Convicted Calif. Serial Killer Pleads Not Guilty to 2 Women’s NYC Murders in 1970s

NEW YORK — A convicted California serial killer pleaded not guilty Thursday to murdering two women in New York City in the 1970s, charges lodged just last year after suspicion swirled around him for decades.

Rodney Alcala, a former dating-show contestant who has spent the last 33 years tangling with authorities in a series of trials and overturned convictions, was arraigned Thursday in the deaths of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover.

Hands and feet shackled, Alcala looked thin and drawn as he said only “not guilty” in a steady voice. He wore an orange jail jumpsuit and long gray hair in ponytail.




He was ordered held without bail and is due back in court Oct. 30.

A former photographer with an IQ said to top 160, Alcala was convicted in 2010 of killing four women and a 12-year-old girl in Southern California in the 1970s. He represented himself, offering a defense that involved showing a clip of his 1978 appearance on “The Dating Game” and playing Arlo Guthrie’s classic 1967 song “Alice’s Restaurant.”



While appealing his death sentence in California, Alcala was indicted last year in New York, partly on evidence that emerged during his California trial, prosecutors said. He was brought to New York on Wednesday on a U.S. Marshals Service plane unsuccessfully fighting his extradition to New York.



Crilley was found strangled with a stocking in her Manhattan apartment in 1971. Hover, a comedy writer and former Hollywood nightclub owner’s daughter who had a degree in biology and was seeking a job as a researcher, was living in Manhattan when she vanished in 1977. Her remains were found the next year in the woods on a suburban estate. Both women were 23.



Alcala had been eyed in Hover’s death for decades and in Crilley’s killing for at least several years. New York Police Department detectives investigating her killing went to California in 2003 with a warrant to interview Alcala and get a dental impression from him.



A forensic dentist later found that a bite mark on Crilley’s body was consistent with Alcala’s impression, a law enforcement official has said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.



The Manhattan district attorney’s cold-case unit also conducted new interviews with more than 100 witnesses.



“After more than three decades, the defendant will finally face the justice system in New York for the murder of two victims,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. “Today’s arraignment brings us a step closer to obtaining justice for Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover.”



Alcala has been behind bars since his 1979 arrest in one of the California killings. Before that arrest, he also served a prison sentence on convictions of furnishing marijuana to a minor and kidnapping and trying to kill an 8-year-old girl.



After his 2010 conviction, California authorities released more than 100 photos, found in his storage locker, of young women and girls. They said they were exploring whether Alcala could be tied to cases in New York and other states.

Yours Truly on News 12

I'm glad that my Memorial Bench blog post made a difference, because today as I was walking with Kaitlyn and her bike through Pomerance we ran into News 12 doing a story on the bench. 

My sending them my post on their facebook is what had tipped them off in the first place, and I ended up talking for a while in front of the camera. 

They got a few shots of Kaitlyn riding her bike (trying to anyways) and took my phone number and e-mail so that they can forward to me people interested in fundraising to fix the bench. 

What have I gotten myself into?! Lol.

And I hope they edit most of me out, I was probably all sweaty and nasty looking lol.

But seriously folks, anyone interested in donating to the cause can feel free to e-mail me at KAOConnor1985@yahoo.com and we will discuss details.


We need to fix this bench!

R.I.P. Yvette Wilson

MTV- Actress and stand up comedian Yvette Wilson, who appeared on the popular 90s TV show "Moesha," alongside Brandy is dead at age 48, after fighting with cervical cancer. Wilson, known as Andell Wilkerson on the show, also appeared on UPN's "The Parkers."


Wilson's good friend, Jeffrey Pittle, confirmed the news that Wilson had passed in a statement on a website he set up to help raise funds for her treatment. "It is with a heavy heart that I can verify that Yvette passed away last evening after a lengthy and hard battle," he wrote. "She was a fighter to the end, and her talent, humor and amazing friendship will be sorely missed. She will live on through her awesome body of work."



