Last Podcast On The Left - Episode 487: Randy Kraft Part I - Fisticuffs and Fellatio

Episode Date: March 19, 2022

This week the boys venture back into gold star territory once again as we begin the brutal story of The Freeway Killer, Randy Kraft, one of several serial killers who terrorized the highways of Southern California starting in the 1970’s.

There's no place to escape to. This is the last time on the left That's when the cannibalism started I'll yell the Queen's pussy. I will lick Dead pussy. She's dead soon. She's dead. Is she? I know for a fact. She's dead because you know why cuz I finally slept What the Queen's doing what is the Queen doing? This series there we're about to launch into first of all kissles a big fan of this guy Because dog meat he's been sending messages about this character for like a minute

He has been obsessed. Wow. It's because his last name and it's cheese related if you think about craft cheese And then I just thought he was quite intriguing. So I'm happy. We're covering. Yeah, you're a big old fan big fan He's in this number Randy crafts number one fan Ben And this is really gonna be serious, but this this heavy hitter I'm gonna say straight up. It's like we're in the way back machine to 2011. Yeah, this is old school Oh my god, you got your you best get your goddamn true crime grime boots on Because it's about to get icky sticky up in this place. I'm up folks. Welcome to the last podcast on the left

I am Ben kissle hanging out with Marcus Parks and Henry Zabrowski. Yes. This is true I have been requesting that we do this man. You love you. I don't love you Look you love his attitude. You love what he does. It is interesting. It's a it's a wonderful It's a disgusting tale that will be wonderful to learn about for our audience Oh, this is what you were just saying from an educational standpoint. You love what he does I only talk about everything from an educational standpoint. Oh, yeah, I know Buddy I had no sleep. Jerry ate a tub of butter. It's been a day. Also. I found out someone is stealing copper pipes from my house I don't know what's going on anyway. All right, Randy Kraft part one. Let's get into it

Now even though serial killings in America peaked during the 1980s with an estimated 200 serial killers operating nationwide at any one time The 1970s always have been and most likely always will be the decade of the serial killer These were days when serial killing was fully acknowledged as a reality for the first time Even though the phenomenon had been occurring in human populations for most likely the entirety of modern consciousness Every single to ever since there's been sharp things People have been killing groups of people with yeah, it seems like most technologies are only created for violence Pornography or sex you see pornography you remember because they chose blu-ray Which is why we went over instead of HD. They were really big and what also when it comes down to yeah

I guess it's really about can you kill with it? Can you cut meat with it? Or can you fuck it? It's all about killing and coming? And so is the series absolutely Partly though this acknowledgement came to the fact that serial killing couldn't be ignored any longer because the longer we study serial killers The more I truly realize the scope of what even a hundred killers operating at one time really means Yeah, there's a reason why investigators had to codify serial killer investigation creating designations like MO victim type and motivation This was not only to catch killers But to separate multiple killers who are operating at the same time in the same place using similar methods That's why I believe we have to end the serial killer free market. It needs regulation

Everything he really comes down to let me be clear. I'm gonna call up my friend corn pop here. All right. Come on folks We send regulation here folks unbridled serial killer competition. That's what we need on the streets of this country I don't know that I feel like maybe your laissez-faire Libertarian attitude towards serial killer activity is why we're getting so many different types and yes, it's helpful for beer But I don't know if it's great for the bunch of people living by the free one. Yeah And as far as investigation goes so does the media follow with serial killer nicknames to differentiate between headlines Often those nicknames came from MO or victim type like BTK in the case of the former or the co-ed killer in the case of the latter Sometimes however as is the case with say Gary Ridgway the Green River killer

Oh my goodness, you're gonna drive We I actually just saw a special called catching the killer It's like it's the same thing I talked about last week about how it was a whole episode of Canadian cops bragging about how they almost Didn't catch Bruce MacArthur and they did another one about how they almost didn't catch Gary Ridgway great cutting back to him Just been like you're killed up. Yeah Yeah, do it again We didn't get this guy Well, that's with the Green River killer

