February 25, 2010|By Paloma Esquivel and Christopher Goffard

Rodney James Alcala, a onetime photographer and “Dating Game” contestant, was convicted Thursday of murdering four women and a 12-year-old girl during a killing rampage in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the late 1970s.

An Orange County jury took less than two days to render the verdict after a bizarre trial in which Alcala represented himself, offering a rambling defense to accusations that he was a prolific serial killer who tortured his victims.