Unraveling the Reign of the 'Scorecard Killer', Randy Kraft

Prepare to descend into the harrowing world of Randy Kraft, the infamous 'Scorecard Killer.' Brace yourself as we trace the gruesome timeline of Kraft's reign of terror that scarred Southern California, Oregon, and Michigan in the 1970s and 80s. Get ready for an unnerving exploration into the depths of human evil, revealing how this monstrous serial killer intoxicated unsuspecting young men, subjected them to unimaginable torture, and then discarded their lifeless bodies along freeways. Tune in for a gripping and chilling tale that will leave you at the edge of your seat.

We're not holding back as we expose the shocking details that led to Kraft's capture. An arrest for driving under the influence turned out to be the beginning of his end, unearthing a trove of incriminating evidence from his car and home. From photographs of victims to their personal belongings, the grim reality of Kraft's heinous acts comes to light. Join us as we navigate through the intricate puzzle pieced together by investigators, unmasking the striking similarities between his crimes in different states. This episode is a must-listen for all true crime aficionados, promising a haunting journey through the diabolical actions of the 'Scorecard Killer.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Randy Stephen Kraft was born in Long Beach, california, on March 19, 1945, the fourth child and only son of Opal Lee Neville and Harold Herbert. Kraft's father had moved to California. A production operative at Douglas Aircraft Company, he was joined by his wife and three daughters. Between 1971 and 1983, kraft is believed to have killed 67 victims. All of his suspected victims were males between the ages of 13 and 35, the majority of whom were in their late teens to mid-20s. Welcome to another episode of Human Wreckage. This episode we look at the many murders of Randy Kraft. Once you get past the goofy mustache, you realize how evil this man really is. His crimes are truly disturbing. Let's get into it Once. In Kraft's car, the victims would be plagued with alcohol and drugs. They were then bound, tortured and sexually abused before they were killed, usually by either strangulation, asphyxiation or bludgeoning. However, some victims had also ingested lethal doses of pharmaceuticals. At least one victim was stabbed to death. The victims would then be discarded alongside or close to various freeways in Southern California. Photographic evidence found at Kraft's home indicates several of his victims were driven to his house before their murder. The majority of Kraft's murders were committed in California, although some victims had been killed in Oregon, with two further known victims murdered in Michigan in December 1982. On October 5, 1971, police found the nude body of a 30-year-old Long Beach resident named Wayne Joseph Duquette, discarded it close to the Ortega Highway. Duquette, a bartender at a gay bar in nearby Sunset Beach, had last been seen alive on September 20. Future Faction had destroyed any signs of foul play on the body. The cause of death was listed as acute alcohol poisoning due to a high blood alcohol level. The first entry in Kraft's journal referred to as his scorecard greed stable, leading investigators to believe Duquette was Kraft's first murder victim.

Speaker 1: 2:36

15 months after the murder of Duquette, kraft killed a 20-year-old Marine named Edward Daniel Moore. Moore was last seen leaving the barracks at Camp Pendleton on December 24, 1972. His body was found beside the 405 Freeway and Seal Beach during the early hours of December 26. Six weeks after the murder of Moore, on February 6, 1973, the body of an unidentified male, estimated to be between 17 and 25 years old, was found alongside the Terminal Island Freeway in Wilmington. Two months later, on April 14, the body of 17-year-old Kevin Clark Bailey was found beside a road in Huntington Beach. By July 28, a further two victims had been murdered An unidentified youth whose dismembered body was found in Wilmington on April 22, and a 20-year-old named Ronnie Gene Weeb, whose strangled body was discarded beside an on-ramp of the 405 Freeway on July 30, two days after he had disappeared.

Speaker 1: 3:37

Kraft is known to have killed at least once more in 1973. The victim was a 23-year-old bisexual art student named Vincent Cruz Mestiz, whose body was found in the San Bernardino Mountains on December 29. By November 1974, five more victims had been found beside or close to major roadways in Southern California, three of whom had been conclusively linked to the same killer. Two of these victims, 20-year-old Malcolm Eugene Little and 19-year-old James Dale Reeves, had each been found beside a freeway.