The nickname comes from the location where the bodies were found and that's certainly the case with today's subject the freeway killer But there's but there was a lot of them. Yeah, well, you know, I mean the thing is the freeway killer I think it sounds somewhat generic. It's nowhere near as evocative or catchy as like the night stalker or the hillside strangler You know what the fuck you're getting with those guys sometimes. Yeah, don't go anywhere near a hill Absolutely not let alone the side of one But what the media and the police didn't know at the time is that the freeway killer was actually three different men Operating at roughly the same time in roughly the same region using roughly the same disposal method

So who is Bill Cosby here and who's Carlos Mencia? Well, we have no idea either way someone's stealing a lot of material and that ain't right No, then that's the bare worst crimes Do you ever think they would run into each other and just be like, what brings you out here? Isn't that interesting? This sounds like it is a sketch. It's not like a sketch. But yes, there might have been who knows Well, partly these freeway killers used California's highway system as an easy getaway device after they disposed of the bodies Just like Richard Ramirez used the freeways of Los Angeles to quickly flee from the neighborhoods where he committed his crimes Other motivations, however included making sure that the victims would be found. This is key

This is really key to this style of serial killer because these three right now I think we're gonna we're gonna loosely call this a series of Freeway killers because we're gonna eventually cover the other two in a series where we pair them together So we can talk about their similarities and differences and also to Randy Kraft because it's fascinating to see how three different people can operate Do basically doing the same type of crime, but wildly different within the crimes But then but also the umbrella is very similar But we're really gonna talk about how like but one key element is for you to find them so that you know Somebody's out here killing young men and one has to wonder if they can or cannot drive 55

Say hey Gar What piece does he fit in the puzzle? We just don't know do we I don't understand. We can't drive 55. It's not that fast But nonetheless, I hate driving 55. Yes indeed. I guess he only goes 54 you asshole you But interestingly outside of the disposal methods the freeway killers shared a few other curious characteristics All three were gay all three mutilated victims in horrific ways two out of the three likely used accomplices and all had Unimaginable body counts. Yeah Now on that last point the reason is easy to see since these serial killers were gay

Their victim pool included gay men and straight men and as we know gay men in the 70s were right at the bottom with sex workers When it came to the less dead this didn't really change until fairly recently because even in the 80s and 90s as it was with Jeffrey Dahmer Crimes involving even a whiff of homosexuality were often deemed too icky to investigate Just recently Bruce MacArthur hid under the same exact series of like a homophobic Lenses that allowed him to operate in Toronto for 13 years without anybody knowing that these men were missing because again It's this weird thing. It's like with little boys, especially with little boys back in the 70s. They're runaways. Oh, they just didn't come home You know how kids are they don't come back where they kind of said the same thing about these adult men with apartments and jobs Like, you know how these gay men are sometimes they'll get in a hang gliding accident because they go on a whim

Sometimes these gay men they try to swim across the Atlantic because they're so proud. They're so they're so full of pride You're such an expert on on the gay male. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like I'm deeply embedded within them Yeah, I'm starting to think no one ever ran away ever. No I think everyone was just kidnapped and killed and it's really sad because I love the idea of a good runaway Hmm, you know playful think about that little mouse. I just think about that music video Actually, I think that's very offensive given the recent Amtrak accidents That song is actually not about runaway children's actually about lead singer Dave Perner's deep dark mid-western depression Yeah, they're a they're Twin Cities band we talk about them on the replacement series on No Docs in Space that is coming out widely soon

All right, that's just that's underrated bands soul asylum underrated bands. Wow. That's a hot Do you like collective soul too? Oh a soul asylum listen to their first punk records They were a band like 10 years before runaway train Back to the comforts of serial killers place Well to my point murders involving gay men no matter how brutal they were often chalked up to a lover spat gone wrong Or at least that's the vibe I get from many of these investigations At least until the body counts reach into the dozens before that someone got jealous and killed someone else Yeah, and that's like kind of what I was told

