Identifying serial killer's pics of women

SANTA ANA, Calif., March 11 (UPI) -- California prosecutors asked the public for help in identifying women pictured in photographs found in the home and storage locker of a convicted serial killer.

Orange County prosecutors say they believe Rodney Alcala took the photos before he raped and murdered 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979. A jury convicted Alcala Feb. 25 of killing Samsoe; Jill Barcomb, 18; Georgia Wixted, 27; Charlotte Lamb, 32; and Jill Parenteau, 21.

It was Alcala's third conviction in the death of Samsoe, and he had been sentenced to death in both previous convictions but both convictions were overturned.

Some photos show women or young girls in the nude and engaging in sex acts, The Orange County Register reports. Others show women or young girls who appear unconscious.

Still others show women staring into the lens of a camera held by Alcala in remote settings similar where Robin Samsoe's body was found in 1979, the newspaper says.

A few are of young men in sexually suggestive poses.

"We know that he used his camera many times in the past to gain the trust of several of his victims," prosecutor Matt Murphy told the newspaper. "And then we found dozens of photos of unidentified young women who posed for him.

"We'd like to locate the women in these pictures," Murphy said. "Did they simply pose for a serial killer, or did they become victims of his sadistic, murderous pattern?"