Speaker 1: 4:07

On January 3, 1975, kraft abducted and murdered a 17-year-old high school student named John Larris. The youth was last seen boarding a bus in Long Beach. His strangled body was found the following day discarded at Sunset Beach. Drag marks along the beach close to where his body was found suggested that two individuals had carried Larris's body into the water. Two weeks after this murder, on January 17, the body of a 21-year-old named Craig John 80s was found discarded in the parking lot of the Golden Sales Hotel near the Pacific Coast Highway. By January 1975, a total of 14 victims, whose bodies had been found discarded across four separate counties over the previous three years, had been linked to the same killer. All the victims had been Caucasian males with similar physical characteristics. On January 24, homicide investigators from several jurisdictions in Southern California convened in Orange County to discuss their progress in the hunt for the unknown killer. An FBI profile of the killer was read to investigators, describing the individual as a methodical, organized lust killer of above-average intelligence who exhibited an indifference to the interests and welfare of society.

Speaker 1: 5:17

On the evening of March 29, 1975, kraft lured two youths, keith Crockwell and Kent May, from a long beach parking lot into his Ford Mustang. The youths were given beer and valium as Kraft drove in a random, aimless manner around Belmont Shore and Seal Beach. May later recalled feeling catatonic as a result of the valium and alcohol he had ingested before he passed out. In the parking lot where Kraftwell and May had last been seen, two friends of the youths observed a distinctive black and white Mustang. Pull in and stop before the driver leaned across, opened the passenger door and pushed the unconscious but otherwise unharmed May out onto the pavement. The driver then sped away from the scene. As he did so the friends noted Kraftwell slumped against the unknown driver's shoulder. On May 8, kraftwell's skull was found on a jetty close to the Long Beach Marina. The remainder of his body was found six months later.

Speaker 1: 6:12

After hearing the news, the two friends of Kraftwell and May, who suspected that the murderer was a patron of a Belmont Shore gay bar, searched their neighborhood for the distinctive Mustang. They found the car less than a mile from their home, wrote down the license plate number and gave the information to the police. The vehicle was registered to Randy Kraft. Long Beach Police questioned Kraft about Kraftwell's abduction and murder on May 19, 1975. Initially he denied having ever met either Kraftwell or May and the police, skeptical of Kraft's denial, summoned him to the police station for further questioning. Kraft admitted that on or about March 29, he had encountered two youths in the Long Beach parking lot in question and persuaded them to drink alcohol and consume valium with him as he drove. He claimed to have returned May to the parking lot and then to have driven with Kraftwell to a side road close to the El Toro off-ramp where his car subsequently became embedded upon an embankment. He claimed to have walked alone to a gas station to call a tow truck, while Kraftwell remained with the car. Upon returning to his vehicle, kraft claimed Kraftwell had disappeared. Although Kraft's roommate confirmed that Kraft had phoned him on the date of Kraftwell's disappearance, claiming that his vehicle was stuck on an embankment, detectives remained unconvinced by Kraft's version of events. The following week, two detectives attempted to file homicide charges against Kraft. However, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office declined, citing the coroner's conclusion from his autopsy of the remains thus far found, consisting only of Kraftwell's skull, that the youth had died of accidental drowning, perhaps because he had been questioned as a suspect in Kraftwell's murder and because of additional turmoil in his personal life in the summer of 1975.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Kraft is not known to have killed again until December 31st, when he abducted 22-year-old Mark Hall in San Juan, cape Astrano. In this instance, later described by prosecutors as the worst of all of Kraft's known murders, hall was driven to a remote canyon where he was tortured for hours till he died. He is not known to have killed again until December 10, 1976. The body of the victim, 19-year-old Paul Joseph Fuchs, has never been found. Nonetheless, fletch's name is clearly listed upon Kraft's scorecard and he was last seen outside a Long Beach gay bar which Kraft is known to have frequented. Following the December 1976 murder of Fuchs, kraft is not known to have killed again for 16 months.