Coming up and like show business and comedies the idea is to be undeniable, right? Like you have to build up a base. It's so undeniable that they have to pay attention which kind of does feel like that with this idea that like Once it gets to about 24 victims the cops are like I'm sort of see a bit of a pattern a bit of a pattern and you do wonder if the serial killer I'm sure we'll get into more with Randy Kraft I wonder if they were like when you all gonna catch me because this has been going on for a long time Frankly, I'm tired. He was very happy to continue on speaking of the brutality though Even though the straight killer certainly had their moments the gay serial killers active in the 70s 80s and 90s were much more prone to

overkill murders Harold Schechter wrote in his serial killer encyclopedia that this rage comes from the prevailing homophobia of American society Which creates a self-hating violent homophobia in the killers that externalizes itself in brutal torture and mutilation in effect The more brutally they kill the victim the more effectively they killed their own sexuality We know also you can it's a full symbolism of just like that moment that you had with somebody where it's like you got you Have a maybe a slightly consensual moment and then all of a sudden you have moved it especially in Randy Kraft's case Because he's one of those He's very dangerous. This is Randy Kraft is one of those sounds like true heavy hitters

It's super predator type guy that was a shapeshifter that could be who you wanted him to be he looked like will Forte Like you know kind of has that kind of character actor face to where like you flip the mustache upside down all of a sudden He's a happy guy. You know, I mean like a couple things messes his hair around. He's a different guy He's one of these things. He's a shapeshifter. So you're gonna give him the oh take your glasses off put your hair down All of a sudden that's not an ugly librarian. That's a hot woman So yes, you have these moments and then as soon as you fucking do it because the level of detail of mutilation that Randy Kraft will put these bodies through we really show it's like this is the rage here. Okay, it's at an 11 I don't like that whatsoever

But speaking to the point of investigation Homosexual serial killers were also among the most prolific While gay men make up a small sliver of the serial killer population just 5% The kings of body counts outside of Gary Ridgway and Samuel Little are John Wayne Gacy Dean Corral and the killer we're covering today Randy Kraft in In addition to being known as the freeway killer Randy Kraft was also named the scorecard killer Because he kept a running tally of its victims so he could remember each one using a thinly veiled mnemonic device for each

Murder and also he was a prolific trophy collector He would collect many things from these bodies who really see heat there. This is also one of these guys that this much like BTK much like John Wayne Gacy in a way that people with especially high body counts or kind of becomes a second job Right like it sounds like it's Exhausted it's a whole other life He leads on top of what we would find out at the time especially at the height of his murders was like you know He was just working at IT and when did he get into cheese? When did he get into the big cheese game?

Do I know I don't know I feel like this is one story that might have been made better by inherited wealth Absolutely, well some designations on the scorecard were simple They would just use the initials of the victim or the location of the kill others though were more descriptive He'd use names like skates Harry Carey teen trucker deodorant one of them was marine drunk overnight shorts Oh, wait a second. He used he maligned the great name Harry Carey one of the greatest commentators No, no not that not that guy Okay Well the scorecard found on Randy's person at the time of his arrest is to be believed and there's every reason to believe it

Then craft is one of the most prolific known serial killers in American history with a body count of 67 oh my god This is one of those right where we talk about how serial killers of the least trustable human beings in the face of the planet I think that's obvious Yeah, you're not supposed to believe any one of these people right but the thing about Randy Kraft is number one He maintained his innocence of the day. He fucking he's still alive. He's still he's sitting and he's in San Quentin right now So he doesn't say that he's guilty. No, and the other thing is Sometimes what you can tell about somebody like LRH, right?

It's all about the lies you tell yourself and would like what do you tell yourself in your most private moments? We're like LRH and L Ron Hubbard was probably like Yep, still can't see it looking down Oh, he doesn't need to see it because he just has to wait to get it hard and then it comes over the horizon But Randy Kraft He kept this this is a very private document No one was supposed to know this document and also it's interesting that he had to lie to himself by putting it in code Even though he was the only one who was going to see it because that's how closely he guarded the secret and his own secret life

Randy Kraft is a again a perfect predator an ultimate character changing my entity a malevolent entity I have a Marmaduke cartoon in my wallet, but I guess he has a scorecard I just don't want to flip over the Marmaduke comic Well, even more interesting is that like gay serial killers such as Dean Coral possibly John Wayne Gacy and one of the other two freeway killers Randy Kraft most likely had an accomplice during some of his crimes Besides just the different semen types found some crime scenes. Yeah, raspberry Kraft is believed to have had an accomplice because many of his victims bodies were thrown out of a moving vehicle and It is presumably quite difficult to push a body out of the passenger seat while driving down the freeway