Born on March 6, 1964, in Los Angeles, Wilson backed her way into acting by taking a friend's dare to do stand-up comedy and then landing a spot on the short-lived sitcom "Thea." That helped her book bit parts in movies including "House Party 2" and its sequel, "Friday," "Poetic Justice" and "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood."



Those gigs won her the part of Wilkerson on "Moesha," where she counseled her younger charge while keeping an eye on the kids at the Den. She parlayed that into a co-starring role alongside Mo'Nique on "The Parkers." When Wilson's cancer crisis got serious after years of battles with kidney failure and kidney transplants, Pittle started a website to raise money for her treatment. Dubbing it the "Yvette Wilson CANCER SUCKS FUND," the site had raised nearly 30 percent of its $50,000 goal at the time of her death.



A number of her friends and admirers tweeted tributes, including "Moesha" co-star Shar Jackson, who wrote, "F--- Cancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... oh god ... my heart is soooo unbelievably broken ... I wanna thank all my tweeties for their prayers but god has chosen to take my sister Yvette home."



Also weighing in was Jamie Foxx, who said, "God bless u Yvette Wilson. Tears in my eyes. Keep God laughing" and former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill, who wrote, "R.I.P. Yvette Wilson ... Life is short, so cherish yours." A number of other actors/comedians also praised Wilson and offered condolences, including Cedric the Entertainer, Loni Love, Marlon Wayans and Roots drummer ?uestlove.

This Day In History

Sep 17 1908
Thomas E. Selfridge becomes the world's first airplane fatality when the craft he's co-piloting with Orville Wright crashes near Fort Meyer, Virginia. An untested propeller ripped apart the plane's structure, causing it to nosedive from an altitude of 75 feet.





Sep 17 1965
CBS television premieres Hogan's Heroes, the first and perhaps only sitcom based in a German prisoner-of-war camp. The show is proof once and for all that Nazis are hilarious.

This Day In History

Sep 8 1888
The "terribly mutilated" body of prostitute Annie Chapman is found in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. It is the second known victim attributed to Jack the Ripper.



Sep 8 1966
Star Trek debuts on NBC, with the airing of an episode titled "The Man Trap." The science fiction show proceeds to suffer in the ratings against established sitcoms Bewitched and My Three Sons.


Sep 8 1974
President Gerald Ford pardons Richard M. Nixon, out of respect for Nixon's family. "Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."


Sep 8 1974
In Idaho, daredevil Evel Knievel climbs into his X-2 Skycycle (really just a rocket on wheels) and hits the ignition. The vehicle manages to clear the quarter-mile-wide Snake River Canyon, but then the parachute deploys prematurely and prevailing winds push him back into the chasm. Total ripoff.

This Day In History

Jul 3 1971
Jim Morrison is found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Paris apartment bathtub. That's what he wants us to think, anyway.

Jul 3 1988
Mistaking it for a F-14 fighter plane, the American warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air flight 655, killing all 290 people aboard. Despite his country's having recklessly downed a passenger airliner while operating inside Iran's territorial waters, Vice President George Bush declares a month later: "I will never apologize for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what the facts are."

Jul 3 1989
Television actor Jim Backus, known to millions as Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island, dies in Los Angeles of Parkinson's disease.

This Day In History

Jun 2 1996
Ray Combs, host of television's Family Feud, hangs himself with his bedsheets at Glendale Adventist Hospital. Combs was on a 72 hour suicide watch.

This Day In History

May 16 1984
Intergender wrestling champion and conceptual comic Andy Kaufman pretends to die of lung cancer. In order to make it really convincing, Andy underwent months of radiation therapy and six weeks of psychic surgery in the Philippines. And he never made any more public appearances.

May 16 1986
In the most notorious retcon in the history of television, Pam Ewing wakes up to find her husband Bobby in the shower -- no small feat, considering he's been dead for a whole season. In order to revivify Bobby's character, the Dallas writers resorted to dismissing the entire preceding year as nothing more than Pam's protracted dream.