Speaker 1: 8:42

On April 16, 1978, kraft abducted an 18-year-old Marine named Scott Michael Hughes. Two months later, on June 11, the body of 23-year-old Roland Gerald Young was found near a San Diego freeway. Eight days later, the body of a 20-year-old Marine named Richard Allen Keith was found discarded beside a road on Moulton Parkway. He had last been seen alive by his girlfriend in the city of Carson. Three weeks after the murder of Keith, on July 6, kraft killed a 23-year-old hitchhiker named Keith Arthur Klingbale, his body discarded beside the Interstate 5 freeway. Although Klingbale was still alive when discovered, he would die shortly after his admission to Mission Community Hospital. Two months later, on September 29, the body of 20-year-old Richard Anthony Crosby was found discarded 200 yards north of Highway 71 in San Bernardino. Crosby had disappeared the previous day as he hitchhiked home from a theater in Torrance.

Speaker 1: 9:40

The last known victim murdered by Kraft in 1978 was a 21-year-old Long Beach truck driver named Michael Joseph Endurbyton, whose body was found along and on ramp to the I-605 on November 18, 1978. Kraft is not known to have killed again until June 16, 1979, when he abducted a 20-year-old Marine named Donnie Harold Cristle, whose body was thrown from a moving vehicle onto the 405 freeway. The cause of death was listed as acute alcohol poisoning, although rope and burn marks indicated Cristle had been bound and tortured prior to his body being discarded. Two months later, on August 29, the dismembered remains of a 21-year-old English tourist named Keith Anthony Jackson were found discarded in two trash bags and a cardboard box behind a Union 76 gas station in Long Beach. The entry on Kraft's scorecards simply reading either England or 76 is believed to refer to him. Two weeks later, on September 14, the body of 19-old Gregory Wallace Jolly was found in Lake Arrowhead. On November 24, 1979, a 15-year-old Santa Ana youth named Jeffrey Sayer is believed to have been abducted and murdered by Kraft. Sayer was last seen at a bus stop in Westminster while returning home from a date with his girlfriend. The bus stop Sayer was last seen at was near the home of Kraft's parents. The entry Westminster date on Kraft's scorecard is believed to refer to Sayer.

Speaker 1: 11:07

On February 18, 1980, the decapitated body of a 19-year-old Marine named Mark Allen March was found near the Templin Highway. In the summer of 1980, kraft traveled to the neighboring state of Oregon on an extended business trip. During this trip, he lived in a town close to Portland Before returning to California in August. He is believed to have murdered two more victims, both of whom were listed on his scorecard with cryptic references, including the word Portland. The first victim, a 17-year-old Denver youth named Michael Sean Fallon, was killed on July 17. Fallon had been on a solo hitchhiking trip across the US and Canada before his enrollment in college at the time of his murder the following day. Kraft is believed to have killed a man estimated to be aged between 35 and 45 years old, whose body was found beside a freeway in the city of Woodburn. This victim is listed as Portland on Kraft's scorecard.

Speaker 1: 12:03

On September 3, 1980, one month after Kraft's return to California from Oregon, the bound body of a 19-year-old Marine named Robert Loggins was found discarded in a trash bag close to the El Toro Marine Air Base. On April 10, 1981, the body of a 17-year-old youth named Michael Cluck was found beside Interstate 5 freeway close to Gossian, oregon. Cluck had been abducted while hitchhiking from Kent, washington, to Bakkersfield, california. Four months after Cluck's murder, on August 20, 1981, the partially clothed body of 17-year-old male prostitute, christopher Allen Williams, was found in the San Bernardino Mountains. Following complaints from residents of Echo Park regarding a foul odor emanating from the direction of the Hollywood freeway. On July 29, 1982, a Caltrans employee found the decaying body of a 14-year-old Pittsburgh, california, youth named Raymond Davis, discarded alongside the Rampart Boulevard Off-Ramp, just 40 feet from Davis' body. The same Caltrans crew also found the body of 16-year-old Robert Avila Avila had been missing since July 21, and his body was also badly decomposed. He had been strangled to death with a length of stereo speaker wire.