Right, but one thing we do know is that Randy Kraft did his car did turn into a fucking moving Serial killer studio, so we don't know if he had like tools like literally like a grabby hand or some shit Yeah, he had a big like Pee Wee Herman like Rube Goldberg machine Yeah, he drops the marble at the very top of what he's just like just sit there for a second and watch it Roll back the basketball. Yeah, I'm throwing me out of this car or something. It works. Oh, man I just gotta get my precious machine to work The disposal of course came after Kraft had castrated his victims Chewed their nipples off

Violated them with sticks or branches cut them up and sometimes burned their eyes out with his car cigarette lighter Oh, all while they were still alive and most likely within the confines of his Ford Mustang Or his tow yard of Celica tiny cars both and I tell you what I couldn't afford the package gave it a center drain I wish I had a center drain. Honestly, you're ruining my carpet in here It's just a different time when everyone just catered to smokers and they're just like we better make sure we have and just the push in there I burned my finger on it once when I was a child. Oh, yeah, of course I didn't burn anyone's eyes out with it. No, no, I mean, I haven't seen the back of that Marmaduke comic It's actually it's something from it's from Desperate Housewives. It's a little commercial for them

That's on the back of the Marmaduke. It's from the paper Someone don't protest too much and honestly, it is weird because when kissle came in I actually didn't know why he had dutched a shirt in the trash can and I looked at everyone said Randy kraft number one on it I was like St. Patrick's day. I just thought he would be a good topic I'm on no sleep. My dog ate a tub of butter As far as the other two freeway killers go William Bonin and Patrick Kearney We'll be covering them in a future series because each has a fascinating story all their own Although we will be touching on them here and there

Particularly in the case of magician Vernon butts. Everybody wants to touch on butts I guess Makes sense for any craft story though We use the book angel of darkness by Dennis McDougal which wrongly makes a connection between homosexuality and criminality Instead of seeing that gay communities are just like any other community and that crime breeds when you're looked at as less than human You have to just hear cuz I didn't was as I you read this you read this book you read angel of darkness and he's So horny Yeah, so horny

Are we talking like mr. Hat from South Park? Seriously is in this realm There's a little selection because I'm gonna read the two selections up top here as we go here. You can kind of see True crime. I love it because sometimes you really get into it. These guys are fucking such assholes Long Beach has been a quiet haven for gay men and women as far back as World War two sailors interested in sex Stock the seedy dives along Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue. I'm getting hard looking for someone anyone male or Female to spend the night with more often than not they found them after the war according to local lore many of these

Gay sailors blended into this five hundred thousand population Bedroom community and they created their own subculture deep within the gay heart of Los Angeles Wow, you must have been more aroused that when Stephen King wrote that child sex in Nevertheless the facts in this book are solid. Yes, so angel of darkness with attack title is our source today I don't I also don't really know why semen dripping from the vessel Another thing about true crime content the seafoam crashed on the waves again and again like the semen of so many sailors two of them like pink pythons Riving in subterranean pleasure. God. I'm just so happy. I'm totally straight

Straight as hell just thinking about wet butts up and down in a hotel room But he also each one of these true crime stories the thing about freeway killers too as we started because we we did research William Bowman and Patrick Kearney as we were going to each one has to describe what a freeway is Oh my I know Freeways define Southern California and the premium that its residents place on mobility for the price of an automobile and a driver's license Anybody can move from one neighborhood to the next in a manner of minutes. It's called a road Those who can't afford a car or license can always stick out a thumb and hitchhike downtown to the mall or to the beach as long as they Don't care who they're riding with strange things happen on Southern California freeways things that happen elsewhere while people are usually

Stationary people make love while they're on the freeway. What is happening? Brush their teeth do and redo their mascara dress and undress men shave women have babies What can tations and aerobics fisticuffs and fallatio midwifery and mayhem you confused a freeway with a hospital? I love true crime. I love true crime The Randy Kraft was born in March 1945 in Lung Beach, California Surprisingly Randy did not as far as we know come from the sort of abusive household One might expect from a killer as brutal as Kraft instead his childhood seemed fairly normal But like Richard Ramirez and dozens of others Kraft did suffer a severe head injury while his brain was still developing

