72 Facts About Randy Kraft

Randy Kraft was convicted in May 1989 and is currently incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California.

Randy Kraft became known as the "Scorecard Killer" because upon his arrest, investigators discovered a coded list with sixty-one entries on a scorecard containing cryptic references to his victims; he is sometimes referred to as the "Freeway Killer" because many of his victims' bodies were discovered beside or near freeways.

Randy Kraft was born in Long Beach, California, on March 19,1945, the fourth child and only son of Opal Lee and Harold Herbert Kraft.

Randy Kraft's father had moved to California from Wyoming weeks after the United States' entry into World War II.

The Randy Kraft family lived modestly, and Randy Kraft's mother took several jobs to supplement her husband's assembly-line salary.

Nonetheless, Opal Randy Kraft always found time for her children; in contrast, Randy Kraft's father seldom attended any social gatherings with them and was later described as being "distanced" from his family.

In 1948, the Randy Kraft family moved from Long Beach to Midway City in neighboring Orange County.

The family became active in the Westminster First Presbyterian Church, with Randy Kraft's mother rising to the chairman of the deacons committee.

In Midway City, Randy Kraft attended Midway City Elementary school, where his mother was a member of the PTA.

Randy Kraft's intelligence was noted by classmates and teachers and by 1957, Kraft was judged intelligent enough to attend accelerated classes at 17th Street Junior High School.

At Westminster High, Randy Kraft was again regarded as a pleasant, bright student who regularly achieved A grades.

Randy Kraft was known to occasionally date girls, although some classmates and teachers later stated that they suspected Kraft was homosexual.

Randy Kraft later declared these actions were merely a simulation of his parents' political views and not his own, describing his second year at Claremont as being when he abandoned the "last gasp" of his conservative ideology.

In 1966, Randy Kraft was arrested and charged with lewd conduct after propositioning an undercover police officer in Huntington Beach; as he had no previous criminal record, no charges were filed.

The lack of commitment to his studies in his final year resulted in Randy Kraft's failing to graduate from Claremont in June 1967 and being forced to repeat his econometrics class, which postponed his graduation by eight months.

In February 1968, Randy Kraft graduated from Claremont Men's College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

Four months after graduating from college, Randy Kraft joined the United States Air Force.

Randy Kraft was sent to basic training in Texas before being stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California, where he supervised the painting of test planes.

Randy Kraft was then granted a general discharge after only 13 months of service.

Randy Kraft's dismissal was officially listed as being on "medical" grounds.

In March 1970, Randy Kraft encountered a 13-year-old Westminster youth named Joseph Alvin Fancher at Huntington Beach.

Hours later, Fancher escaped from the apartment after Randy Kraft left to go to work.

At the hospital, Fancher informed police that Randy Kraft had given him drugs and beaten him.

In 1971, Randy Kraft found new employment as a forklift driver in Huntington Beach.

Between 1971 and 1983, Randy Kraft is believed to have killed 67 people.

Randy Kraft's victims were typically lured into his vehicle with an offer of a lift or alcohol.

The majority of Randy 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.

The first entry in Randy Kraft's journal reads "Stable," leading investigators to believe Dukette was Randy Kraft's first murder victim.

Fifteen months after the murder of Dukette, Randy Kraft killed a 20-year-old Marine named Edward Daniel Moore.

Randy Kraft's body exhibited numerous bite marks, and a sock had been forced into his rectum.

Randy Kraft is known to have killed at least once more in 1973.

On January 3,1975, Randy Kraft abducted and murdered a 17-year-old high school student named John William Leras.

The youths were given beer and Valium as Randy Kraft drove in a random, aimless manner around Belmont Shore and Seal Beach.

Randy Kraft claimed to have walked alone to a gas station to call a tow truck while Crotwell remained with the car.

However, Seelig was adamant that Randy Kraft had never been violent towards him and had never seen him display violent tendencies.

Randy Kraft is not known to have killed again until December 10,1976.

Randy Kraft had last been seen alive by his girlfriend in the city of Carson.

Randy Kraft had been suffocated, and his left nipple had been mutilated with an automobile cigarette lighter.