Speaker 1: 13:16

Kraft is not known to have killed again until November 1, 1982, when he abducted and murdered a 24-year-old Modesto man named Arne Michael Lane. Lane was last seen hitchhiking towards Orange County in search of work. His body was not found until January 1984, discarded on a hillside close to the town of Ramona. Four weeks after Lane's murder, the semi-knewed body of 26-year-old Brian Witcher was dumped from a moving vehicle alongside the Interstate 5 freeway close to the city of Wilsonville, oregon. On December 3, 1982, a 29-year-old carpenter named Anthony Jose Silvera disappeared while hitchhiking towards Medford. His body was found two weeks later.

Speaker 1: 13:59

At the time of the murders of both Witcher and Silvera, kraft was again known to have been in Oregon on a business trip which concluded the day of Silvera's death. On December 4, kraft drove from Portland to Seattle to visit friends. During this brief visit, he was observed wearing a military jacket inscribed with the name Silvera. On December 5, kraft flew from Seattle to Grand Rapids, michigan, again on business. Two days after his arrival in Grand Rapids, kraft encountered cousins Dennis Alt and Christopher Schoenborn at a seminar in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Kraft was seen talking with a pair in the hotel's reception area shortly before midnight. Their bodies were discovered on December 9 in an open field close to the hotel.

Speaker 1: 14:43

On December 8, kraft traveled from Michigan to Portland. Within 24 hours of his return to Oregon, he had killed a 19-year-old hitchhiker named Lance Taggs. Taggs had last been seen Hitchhiking from the city of Tigard to the home of a relative in Los Angeles on December 8. His body was found the following day discarded alongside a rural road in Clacamas County, close to where the body of Wicher had been found just two weeks earlier, noting the passage of time between periods of activity when bodies of young males had been found discarded near mass transportation with alcohol and or pharmaceuticals in their bloodstream in Oregon. Investigators theorized that their killer resided in another state and struck in Oregon only when they're on business.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Following the murders of Silvera, wicher and Taggs, oregon investigators relayed details of the murders to police in other states, describing the modus operandi of the killer. They were seeking and requesting feedback from any police force that had unsolved murders of young males on their files with similar characteristics. A response from Southern California counties was swift. The pattern of killings was identical to victims linked to the unknown killer in California. The six Oregon murders committed by Kraft were thus linked to the murders he had committed in California.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Kraft did not kill again until January 27, 1983, when he abducted a 21-year-old hitchhiker named Eric Church. The victim was last seen alive hitchhiking from Orange County to Sacramento the day before his murder. His body was found discarded alongside I-605. On February 12, kraft killed two Boona Park men, 18-year-old Jeffrey Nelson and 20-year-old Roger DeVall. The two young men were last seen outside the house of a friend named Bryce Wilson shortly after midnight, when they told Wilson they intended to purchase something to eat. Nelson's nude body was found alongside an off-ramp close to the garden grove freeway several hours after he and DeVall were last seen. Devall's body was found the following day discarded down a mountainside close to Mount Baldy in San Bernardino County At 1.10 am on May 14, 1983, two California Highway Patrol officers observed a Toyota Celica driving erratically on Interstate 5 in the Orange County community of Mission, vao.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Observing the vehicle perform an illegal lane change. The officers, suspecting the motorist was driving under the influence, signaled for the vehicle to stop. The driver slowed the vehicle to a halt and exited the car, discarding the contents of a beer bottle onto the pavement. As he did so, officer Sterling met the individual, who identified himself as Randy Kraft, at the front of his patrol car and observed that his jeans were unbuttoned. Sterling had Kraft perform a field sobriety test, which he failed. He then arrested Kraft for driving while intoxicated.