At the age of two Randy fell down a set of concrete stairs bonked his head and fell unconscious Now since he was so young we can't say for certain if there was a personality change because toddlers can be kind of psychopathic anyway But from that moment on Randy was unplugged from humanity I mean honestly, we need to take guns away from our seven-year-olds and our two-year-olds It's actually incredibly dangerous Well, it's true that you've made a solid point. Yep. Yeah, Randy did however managed to hide it quite well Once he and his family moved to Midway City in Orange County Kraft became an average student who played tennis and saxophone He even had a small circle of friends although his friend group

They're just fucking weird man. They're assholes Yeah, because you know what it is to me. This is an example of Randy Kraft showing his His his way of becoming a character for other people and that he kind of and also his direct Antisocial personality like this idea that he would create a whole persona that everybody would hate like somebody who promoted and defended Joe McCarthy That's a thing in junior high Randy and his friend Billy Manson Their dream was to grow up to be Republican senators. Oh, I mean Randy Kraft. It was not far off That's a nightmare way to start my goodness. Yeah to them Richard Nixon was a liberal their real heroes were William F. Buckley and Joseph McCarthy Yeah, the conservative boogeymen of lore Roy Cohn as well, perhaps. Oh, yeah

Kraft and Manson defended McCarthy's Communist witch hunts read the national review like a couple of weirdos and attended meetings of the Christian Anti-communist crusade. It just seems like you know, it seems like he's a rebellious person So it's interesting that he would choose conformity at such a young age What's because your whole generation trying to again pretend like he's normal? Yeah, well, no, I think it's the opposite I think all the kids are starting to find a little bit of the freedom of the time period opening up And then it's a direct thing against the cool group of kids because in his school the cool groups were the ones like Listening to the first edges of rock and roll and doing all of these things where he immediately positioned himself

Anti them. Hmm. Yeah, he's one of those true contrarians that last Organization by the way the Christian anti-communist crusade they produced a film called the ultimate weapon That film was about communist brainwashing. And of course as we know that shit relates directly to MK ultra. You're not out Henry. You're not So is the acronym for that cack Yeah, it's yeah Oh, yeah, the craft and Manson were your classic conservative trolls who wore neatly ironed white shirts and ties Had close cropped haircuts and urged a teacher to found a world affairs club Just so they could pass resolutions condemning the United Nations and pledging support to the John Birch Society

I love it moose I like it in my hair and I don't like a man's chest Absolutely completely tough Ragged and straight Randy. Yeah They also once very oddly participated in an Arbor Day celebration by taking a tree Planning it at night in the middle of the athletic field at their school while dressed and painted black Then they peed on it and ran away. You know what that is hilarious Well, it was a test because they're because there's a tree on the football field thing

Their principal was in was one of these what they said at the time an ecological nut and he said an arbor day Every one of the students had to go plant a tree There was a thing they had to do and so it would be a little bit of a rebald prank And they put it in the middle of the football field, you know, it holds up Innocent enough to be seen as funny. Yeah, but also, you know, there's a tree in the middle of the football field Yeah, and think about that It only led to 67 men with their penises cut off and shoved up their own rectums And they were all tortured to death as they screamed and they screamed and I am just saying this one time if it did happen

To be an ant below football helmet on it. He's having too much fun You know what butter shits look like coming out of a Chihuahua. I'm not out of a Chihuahua. Oh Hey, what's up everyone, how you doing Ben kissle here with Henry Zabrowski Yeah, it's me Ben. Yeah, bro. Henry Zabrowski is smoking some of that sweet last podcast Go out there and purchase yourself some I hope you enjoy it We have sativa we have indica and we have a hybrid and I have to tell you for my personal experience They are wonderful super tasty live resin. You really get the delicious weedy taste, which is what I like and three different experiences You go to your local vape store and get it. Absolutely. Thank y'all so much for supporting the show