May 16 1990
Sammy Davis, Jr. dies of throat cancer in Beverly Hills. After the legendary Rat pack singer/entertainer is buried with $70,000 in jewelry, the family discovers that Mr. Bojangles was broke and left millions of dollars in unpaid back taxes. His widow then orders the body exhumed so they can repo the jewelry.

May 16 1990
Attached to a ventilator and swimming in antibiotics, Muppet creator Jim Henson dies of a severe case of pneumonia in a New York hospital. In keeping with his express wishes, no one is permitted to wear black at Henson's funeral service, which features 5,000 fans waving painted butterflies and a live band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In."

This Day In History

May 8 1902
Mt. Peleé erupts on the West Indies island of Martinique. A wall of superheated ash and rock cascades down the slopes, slamming directly into the community of Saint Pierre. The shockwave and intense heat even manage to destroy twenty ships in the harbor. Only two of the town's 28,000 residents survive the cataclysm.

May 8 1991
In a room at Little Rock's Excelsior Hotel, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton exposes his penis to state employee Paula Jones and propositions her to perform fellatio. In her civil deposition, Jones will later claim to have witnessed certain "distinguishing characteristics" of the governor's genitalia, the precise nature of which soon becomes the subject of much speculation. For her trouble, Jones eventually receives an out-of-court settlement for $850,000 and a nude pictorial in Penthouse magazine.

May 8 1998
Former Senator and onetime Presidential candidate Bob Dole tells television interviewer Larry King that he participated in the Viagra impotence drug trials, and thoroughly enjoyed himself in the process. Dole's name soon becomes synonymous with erectile dysfunction.

May 8 1999
Actress Dana Plato, who played Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes, dies in Oklahoma of an overdose of Valium and Loritab. Just the previous day, Plato had appeared on the Howard Stern syndicated radio program claiming to be clean and sober.

My Ten Seconds of Fame

I'm the first v-mail of the segment ever!!!
I DID NOT THINK OF THIS QUESTION TO ASK, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW!

Lol, they kinda fibbed about these videos coming from home, this first time around they had asked audience members before going in to ask these, and mine was rehearsed. Lol, I look crazy in the video, they asked me to look really enthusiastic.

Does anyone know how I can bootleg this onto youtube so I can always see myself on the segment??

3rd and 4th in line...

Hahahah it's mommy and me!

Stardust Diner in Time Square afterwards.... (More singing)...
(Bad shot of waitress standing on booths singing)

Scaffolding surrounding the Rockafeller Christmas tree... Is that Conan dressed as a priest?

Tickets to... The View!

Well, I'm real cheezy.


My mom obtained tickets to a show that I ordinarily don't watch... The View! But hey, I might come home with some good gifts and prizes.

My mom looked it up and saw that Jackie Evancho is going to be performing.. Well, she didn't know who she was, and either did I until I googled her- now I remember who she is! She has some amazing ability!

I've watched America's Got Talent only a few times, but seen how she stole the show- is this show's season already over? Did she win? If not, I'm sure she will.. Kind of look forward to her singing Monday morning, even though I need to wake up at 4:30 am to be able to take the train to the city in time.. :P

I look forward to seeing Whoopi the most- she's awesome. Joy Behar can be really funny also, so this should be awesome!

TJ Lavin In Critical Condition After Bike Crash

MTV News- BMX biker and MTV 'Challenge' host put into medically induced coma after accident.

A failed attempt at a stunt went horribly wrong for BMX biker TJ Lavin on Thursday night at the Dew Tour Event in Las Vegas. TMZ reported earlier Friday morning (October 15) that Lavin, who also hosts MTV's "Challenge" reality competition, is in critical condition after his bike crash.

Lavin, a native of Las Vegas, has been a top competitor in the BMX community and has even earned one silver and two gold medals in the X Games. Although his career path has led him to become a TV host for 10 seasons of MTV's "Challenge," he still remains true to his roots of BMX riding as a top competitor in the Dew Tour Circuit.