Speaker 1: 17:32

Sterling's partner, michael Howard, approached the Celica and observed a young man slump with his eyes closed in the vehicle's passenger seat, partially covered by a jacket. Several empty moose-head beer bottles and an open prescription bottle of Lois Pam tablets were strewn around his feet. Howard attempted to wake the man, receiving no response. Howard attempted to rouse the man by shaking his arm, only to note the individual had a low body temperature. Upon checking for a pulse, howard noted the man was dead with a ligature mark visible around his neck. Using the jacket from the victim's lap, howard noted the victim's jeans had been open to expose his genitals. In addition, the victim's hands had been bound with a shoelace and his wrist bore evidence of wilt marks. Later identified as Terry Lee Gambrill, a 25-year-old Marine stationed at El Toro Air Base, the victim had been strangled to death.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Craft was initially charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and was held in custody as detectives conducted a thorough search of his vehicle. Upon the car's rear seat, investigators found a belt the width of which matched the bruising around Gambrill's neck. Other incriminating evidence included alcohol, tranquilizers, various prescription drugs and stimulants. The passenger seat and carpet of the vehicle were heavily bloodstained. However, Gambrill had no open wounds. The upholstery was removed for forensic analysis, which confirmed the blood was human. Beneath the carpet, investigators discovered an envelope containing more than 50 photographs of young men in pornographic poses. Many of the subjects in the pictures appeared to be either asleep or dead. Inside the trunk, investigators found a ring binder containing a hand-written list of 61 code notations. A search of Craft's home revealed further incriminating evidence, including clothes and personal possessions of numerous young men who had been murdered over the previous decade. Fibers taken from a rug matched those found on victim Scott Hughes. In addition, the couch and Craft's living room was identified as being the one in the photographs found in Craft's car. A roll of film discovered also contained shots of victims Eric Church and Roger DeVall sitting in Craft's car. A ligature mark is clearly visible on DeVall's neck in one of these images. On May 16, 1983, craft was formally charged with the murder of Gambrill. By September, investigators had interviewed over 700 witnesses and had gathered more than 250 physical exhibits which pointed towards Craft's guilt in a further 15 homicides committed between December 1972 and February 1983. He was formally charged with these 15 murders, in addition to two counts of sodomy and one of emasculation.

Speaker 1: 20:15

Craft's trial began on September 26, 1988. He was tried in Orange County before Judge Donald A McCartan. At the trial almost 160 witnesses were called to testify on behalf of the prosecution. Over 1,000 exhibits were introduced as evidence. These exhibits included physical evidence such as blood stains, hair and fiber evidence found at Craft's Long Beach residence and in his car. Fingerprints found upon glass shards recovered from the hall murder scene. Negatives and photographs of victims found hidden inside Craft's vehicle which depicted the men either dead, drugged or asleep, in the belt used to strangle Gambrill. The prescription drugs in Buckknife found in his vehicle. Other evidence introduced included work and travel records and gasoline receipts which placed Craft in particular locations where victims had been abducted and discarded, and the numerous personal possessions of various murder victims found in Craft's possession following his arrest.

Speaker 1: 21:13

Craft's defense was primarily one of alibi's and alternate suspects. His attorneys dismissed much of the evidence produced as being circumstantial and attempted to portray Craft as an articulate, hardworking and upstanding member of the community. They did not dispute that the 16 men were murder victims, yet argued that they were victims of someone, but not Randy Craft. The defense also pointed out that investigators had initially believed several of the 16 victims to have been killed by one of two other serial killers, patrick Kearney and William Bonin, and argued there was no concrete evidence that Craft had killed any of the victims.

Speaker 1: 21:49

The trial lasted a total of 13 months and would prove to be the most expensive trial in Orange County history. On April 29, 1989, each side opened their closing arguments, which lasted a total of three days the prosecution again listing all the physical and circumstantial evidence pointing to Craft's guilt. The defense arguing, as to the circumstantial case put forward by the prosecution, that all the murders were linked and accusing the prosecution of glossing over the truth. Following the closing arguments. The jury deliberated for 11 days before reaching their verdict On May 12, 1989,. Craft was found guilty of 16 counts of murder, one count of sodomy and one count of emasculation. Judge Donald A McCartan sentenced Randy Craft on November 29, 1989 to death. Thank you for listening to another episode of Human Wreckage. I think we can all agree Randy Craft got away with a lot more murders than he was convicted for. Please take care of yourselves Till next time.