We absolutely love you can't wait to see on the road and get that vape Put it in your brain and have a good time And if you want to set your favorite weed store, give them a call and ask for them by name last podcast on the left It's weed. Hail yourselves everyone. Hail Satan. No, our Randy naturally supported the Vietnam War at first He switched to support in college after a friend died in action from there His beliefs began to shift and he eventually became just as left-wing as he'd been right-wing This may have had something to do with the fact that Randy was also starting to come to grips with his sexuality Which is somewhat of a different tack from other gay serial killers like John Wayne Gacy

He really is interesting because it is a moment of like we'll get into it But it is a weird converse moment of bravery, but I also believe it's a part of his antisocial personality while Gacy always maintained that he was Bisexual Randy was out and proud although it took a while for him to reach that point During college. He was so gay that his stomach hurt But he found outlets in the lifeguard shacks and restrooms along Seal Beach just south of Los Angeles Is that what's happening to Kissel? Wait what cuz they said he had a belly ache this morning

I do have a belly ache because they didn't sleep cuz my dog ate a tub of butter Was it because you were just thinking about how you wish you could be with the man cuz you know you can be You can do that Absolutely, you can be you can make the family three for three dude. We're about we're behind you. Come on, man Randy craft stand right here You know he is still alive. Maybe I could just start a pen pal relationship with him Meanwhile Randy settled into college life Residents of his college dorm Green Hall were known as the green weenies

And by Randy senior year he'd become dorm president the so-called head green weenie Oh, people liked him, but they did say he happened to focus on beer a little bit more than his studies good for him It's college But as one former student put it Randy with his tuft of chin hair always seemed to have an evil glint in his eye He had a strange sense of humor making snide comments that were funny, but not ha ha funny Instead they were odd and unsettling. You ever think what it would be like if I cut your eyelids off Oh, what was that? I'm just saying when we kind of interesting if you were like a living skull Oh, man, this is do any gas pumps work in this country

Additionally one of his roommates a guy named Mac said that one night during one of those soul searching sessions We have with friends in college Randy turned to him and cryptically said quote You know There's a part of me. You will never know What part is that my ass? No, no, he was you talking about keep thinking about killing I see yeah And by the end of college Randy had switched from being a Joseph McCarthy Apologist to a Robert Kennedy campaigner

But he still joined the Air Force in June of 1968 and was given the job of painting protective coating on test planes Well, it's interesting because you know like this is another serial killer with political aspirations, which I find Fascinating him in Bundy. Yep. Now while there were plenty of kids dodging sniper bullets in the jungles of Vietnam Who would love to have scored such a boring job during the war craft felt like the job was beneath his station? Perhaps his unhappiness with his assignment was part of the reason why Randy came out to his superiors in the Air Force And was given a general discharge After that he moved in with his parents and came out to them as well But because you could see right in a way because this was not a lot of people did this, right? This is 1968

Yeah, yeah, not a lot of people did this So there is a way in my mind that he did this literally to shake shit up as well Like he did it to get a rise out of people. I think maybe in a way Well, normally I wouldn't say this but for what he go went on to do I would say like I feel like he everything in his head is a constructed game a little bit and then when he came out to them like yes I think he got off that detail because he fucking hated it because he basically became a painter He was like a house painter and he didn't want to do that and then he also like understood like oh

I'm getting feed I'm getting that psychopath feed right like I'm getting a thing that I need We're like I get a bunch of people on a big kerfuffle because the thing about is that it really fucks with your like entire life Getting a general discharge like it's it fucks your whole career up like it's really hard to get a job because it's just above dishonorable Discharge and of course if you have any discharge at all go to the doctor It's a good PSA no problem When he came out to his parents his father reportedly flew into a rage But his mother was accepting if disappointed and Randy continued living at home while immersing himself fully in the local gay scene

craft got a job as a bartender at a gay bar called the Bowie Shed Yeah, he began spending his time at other gay bars like Broom Hilda's cool and a place With perhaps the most non-gay name for a gay bar that is still obviously a gay bar Stables, I mean, huh, you know, I never thought about it. There was a bar in Brooklyn called Brooklyn stable Yeah, but there was horse themed. Yeah, it was horse themed. I do feel like it's still horse themed, but it's like man horse theme Now it's unknown what exactly it was that pushed Randy into the world of serial killing. There's always a trigger Possibly it could have been his coming out because oftentimes Serial killers begin killing because they aren't able to handle setbacks or trauma like the rest of us do

