Here’s the story of William Richard Bradford and Rodney Alcala, two headshot photographers that killed aspiring models and photographers.

Any casting director will tell you that you need a headshot in order to make it into the entertainment industry. But, what if the person you are getting a headshot from is a serial killer? Sounds like a storyline to Fox’s Scream Queens? Unfortunately, this actually happen. Here’s the true story of William Richard Bradford and Rodney Alcala, serial killing headshot photographers who allegedly killed over 100 aspiring models and actors.

Who is William Richard Bradford?

William Richard “Bill” Bradford was a Los Angeles serial killer who was incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison in 1984 for the murder of his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell and barmaid Shari Miller.

But, it all started in July 1984, while out on bail and awaiting trial for rape, Bradford met Shari Miller, a bar maid at a Los Angeles bar called “The Meet Market.” Bradford told her he was a professional photographer and offered to help her build up her modeling portfolio with a free photo shoot.

Bradford took Shari Miller to a campsite in the deserts of north Los Angeles, photographed her in various modeling poses, and then strangled her. After killer her, Bradford sliced off her tattoos and removed her blouse. He then took her body to a Hollywood parking lot, where he dumped her body in an alley. When the body was found with no ID she was labeled “Jane Doe #60.

A few days later, Bradford convinced his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell that she could be a model and he did the same thing again. Bradford would later strangle Tracey Campbell.

Bradford would later be arrested, fire his lawyer, and decide to represent himself. During the phase in trial in which Bradford acted as his own attorney, he offered no evidence or arguments to prove he was innocent. In fact, during the closing statement Bradford said the following: Think of how many you don’t even know about. You are so right. That’s it.” implying he killed many more.

In 2006, the Los Angeles Police department released head shots taken from the photos in Bradford’s apartment.

Detectives claimed they believed the women could all be Bradford’s victims due to his history of taking photos of his victims before killing them. Since the photos were released, at least one woman #28 has been identified as as Donnalee Campbell Duhamel, a woman whose decapitated corpse was found in a canyon in Malibu in 1978.

A vast majority of the women remain unidentified, and are all viewed as possible victims.

Who is Rodney Alcala?

You would think this is a random occurence. But, in the late 70s another photographer named Rodney Alcala did the same thing. Claiming to be a headshot photographer, he would take photos of his victims before savagely killing them.

On July 26, 1979, homicide detectives from Huntington Beach, California found hundreds of photographs of unidentified women in a Seattle storage locker belonging to a man named Rodney Alcala. Detectives were looking into the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, who had been seen talking with Alcala a month previously. Her earrings were found in the same locker along with hundreds of photos.

Alcala was born in San Antonio, studied fine Arts at UCLA and would later travel to NYU, where he studied film under Roman Polanski. Polanski, whose wife would be later murdered by serial killer Charles Manson, taught Alcala how to use a camera, which helped him create a career as a “fashion photographer.”

This is how he was able to take so many photos of aspiring models. Including 23-year-old New York flight attendant Cornelia Crilley who he strangled to death in 1971. He would also strangle several other woman he tricked into taking photo shoots with.

Rodney Alcala appears on The Dating Game

Alcala would later appear on the ABC game show The Dating Game, where he beat two contestants for a date with a woman named Cheryl Bradshaw. However, this didn’t work out as Bradshow said he was “creepy” backstage. She told CNN in 2010, “He was quiet, but at the same time he would interrupt and impose when he felt like it. He became very unlikable and rude and imposing as though he was trying to intimidate. I wound up not only not liking this guy… He was a standout creepy guy in my life.”​

Later that year he would murder two other women, Charlotte Lamb and Jill Parenteau

It would take nearly 30 years due to several appeals before Alcala was given the death penalty.

In three different trials, he was proven to have murdered at least seven different women, and detectives believe that number is actually incomplete. In fact, Huntington Beach Police Department released Alcala’s photos at the end of the 2010 trial, hoping some of the hundreds of women could be identified.

“A handful of woman (less than 30) identified themselves as having posed for the pictures,” reported HBPD detective Patrick Ellis. “His collection included coworkers, classmates, girlfriends, family members, and strangers, but less than ten admitted to knowing him personally.”

While you might say, this took place over 30 years ago. Most recently, the website ModelMayhem.com, was allegedly linked to several murders, according to ABC news.

From ABC17.com:

Model Mayhem has a dangerous history. The National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation said it can connect a dozen missing girls nationwide to the website.

One of them, Kara Nichols, is from Colorado Springs, Colo. She has been missing since last October when she told a friend she was heading two hours to Denver for a modeling gig.

What do you think of entertainment industry? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!

Sharon Stone bashes Hollywood’s pay gap, getting blacklisted, and working as a waitress in Hollywood.

Sharon Stone is an icon in the film industry. Ever since her 1990 sci-fi thriller, Total Recall, she became an internationally recognized actress. She would later star in one of the biggest movies of 1992, Basic Instinct. She would later be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for role in the Martin Scorsese drama Casino. 

But, recently Sharon Stone is fighting Hollywood’s biggest problem, Hollywood’s pay gap and how she was blacklisted for years. “After Basic Instinct, no one wanted to pay me,” Stone told People. “I remember sitting in my kitchen with my manager and just crying and saying I’m not going to work until I get paid.” Sharon Stone says she was still paid way less than male actors even after landing a major acting role.

Sharon Stone also discussed working as an waitress just to pay the pills, even though she as an A-list actress. “I waited tables and scrubbed floors and everything else on the way up, and you must make the same, and it’s not cool that you don’t. She pointed out how the change “has to start with regular pay, not just for movie stars, but regular pay for the regular woman in the regular job.”

Sharon Stone is currently working on the new TNT series, Agent X, which she is also an executive producer. She spoke with TheWrap, about the switch from movies to TV. “I just think television kind of has more to offer right now,” actress tells TheWrap.

“Good film parts are less and less common, because the studios have less and less grip on how to bring people to film,” she continued. “They’ve used tentpole movies to such a degree that they’ve wiped out their own business. The film industry has kind of wiped itself out.”

The new TNT spy drama features Sharon Stone as Vice President Natalie Maccabee, a woman who pledges to protect the world “against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” but she releases that she has to undertake a mission to secretive for the FBI and CIA.

Sharon Stone is just one of several actresses who are calling out Hollywood’s history of paying woman less. Most recently, Hollywood’s highest paid actress, Jennifer Lawrence, blasted Hollywood for making her feel unwanted in an open essay.

Recent Hollywood news:

• James Bond: How Hollywood Rejected This Actress After Landing Role in 007

• 10 Highest Paid Comedians in Hollywood 2015

• ‘Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood’ Cast Member Arrested After Alleged Fight

• How Zola’s Twitter Story is Transforming Hollywood Forever

What do you think of Sharon Stone’s comments? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!