While riding on the second set of the dirt course, he lost control of his bike after failing to complete one of his stunts. His feet were unable to reach the bike's pedals, catapulting him through the air and knocking him unconscious. Immediately after impact, his friends and crew quickly were at his side only to see that he was motionless and unresponsive.

TMZ has reported that after being immediately being rushed to a nearby University Medical Center, doctors decided to medically induce him into a coma in order to reduce the swelling of his brain. His other injuries include a shattered wrist and broken ribs.

Stick with MTV News as more details about Lavin's condition emerge.

Funny Ass Spam Comments..

Spam comments amaze me... The graphic, odd, and not quite English language phrases that contain weird links that manage to slip through the spam filter make me laugh! I decided to paste a few of them here to show you just how creative these spambots/people get:

Grateful, he wrapped his arms around his friend and buried his face in his neck. With one last pat on Erikins arm, she left them to climb the staircase alone. He nodded, slid an arm about Irins shoulders, and led his truemate from the room. They had fought about it too often for Eyrhaen not to know what he meant. He kept everyone else safe from her while she fought for control. Shed dissolved the solid rock and reversed a spell that should have been more permanent. But maybe we could eat first? Tossing her ponytail behind her shoulders, Eyrhaen got to her knees and crawled forward. She could still turn away and leave. Were bound, I cant help that, but the two of you should be together. He says we need to all make our choices, and his heart chooses you. Now theres the Eyrie weve known all our lives. She groaned, twisting the wrists in Tykirs grasp, rotating the hips pinned under Lanthans weight. He wasnt talking to her. Dont stop, she begged, clutching sheets. Dangerously serious behind his smile, he dragged his gaze back up to meet hers. Without variety, our culture would grow evenmore stagnant. He sat in the chair, watching her. She was so close She freed her other hand so she could wrap both arms securely around his neck.
By Anonymous on 12 Year Old Kills Sleeping Father on 2/28/10

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All that lunacy is temporary. It was almost full daylight. Oh God, its so hard! And a great deal more. There was an edge of sharpness in his voice. The cry broke out involuntarily. Its the truth that you want, isnt it? I have seen so much, since.
By Anonymous on 12 Year Old Kills Sleeping Father on 2/27/10

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"Among other games, football is considered as the most watched sporting event on the globe. Millions of football fans die hard to witness the biggest sporting event either on web or television. Some percentage of those people often turn excited and place bets on the outcome of the games to make few winning bucks. nfl betting baseball betting basketball betting boxing betting cricket betting darts betting football betting golf betting handball betting hockey betting rugby betting snooker betting tennis betting Sportsbook betting volume differs all through the year. Patrons have more attention in certain types of sports, thus a raise in wagered money is apparent when those sports are in time. Some major sporting events that don't follow a certain schedule, like boxing, can create peaks of activity for sportsbooks all through the year. Football is the most admired sport of bet on today. [url=http://www.pulsebet.com/betting/American-Football]nfl betting[/url]

By Anonymous on Nancy Grace Blog: "Stacks" of New Evidence Release... on 8/3/10

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And this last one, it's a DOOSEY...Wooo, how I had to fight the urge of posting without censorship, it is so nasty even with!!:

"Rough bush-leaguer f*ck, bl*wjob and c*m swallow. Past it geezer f*cked a stinko girl. I f*cked his sister. I continually wanted to f*ck my neighbours MOM. My GFs sister f*cks better than GF is. Lecturer wanked my c*ck in face of class.
By Anonymous on EMT Charged With Posting Photo of Corpse on Facebo... on 1/6/10

LOL 'better than girlfriend is'... And who says lecturer??? lol

The way these morons phrase sentences is like that bit from Family Guy:

'Gossip Girl's' Chace Crawford Charged with Pot Possession

(CNN) -- "Gossip Girl" actor Chace Crawford was arrested on a marijuana charge in his hometown Plano, Texas, early Friday morning, police said.

