Randy Kraft was found guilty of murdering 16 men in the 1970s and '80s — but investigators also found a "death list" in his car with more than 60 potential victims.
Orange County Sheriff’s DepartmentRandy Steven Kraft, the so-called “Scorecard Killer.”
Randy Kraft has a few nicknames, including the “Freeway Killer” and the “Southern California Strangler.” But the “Scorecard Killer” was his most unique nickname. It was also the one that described him best.
Between 1971 and 1983, Kraft murdered at least 16 young men. He usually picked up hitchhikers, whom he would ply with drugs or alcohol, before torturing them and murdering them. Kraft also had a peculiar habit: he kept a “scorecard” of his victims, using initials and characteristics for each one.
Victim Edward Daniel Moore, for example, was listed as “EDM.” Meanwhile, “MC HB Tattoo” most likely described a Marine from Huntington Beach with a large tattoo. But eerily, though Kraft was found guilty of 16 homicides, his so-called “death list” has over 60 names.
This is the chilling story of Randy Steven Kraft, the “Scorecard Killer.”
How Randy Kraft Went From The Air Force To Attacking Young Men
Born on March 19, 1945 in Long Beach, California, Randy Steven Kraft struck those who knew him in his early life as quiet, gentle, and extremely intelligent. Few could have ever guessed that he would turn out to be one of the most prolific serial killers in the United States.
“Randy would always help you with your homework,” one stunned classmate told the Los Angeles Times in 1987.
In addition to playing tennis, Kraft was active in the Boy Scouts and eagerly joined a “Students for Nixon” group during the 1960 election. He and his academically-inclined friends were known as “eggheads,” and Kraft went on to study economics at Claremont McKenna College.
After college, Kraft enlisted in the Air Force, but only spent a year in the service. He was discharged because of “medical problems,” though the Los Angeles Times reports that his discharge actually stemmed from “circumstances related to his homosexuality.”
Orange County Sheriff’s DepartmentRandy Kraft’s driver’s license.
Back in Long Beach, Kraft lived an openly gay lifestyle and made a living as a bartender at a number of gay bars in the area.
He also made his first foray into violence.
In 1970, longbeachize reports that Kraft picked up a 13-year-old runaway named Joey Fancher. Kraft offered Fancher a place to stay, brought him home, then plied him with marijuana, wine, and sedatives. Then, when Fancher was unable to resist, Kraft beat and raped him.
After Kraft left for work, Fancher escaped and notified the police — though he did not mention the sexual assault. Then, because police entered Kraft’s apartment without first filing a warrant, no charges were filed against him.
And Randy Kraft would soon escalate his attacks on young men.
Becoming The ‘Scorecard Killer’ Who Tortured And Mutilated Victims
Orange County Sheriff’s DepartmentThe “scorecard” that Randy Kraft kept, seemingly of dozens of victims.
Randy Kraft’s first suspected victim was Wayne Dukette, a bartender who worked at a gay bar called Stables. Dukette’s nude body was found dumped along California’s Ortega Highway in California on Oct. 5, 1971. Dukette had seemingly died from alcohol poisoning, but the state of his body suggested foul play. And the first entry in Kraft’s “death list” was the word “Stable.”
Shortly thereafter, bodies began turning up alongside California highways. Kraft’s victims were young, between 14 and 35 years old, and many of them were former Marines. Some showed signs of being bound, beaten, and bitten, while others showed signs that they had been strangled. A few had been sodomized, castrated, or otherwise dismembered. Several were found with foreign objects inserted into their bodies.
At one point, police even considered Kraft as a suspect in the murder of 19-year-old Keith Daven Crotwell, whose head was discovered in the Long Beach Marina in May 1975. But though Kraft admitted to meeting Crotwell, he assured investigators that he’d left him “alive and well at an all-night cafe.”
Public DomainKeith Crotwell, a 19-year-old victim of Randy Steven Kraft.
At the end of that year, one of Kraft’s most gruesome murders occurred when he killed 22-year-old Mark Howard Hall. Hall disappeared after a New Year’s Eve party in 1975 — he’s believed to be “New Year’s Eve” on Kraft’s list — and his body was found bound to a tree in Silverado Canyon in January 1976. Hall’s killer had burned his eyes and body with a lighter, and Hall was found with dirt stuffed in his mouth and his genitals removed.
All the while, those who knew Kraft had no inkling that he was leading a double life. His colleagues at Lear Siegler, an aerospace firm, seemed to universally like him. One described him as “the kind of man I would want as a father for my children,” and another remembered Kraft taking the time to help her understand computers when he noticed she was falling behind.
But on May 14, 1983, Randy Kraft’s true nature came to light.
Then, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department reports that Kraft was pulled over while driving erraticaly. When Kraft failed a sobriety test, police put him in handcuffs. They then noticed there was another person in the car, covered by a jacket. It was the body of 25-year-old Marine Terry Lee Gambrel.
Orange County Sheriff’s DepartmentThe interior of Randy Kraft’s car.
Though Kraft asked investigators, “how’s my friend?” and tried to claim that Gambrel was a hitchhiker, police noticed ligature marks on Gambrel’s wrists and bruising on his neck. They also found a belt in Kraft’s car that matched the marks on Gambrel’s throat.
Randy Steven Kraft was arrested on the spot.
After searching his car and his home, investigators also found photos of known murder victims and their belongings. What’s more, they uncovered a list of 67 names like “Marine Carson” and “2 in 1 Beach” in Kraft’s car, which investigators came to believe was a list of his victims.
The Conviction Of The ‘Scorecard Killer’
San Quentin State PrisonKraft’s 2007 mugshot at San Quentin State Prison.
The trial of Randy Steven Kraft began on Sept. 26, 1988 and lasted 13 months. On May 12, 1989, Kraft was found guilty on 16 counts of murder — and later sentenced to death.
“I can’t imagine doing these things in scientific experiments on a dead person, much less someone alive,” Santa Ana Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin stated, according to the Los Angeles Times.
However, Randy Kraft maintained his innocence. “I have not murdered anyone, and any reasonable review of the record will show that,” he stated. Instead, Kraft claimed that he was the victim of discrimination. He claimed that the “death list” found in his car was actually a list of potential guests he’d put together for a surprise party for his boyfriend. The names were “in code,” he told The Pride LA, so his boyfriend wouldn’t recognize them.
But the “Scorecard Killer” remains behind bars to this day. And investigators are using genetic genealogy to identify John Does from the 1970s and 1980s, which they believe they can connect to Randy Kraft.
Next, read about the chilling crimes of Harvey Glatman, the “Glamour Girl Slayer.” Then read about the story of the Acid Bath Killer.
