Serial Killer Rodney Alcala's Secret Photos: Three Women Say They Are in Photos Released by NYPD - CBS News

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Serial Killer Rodney Alcala's Secret Photos: Three Women Say They Are in Photos Released by NYPD

Unidentified woman from Rodney Alcala's secret photo archives. (NYPD) NYPD

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Newly released photos from convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala's secret archives have already prompted at least three women to contact New York cold case investigators to identify themselves as the women in some of the photos.

PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret NY Photos: New Victims?
PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: More Victims?

Rodney Alcala (AP Photo)

Alcala is reportedly a suspect in at least two cold cases in New York, and authorities released nearly 300 photos in the hopes of identifying the women and children in the serial killer's photos. Investigators have received nine tips so far.

PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret NY Photos: New Victims?
PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: More Victims?

One woman, Judy Cole, told investigators that she believes that she is one of the women in the photos, according to the New York Daily News.

"He was very charming. I should have known better," said Cole according the paper.

Alcala reportedly lived in Manhattan on and off in the 70's and possibly studied film under Roman Polanski.

Alcala, now 66, was tried twice, convicted twice and sentenced to death twice - in 1980 and 1986 - for killing 12-year-old Robin Samsoe on June 20, 1979. On March 9, he was convicted and sentenced to death for the third time for Samsoe's death as well as for the murder of four other women.

After his third conviction, Huntington Beach police decided to release some of Alcala's photos, recovered during their investigation of the murder Samsoe in 1979 from a storage space registered to Alcala in Seattle. They also sent over 200 photos whose backgrounds looked like they could have been taken in and around Manhattan to the New York City Police Department.

Huntington Beach police say they have received more than 20 calls from people identifying subjects in the photos, some from the women themselves. At least four families have come forward claiming that their long-missing loved ones are depicted in the photographs and police are working to confirm these reports.

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PICTURES: Serial Killer Secret NY Photos: New Victims?
PICTURES: Serial Killer's Secret Photos: More Victims?

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