The misdemeanor charge involves possession of less than two ounces of marijuana, according to the police report.

Crawford, 24, was riding in a 2003 Nissan 350Z when police stopped him, the arrest report said.

The charge carries a maximum of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, although a first offender can usually expect a year or less probation, according to Texas criminal lawyer George Reul. Jail time is rare in such cases, he said.

Many defendants get "deferred adjudication," under which they are not technically convicted and it is removed from their criminal record if they successfully complete probation, Reul said.

Crawford has won two Teen Choice acting awards for his role as Nate Archibald in "Gossip Girl," which is in its fourth season on the CW network.

R.I.P. Rue, Thank You For Being a Friend..

NEW YORK – Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 76.

Her manager Barbara Lawrence said McClanahan died Thursday at 1am of a stroke.

She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on "aging gracefully." In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery.

McClanahan had an active career in off-Broadway and regional stages in the 1960s before she was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur.

But her most loved role came in 1985 when she co-starred with Arthur, Betty White, and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls," a runaway hit that broke the sitcom mold by focusing on the foibles of four aging — and frequently eccentric — women living together in Miami.

"Golden Girls" aimed to show "that when people mature, they add layers," she told The New York Times in 1985. "They don't turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us."

Blanche, who called her father "Big Daddy," was a frequent target of roommates Dorothy, Rose, and the outspoken Sophia (Getty), who would fire off zingers at Blanche such as, "Your life's an open blouse."

McClanahan snagged an Emmy for her work on the show in 1987. In an Associated Press interview that year, McClanahan said Blanche was unlike any other role she had ever played.

"Probably the closest I've ever done was Blanche DuBois in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' at the Pasadena Playhouse," she said. "I think, too, that's where the name came from, although my character is not a drinker and not crazy."

Her Blanche Devereaux, she said, "is in love with life and she loves men. I think she has an attitude toward women that's competitive. She is friends with Dorothy and Rose, but if she has enough provocation she becomes competitive with them. I think basically she's insecure. It's the other side of the Don Juan syndrome."

After "The Golden Girls" was canceled in 1992, McClanahan, White and Getty reprised their roles in a short-lived spinoff, "Golden Palace."

McClanahan continued working in television, on stage and in film, appearing in the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau vehicle "Out to Sea" and as the biology teacher in "Starship Troopers."

She stepped in to portray Madame Morrible, the crafty headmistress, for a time in "Wicked," Broadway's long-running "Wizard of Oz" prequel.

In 2008, McClanahan appeared in the Logo comedy "Sordid Lives: The Series," playing the slightly addled, elderly mother of an institutionalized drag queen

During production, McClanahan was recovering from 2007 surgery on her knee. It didn't stop her from filming a sex scene in which the bed broke, forcing her to hang on to a windowsill to avoid tumbling off.

McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklaholma, to building contractor William McClanahan and his wife, Dreda Rheua-Nell, a beautician. She graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa with a degree in German and theater arts.

McClanahan's acting career began on the stage. According to a 1985 Los Angeles Times profile, she appeared at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse, studied in New York with Uta Hagen and Harold Clurman, and worked in soaps and on the stage.

She won an Obie — the off-Broadway version of the Tony — in 1970 for "Who's Happy Now," playing the "other woman" in a family drama written by Oliver Hailey. She reprised the role in a 1975 television version; in a review, The New York Times described her character as "an irrepressible belle given to frequent bouts of 'wooziness' and occasional bursts of shrewdness."

She had appeared only sporadically on television until producer Norman Lear tapped her for a guest role on "All in the Family" in 1971.

She went from there to a regular role in the "All in the Family" spinoff "Maude," playing Vivian, the neighbor and best friend to Arthur in the starring role.