I don't necessarily think that he came out specifically to make people upset I think coming out for him was actually a very traumatic experience I think he tried to force it sure he knew what was gonna happen and he knew exactly how everyone was gonna react But when they didn't act how he wanted them to react, he now has an excuse. Yeah as an anger spot. Sure Yeah, easy to do you create a trigger point No, it's not you do something now that's again now I've created what we've talked about for years covering serial killers the little validations That bring you to the point where you have convinced yourself that killing is now compulsory like now on well now

All of these factors have driven me to kill. Yeah, and also there's so much shame involved I remember when my older brother came out He was like so nervous and stuff and I was on the steps and I heard it all and then you know, it's not easy to do Oh, yeah, buddy. This isn't a normal coming out story This is the story of like, you know, John Waters or like, you know, Bobby Bonilla. I don't know. I shouldn't even I don't know I don't know. I mean, like this is a this is the story of Randy Kraft It colors the coming up story a little different. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a different story You see while Randy seemed to be fairly mild mannered most of the time

Many of the people who had regular social contact with him so that he could have a Terrifying temper when he didn't get his way and from what other serial killers have said when those negative emotions are combined with a Headful of bad wiring. They start having fantasies about releasing those emotions in absolutely horrific ways So just like other serial killers set up situations in which they feel justified to kill I think Randy Kraft may have done just that with coming out Yeah Well, I think there's something where he thought there was so much shame in being gay that he's like It's just a lateral move to start killing. No, he loved being gay. That was like he really cherished that part of his personality

I think it's just more the idea of setting up a circumstance Which is being like the whole world's against me It's me versus everybody else and now I that means and in war all bets are off There are no rules I can do whatever I want kind of pans around me a little bit and because the thing about Randy Kraft Too is that because he is one of those types of killers where he's really tight-lipped We don't know a lot about his inner life and the fact that he said that openly to somebody like, you know There's some parts of me You'll never know shows that I feel like this fantasizing about killing people has been around since his childhood

And that it has been a thing that he has thought about for a long time because the one thing about you know Not to be anything not to get too political but stuff like you know with the John Birch society all these type of people the um They're desperate for the absolute control of everybody else right like they want a fascist control over your body and your mind Like and there's something about that that lends towards the serial killer mindset. Yeah, he wants could you just wants control over everybody? Mm-hmm So pretty soon after Randy came out He began inching his way towards serial killing with the rape of a 13-year-old boy named Joey Francher soon after he moved into his own place

Francher had run away from home in March of 1970 and was soon approached by the 25-year-old Randy Kraft on the boardwalk at Huntington Beach Randy lured Francher back to his apartment by telling the teenager that there was a woman waiting Who was willing to have sex with just about anybody? This is horrible they've been on a boardwalk and then she's been like 13 years old. I know a woman who'll fuck you right? So Francher young and naive took a chance and followed Randy back After smoking a little weed and giving Francher some pills Randy pulled out his collection of black and white gay pornography Which featured several pictures of Randy participating in the actions himself Well, the way he talked about it too is that it really was like it's this it's a slide show that you don't want to see

Because you didn't know you were about to see it like if you wanted to see it sure But literally he's like take a look at this and it was like, you know a picture of gay pornography And he's like I'll take a look at this one and it was like another one You can kind of see it was like is that that guy right there And then all of a sudden there's like another picture of like a pile of writhing bodies And then that guy like smiling and waving at the camera just been like it's like see who that guest star is And now you're like oh now I'm starting to see that all of this is getting a bit complicated It's like the final photo in the shining. Yeah, mm-hmm

But as Francher began to pass out Randy repeatedly raped him and threatened to kill him if he moved He then gave him even more pills suddenly began slapping him for seemingly no reason Then inexplicably left Francher in his apartment to go to work It's I did distancing effect I think it's like cuz he literally bailed like he he sexually assaulted him and then said like All right time to go to work and then he left like didn't tie him up Didn't do anything to like cover up the crime didn't do it because I feel like it's almost this thing of like He just kind of finally let himself do whatever it is that he wanted to do and he was almost in shock about it himself

