent call, police officer Chris Camacho Jr arrived at Alcala's Los Angeles residence, guided by the faint sounds of distress. The officer forcefully broke down the door.

Shapiro lay in a pool of her own blood, a metal bar resting across her neck. Upon removal of the bar by the officer, she gasped for air. Camacho administered medical assistance to the child.

Despite the harrowing ordeal, Shapiro would later testify against her assailant, contributing to Alcala's eventual incarceration until his death in 2021.

When 'The Dating Game' host Jim Lange introduced Rodney Alcala as Bachelor Number One, a successful photographer, he didn’t know that the man had already murdered at least five women and been charged with the attempted murder of a little girl.

Alcala was convicted of murdering Robin Samsoe in 1980 and sentenced to death.