The last known victim murdered by Randy Kraft in 1978 was a 21-year-old Long Beach truck driver named Michael Joseph Inderbieten, whose castrated body was found along an on-ramp to the I-605 on November 18,1978.

Randy Kraft is not known to have killed again until June 16,1979, when he abducted a 20-year-old Marine named Donnie Harold Crisel, whose body was thrown from a moving vehicle onto the 405 Freeway.

The entry "Westminster Date" on Randy Kraft's scorecard is believed to refer to Sayre.

Randy Kraft's hands had been severed from his body after death.

Randy Kraft had consumed both alcohol and Valium before he was strangled to death.

At the time of the murder, Randy Kraft had been sent on assignment to Oregon by his employers.

The entry on Randy Kraft's scorecard reading "Dog" is believed to refer to Davis.

Randy Kraft had been strangled to death with a length of stereo speaker wire.

Randy 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 Mikeal Laine.

Randy Kraft's body was not found until January 1984, discarded on a hillside close to the town of Ramona.

Randy Kraft's body was found two weeks later, strangled, sodomized, and violated with foreign objects before his murder.

At the time of the murders of both Whitcher and Silveira, Randy Kraft was again known to have been in Oregon on a business trip, which concluded the day of Silveira's death.

Two days after his arrival in Grand Rapids, Randy Kraft encountered cousins Dennis Alt and Christopher Schoenborn at a seminar in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Randy Kraft was seen talking with the pair in the hotel's reception area shortly before midnight.

Randy Kraft's body was discovered the following day, discarded alongside a rural road in Clackamas County, close to where the body of Whitcher had been found just two weeks earlier.

The six Oregon murders committed by Randy Kraft were thus linked to the murders he had committed in California.

Randy Kraft did not kill again until January 27,1983, when he abducted a 21-year-old hitchhiker named Eric Church.

Randy Kraft had been emasculated, strangled, and thrown from a moving vehicle.

Randy Kraft had been bound, sodomized, and strangled with a cord.

Sterling had Randy Kraft perform a field sobriety test, which he failed.

Randy Kraft was initially charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and was held in custody as detectives conducted a thorough search of his vehicle.

The coded list of 61 neatly printed terms and phrases found in the trunk of Randy Kraft's car is believed to refer to each of Randy Kraft's victims.

Investigators contend that two victims of whose murders Randy Kraft was convicted are not listed on Randy Kraft's scorecard.

On May 16,1983, Randy Kraft was formally charged with the murder of Gambrel.

Randy Kraft was tried in Orange County before Judge Donald A McCartin.

Randy Kraft's defense was primarily one of alibis and alternate suspects: his attorneys dismissed much of the evidence produced as being circumstantial and attempted to portray Randy Kraft as an articulate, hardworking, and upstanding member of the community.

On May 12,1989, Randy Kraft was found guilty of sixteen counts of murder, one count of sodomy, and one count of emasculation.

Randy Kraft continues to deny responsibility for any of the homicides he was either convicted of or suspected of committing.

In January 2000, journalist Dennis McDougal, the author of a 1991 book about Randy Kraft entitled Angel of Darkness, published an article which recounted interviews with a small-time criminal named Bob Jackson, who reportedly confessed to murdering two hitchhikers with Randy Kraft: one in Wyoming in 1975 and another in Colorado in 1976.

Jackson claimed to McDougal that Randy Kraft's scorecard included only his "more memorable" murders; in Jackson's opinion, Randy Kraft's total body count stood closer to 100.

Randy Kraft sued McDougal and the publisher of Angel of Darkness in 1993, seeking $62 million in damages.

The entry upon Randy Kraft's scorecard reading "Navy White" is believed by investigators to refer to a 17-year-old named James Sean Cox, an apprentice medic stationed at Mather Air Force Base who was last seen on September 29,1974, hitchhiking near Interstate 5 and whose body was found several weeks later in Rancho Santa Fe.

Investigators note the similarity of modus operandi in the murder and body disposal of both men to that of other victims Randy Kraft is known to have killed.

Randy Kraft subsequently confessed to the murders of 28 boys and young men, many of whom he had discarded along freeways in southern California.