Could photos from Seattle storage locker provide clues in serial killings?

Authorities wonder if thousands of photographs found in a Shoreline storage locker more than 30 years ago could point to additional victims of a notorious serial killer facing the death penalty in California for the murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl.

Police and prosecutors released the decades-old photos on Wednesday after amateur photographer and serial killer Rodney James Alcala, 66, was convicted by a California jury, which recommended the death penalty.

Authorities said they hope the release of the photographs will lead to the identification of the subjects and possibly reveal whether Alcala may have had additional victims.

Huntington Beach, Calif., police Detective Patrick Ellis said Thursday that he has already heard from one person who claims to know one of the subjects of Alcala's photos, a woman who has been listed as a missing person for decades.

Alcala was arrested in connection with the slaying of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe of Orange County about a month after the girl's body was found in 1979.

On Tuesday, a jury recommended death for Alcala for the murders of Samsoe and four women who were killed between 1977 and 1979.

"There are thousands of photographs," said Ellis. "I'd been wondering who else was out there that might be missing and thought, 'You know what, when this trial is over, let's put them out there to see if someone can help us ID some of these people.' "

Ellis said police believe Alcala had moved everything he had of value from his home in Monterey Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, into the Seattle-area storage locker. The items included jewelry he took as trophies from his victims, photographs, photography equipment and his motorcycle, Ellis said.

Ellis said that Alcala had a criminal case pending in California when he rented a unit at a storage center in the 17800 block of Midvale Avenue North in Shoreline. He said authorities believe he intended to flee, perhaps using Seattle as a launchpad.

It's unknown whether Alcala ever lived in Seattle, Ellis said.

A Seattle police spokeswoman said that the department is aware of the developments in the Alcala case but is not actively investigating because there are no known Seattle-area victims at this time.

Alcala's only known connection to Seattle was through a female acquaintance whose name and address he used without her knowledge to rent the storage unit. The woman was interviewed after Alcala's arrest and said that she had not had any contact with Alcala in more than two years and had been camping when Alcala rented the storage unit in July 1979.

Ellis said the photographs were developed from negatives found in the storage unit. While two of the subjects were males, the majority were young women, some naked and some engaged in sex acts.

Prosecutors said during Alcala's trial that he used his camera to gain the trust of young women and put them at ease.

Jurors took just an hour to return the death recommendation after a six-week trial in which Alcala represented himself and took the stand in his own defense. Alcala also relied on a 1978 clip of himself as a winning contestant on "The Dating Game" in his rambling, and sometimes incoherent defense.

Alcala was sentenced to death twice before for the murder of Samsoe, but those verdicts were overturned on appeal.

Prosecutors refiled charges in that case and added the four other murders in 2006 after investigators linked them to Alcala using DNA samples and other forensic evidence. Those cases, which had gone unsolved for decades, went on trial for the first time this year.

Authorities in California ask that if anyone has information about the people in the photos to please contact Huntington Beach police Detective Patrick Ellis at 714-375-5066, or e-mail pellis@hbpd.org.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.

Information from The Associated Press and The Orange County Register is included in this report.