Eliza Dushku

Michael Ironside (right) from "V" Series plays a cop like Eliza Dushku

On Location with ‘The Alphabet Killer’

Evan Dawson (Rochester, N.Y.) — Filming is underway in Rochester for a new movie based on one of the area’s most infamous unsolved crimes.

“The Alphabet Killer" is loosely based on the "double initial" killings, when three young girls were murdered over a three-year period in the 1970s.

Producer Russ Terlecki explained why they wanted to shoot the film here instead of Hollywood or New York City.

"One of our main investors is from here, and also we wanted to be true to the story and shoot it in the place where it happened,” he said

Veteran actor Michael Ironside (Desparate Housewives, Smallville, ER) plays a police captain. He said he’s impressed with the quality of the locations and the helpfulness of local government.

"This is a fabulous town to shoot in...I was saying to a friend that if this place was closer to Los Angeles, it would have the $%*& shot out of it cause there’s some amazing stuff in this city,” he said.

Script writer Tom Malloy said the main character is a cop played by Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tru Calling) and he tried to make the story unique.

"There have been a lot of man hunter movies where they try to catch a killer. This one is about a woman who has to fight her own demons as well...it’s a very tight story. It’s compelling. There’s quite a bit of humanity in it,” he said.

Nearly 200 people from the Rochester area are working on the film in some way, including former 13WHAM photographer Kate Yerves, who thinks Rochester and filmmaking make a perfect fit.

She said, "I really hope this is the start of many things to come, and then maybe there will be more opportunities here for people."

This is an independent film and the producers are trying to sell it with the hopes that it will be in theaters before the end of 2007.

In the real case, three young girls with matching initials in their first and last names—Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz, Michelle Maenza—were abducted from poor city neighborhoods, strangled, and sexually assaulted. Their bodies were found in outlying towns corresponding with their initials.

One of the main suspects committed suicide, but the case was never officially solved.