Four days before she was set to move to New York City with her family, 16-year-old Morgan Rowan found herself locked in a bedroom with Rodney Alcala, the San Antonio-born serial killer linked to at least 15 murders in the 1970s. The year was 1968, and Alcala was about to begin a crime spree that would last more than a decade.

In that locked bedroom, Alcala, who would later be dubbed “The Dating Game Killer” because of an appearance he made on the popular TV show in 1978, ended up beating and raping Rowan, whose story was unknown until she came forward after Alcala’s death in 2021.

Rowan told her story in her 2023 book, Stolen from Sunset: A True Story of Surviving the Dating Game Killer. She also shares it in the premiere episode of People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer, which airs on May 5 at 8 p.m. CT on Investigation Discovery.

“I kept it to myself for more than 50 years,” Rowan told MySA during a recent interview. “I never told anybody.”

One of the reasons Rowan didn’t come forward about what Alcala had done to her was because a couple of months later, Alcala beat and raped and 8-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro in the same house she was attacked. Shapiro survived, but Rowan blamed herself for not speaking out.

“I carried that [guilt] for a lot of years,” Rowan said. “I was afraid she would hate me. When I finally learned who she was years later, I wrote her apologizing and telling her I should have done something. She wrote back and said there was nothing to forgive, and that there was only one person responsible. It was a life-changing moment for me.”

Since then, Rowan and Shapiro, who is also interviewed on Surviving a Serial Killer, have become close friends. Rowan said it was Shapiro who encouraged her to tell her story.

“Tali and I both have a message of trusting your own instincts,” Rowan said. “This man brought so much darkness into the world that we'd like to bring in a little light.”

Rowan’s take on the true-crime genre is a multilayered one. As a survivor of violence, she feels TV shows and movies can help others grasp how much danger there is in the world. She does, however, understand that these types of projects can be hurtful for the families of the victims.

When asked if she believes popular TV series like Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story help immortalize serial killers, she worried more about how the consumption of so many of these types of true-crime movies and shows could “desensitize” viewers.

“When you see these things over and over again and don’t see them as horror anymore … I don’t think that’s healthy,” Rowan said. “But I don't think [watching true-crime] encourages people to go out and act that way.”

Along with a number of docuseries, Alcala’s story has been adapted into the 2017 made-for-TV movie The Dating Game Killer. Another film about Alcala, Woman of the Hour, directed and starring Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and is expected to debut on Netflix this year.

Rowan said she’s open to watching these movies because she’s interested in seeing what the studio gets wrong. She mostly watches for the sake of her friend.

“At this point in my life, I watch because I'm concerned about Tali watching it,” she said. “I want to make sure she's OK. So, I will watch it first and let her know whether to avoid it. I’ve always had a real need to protect her even when I didn't know who she was.”

Rowan hopes Surviving a Serial Killer will help others find the strength they need to unburden themselves from secrets they are holding onto.

“Carrying a secret like that is like swallowing broken glass,” she said. “It’s going to eat you from the inside out. I hope that maybe if a young girl watches, and the next time she feels uncomfortable, she will remove herself from the situation.”