Randy Steven Kraft was convicted of 16 murders, although the real number could be over 60. But who’s keeping score?
YoutubeRandy Steven Kraft
Randy Steven Kraft has a few soubriquet , including the “ Freeway Killer ” and the “ Southern California Strangler . ” But the “ Scorecard Killer ” was his most unparalleled byname . It was also the one that discover him best .
Kraft is a convicted successive orca whomurderedat least 16 young men between 1972 and 1983 . He mostly killed his victims via strangulation or suffocation , but often drugged them with pills and alcoholic beverage first , which sometimes leave to fatal overdoses . Kraft also had a peculiar wont : he sustain a sibylline “ scorecard ” of his victim , using initials and abbreviations to list each one . Like bingo for sociopath .
YoutubeRandy Steven Kraft
Victim Edward Daniel Moore was list as “ EDM . ” While “ MC HB Tattoo ” was most probable delineate a Marine from Huntington Beach with a large tattoo . Only two of his victims were n’t on the card . As it turned out , Kraft ’s pallid game contributed to his own unfastening . If he had n’t keep the card , it ’s likely some of the dupe would n’t have been tied to him .
Randy Steven Kraft was born in 1945 in Long Beach , Calif. His father was reportedly emotionally pull in one’s horns , but his mother was an participating parent , serve on the PTA at Kraft ’s elementary shoal . instructor noted Kraft for his tidings , enough so that in third-year high he was invited to attend accelerated classes . In high schoolhouse , he founded a World Affairs Club and aspired to become a U.S senator . He knew that he was gay in high school , but kept it secret from his family and acquaintance .
After graduate tenth in his high school grade , Kraft went on to consider political economy at Claremont McKenna College , an all - manlike school . His first year he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and also attended pro - Vietnam War rallies and supported buttoned-down political campaigner .
YoutubeKraft’s scorecard of victims
Kraft Joined the U.S. Air Force after graduating college , where he rose in rank to Airman First Class . The same year he was further , he revealed his queerness to his parents . While he described his female parent as disapprove but understanding , his begetter exit into a fury . Kraft also informed his superiors in the Air Force of his sexuality . In June 1969 , he was discharged on yard that were listed as “ aesculapian . ”
Francher escaped when Kraft left for work , but he did n’t distinguish the police about the sexual ravishment . rather , he told them that Kraft had beaten him and that he had charter the anovulatory drug voluntarily . The law research Kraft ’s apartment , but did so without a warrant so no charges where filed .
The murdering began in 1971 . All victim were male between 13 and 35 old age old , many of whom had been enlisted in the Marines .
Randy Steven Kraft ’s first suspected dupe was Wayne Dukette , a bartender who worked at a gay Browning automatic rifle shout the Stables . constabulary found the 30 - yr - one-time man ’s cast aside eubstance off the Ortega Highway in California on Oct. 5 , 1971 . By the meter Dukette was retrieve he was disintegrate enough that any potential signs of repelling turn could n’t be detect . His demise was rule as alcoholic drink poisoning .
Dukette ’s murder was only link up to Kraft later on , when the card was uncovered and the first entry read , “ static . ”
Starting in 1972 , bodies began turning up along highway across California . They were all military personnel and most of them had evidence of harm or torment . Some show up signs of being stick to , beaten , and bitten , while others record signs that they had been strangled . A few had been sodomized , castrated , or otherwise dismembered . At least four victims had been found with alien objects tuck into their physical structure .
Between 1973 and 1975 , there had been 14 victims all linked to the same killer . In the FBI investigating , the killer was profiled as being a someone with above average intelligence who was very punctilious and unionised . They also speculated that the killer had received military breeding . Still , they did n’t have a suspect .
In May 1975 there seemed to be a hopeful discovery when the skull of a young military personnel named Kieth Crotwell was found near the Long Beach Marina , and two witnesses who recalled seeing a drugged Crotwell in a Ford Mustang a few months prior in the area . They were able to track down the railway car and then called the police with the license home number .
The police question Kraft , but he was released after lack of evidence . The coroner ruled Crotwell ’s last as accidental drowning .
On May 14 , 1983 , Kraft waspulledover by two California Highway Patrol Officers for a lane misdemeanour . As they come on Kraft ’s auto , they regain his drawers unbutton . They searched his car where they found the torso of 25 - year - old Marine Terry Lee Gambrel .
YoutubeKraft ’s scorecard of victims
Kraft was arrested on the smear . Upon a more thorough inspection of his railroad car , a startling amount of incriminating evidence was discovered : over 70 exposure of dead or unconscious men , big amounts of drugs and alcoholic drink , bloodstained buns . And in the trunk investigators discover a cod , hand - written lean .
By Sept. 10 , 1983 , after Kraft ’s domicile had been searched and a large number of witnesses had been questioned , authorities had gathered enough evidence to bring charge against Randy Steven Kraft in 16 homicides . The list , however , had 60 marking on it , leading investigator to believe that the organic structure tally is probably more .
The trial began on Sept. 26 , 1988 and was the most expensive one in Orange County account , lasting 13 months . After three days of calculation , the juryfoundKraft shamed on all 16 counts of execution . He was sentence to the death penalty on Nov. 29 , 1989 .
Randy Steven Kraft resides on decease row in California at the San Quentin State Prison . He keep he is innocent .
Next , register about the chilling crimes ofHarvey Glatman , the “ Glamour Girl Slayer . ”Then say about the story of theAcid Bath Killer .