When Arthur died in April 2009, McClanahan recalled that she had felt constrained by "Golden Girls" during the later years of its run. "Bea liked to be the star of the show. She didn't really like to do that ensemble playing," McClanahan said.

After that series ended in 1978, McClanahan landed the role as Aunt Fran on "Mama's Family" in 1983.

McClanahan was married six times: Tom Bish, with whom she had a son, Mark Bish; actor Norman Hartweg; Peter D'Maio; Gus Fisher; and Tom Keel. She married husband Morrow Wilson on Christmas Day in 1997.

She called her 2007 memoir "My First Five Husbands ... And the Ones Who Got Away."

Gary Coleman Dead of Intercranial Hemorrage

SFGate.com- The famous child star passed away after a severe head injury he sustained at his home in Utah caused bleeding in his brain and described as an intercranial hemorrage and a epidural hematoma.

Gary Coleman, who was so funny in the TV show sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978 - 1986), became something of a sideshow later in life. In part, his small stature, his parents, and his anger issues, and Coleman's celebrity mixed together to produce what from a distance looked like a terrible life. The Lord called Gary Coleman away from that mess on Friday.

Gary Coleman has openly said his parents did not treat him correctly. Edmonia Sue and W.G. Coleman adopted Coleman and from all accounts they did not care about him at all. Gary sued them for "misappropriation of funds" and they counter-sued for defamation and breach of contract. Consider that there's no record that Coleman knew who his real parents were and the people who took him in as his adopted parents, took his money from his work.

Coleman sued them, won, and was awarded $1.3 million. But nothing could recover the emotional damage Coleman sustained from four years of battling with his parents. The reason why Gary Coleman had the problems the public has been exposed to was because he had no solid family base around him. No real parents, brothers or sisters, cousins, or aunts and uncles. No one who cared.

Gary's marriage to Shannon Price was probably the best thing that could have happened to Coleman, but his anger problems threatened to destroy it too. In an effort to save their marriage Coleman and Price went on the show Divorce Court, where Coleman said this:

"I don't have any friends and don't have any intention of making any. People will stab you in the back, mistreat you, talk about me behind your back, steal from you. And they're not really your friends. (They're) only there because you're a celebrity or because they want to get something from you."

And this statement from the NY Daily News explains why the Lord took him on Friday:

"It's not her fault," he says. "I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. ... There are days I don't even want to get up."

On Friday, Gary Coleman got his wish.

Betty White Totally Looks Like ET in Drag

I'm sorry Betty, I love you to death but I had to!! Your look on that one spanish skit on the last SNL reminded me too much of ET.0=]

everyone please vote for my entry lol!!!!

Infidelity Has Left David Boreanaz in ‘Sincere Pain’

CNN- “Bones” star David Boreanaz is the latest high-profile husband to step outside of his marriage, and his decision has left him hurting, “Bones” creator and executive producer Hart Hanson said on Boreanaz's behalf.

“David Boreanaz has asked me to express to fans his sincere pain, thanks for support, and determination that his family will 'get thru this,'” Hanson tweeted yesterday.

On May 3, the actor admitted to cheating on his wife of nine years, Jamie Bergman. He told People magazine that his marriage “has been tainted by my infidelities. I just want to be open and honest. I was irresponsible.”


Boreanaz spoke up because a former mistress had gained legal representation and was threatening to take her story to media outlets. “She asked for money,” the 40-year-old said. “I felt as though I was being blackmailed or there was some sort of extortion.”

Boreanaz added that he and Bergman are working on their marriage, an effort that his mother-in-law Sue Scallion supports.

She told E! News Tuesday that her daughter isn’t considering a divorce. “My daughter’s very strong. She told me one day, ‘divorce just isn’t an option’… They are going to make this work and keep the family together and raise the children,” Scallion said.

She added, “Jamie and David, they’ve got a lot of work to do. But they love each other.”

What the Hell Is Wrong With? #4: Nick Arcade

Funny South Park Episode Last Night..