Like oh wow, I did all this shit, and then he bugged now eventually Francher recovered got dressed and stumbled to a neighborhood bar Where an ambulance was called when his parents showed up They were most upset that he wasn't wearing his new shoes Which might give you a hint as to why he ran away in the first place. Yeah, Jesus. It sounds like his parents not to I mean They sound like butters parents again from south. Oh my god butters would have been murdered by Randy Kraft like 25 Seriously, he has become my favorite character. I love oh, he's easily my favorite character Butters is by fighters is by far the best character on the show the theme of the day is butter Now the cops went and checked out Randy's place and found that he was in possession of

Two peanut butter jars full of pills One was filled with Benny's and the other was filled with second all he had uppers and downers You know how these gay men are they love their sleepy sandwiches Love to have a nice nap witch and they go right to sleep, so we're not gonna investigate it all then absolutely not All right another horrible job done great work. Yeah, I mean he's Right because this was one of those gay things and presumably because Francher's parents just wanted to pretend like nothing ever happened No action whatsoever was taken. Yes cops are just making up gay stereotypes as they go Like yeah, we all know gays and they keep the the pills are in the peanut butter jar. We all

And it was not just in the jar it was in the peanut butter like he put Ben's dream in peanut butter So it's this idea that like this is just what these guys do Oh, it's a part of the homophobia thing which we covered a little bit when we talked about Jeffrey Dahmer We kind of comes up again and again and again and again Which is this idea that they live this like gay men the in women live this mysterious life of crime That's all they do. That's their whole life. You know, which meanwhile like most of the time gay people are super boring And don't do anything. You know, I mean like People just chubbing chubbing around fucking wearing pants and Marcus did a great job in the book the last book on the left

I remember in the Dahmer the Dahmer chapter hit that very well. You did a great job Thank you very much gatesy chapter as well because the principles apply to both of them But that's the thing is that what it comes from is that it comes from this idea of Dehumanizing the gay population and frankly looking at them as animals means like oh, of course those animals can't control themselves They can't control themselves. Just let like let them do whatever they want Who cares the more of them they kill the less of them they're on the street So just let them go and so after Randy saw how easy it was to get away with violent crime Just so long as you made the police feel uncomfortable

Randy moved on from assault and rape to straight-up murder in September of 1971 a bartender at Randy's regular bar stables named Wayne Duquette went missing from his apartment in Long Beach and not long after his car was found parked near a beach area Where he'd last been seen It wasn't until weeks later that his body was found at the bottom of a ravine off the Ortega Highway So bloated and putrified that they were not able to determine an exact cause of death. Hey, right? Hey, hey, Joey Do you think maybe a big bird dropped him from the sky? You know, I think maybe we should start investigating these as serial killings Just the beginnings of one maybe listen. Okay, you're new here. Yeah. Yeah big birds

And I'm not talking about the big he's the only innocent big bird. Okay, big birds quite often murder gay man Absolutely not. I don't want to be gay. All right Windu Kett's blood alcohol level was found to be point three six Just below the point where a person succumbs to acute alcohol poisoning. He was a third booze And here's where things get somewhat mysterious with the Randy Kraft murders Quite a few of his victims were found with insanely high BAC levels, but since Randy Kraft never came clean about his methods We don't know how he convinced these men to drink that much or if he forced them into doing so

This comes up often in his crimes. Did he inject them with it like he's a member of Motley crew I mean, what happened here? No idea What we can extrapolate from this is that Randy Kraft did not want his victims to fight back Considering the amount of mutilation that Randy would eventually subject his victims to it's likely that he wanted them simply in a state of Existence Dehumanizing them to the point where there were nothing more than play things. I read he wanted them alive though Not like Dommer like did he want? He absolutely wanted them alive

He wanted them alive while he was torturing them and cutting them up and he wanted them to scream and wiggle But he did not want any sort of pushback at all. You didn't want to work But knowing what we know about serial killers though It's possible that this murder was some sort of accident or simply an impulsive act Maybe Wayne was hanging out with Randy and had too much to drink and seeing Wayne in such a vulnerable position Might have caused Randy to finally go through with his murderous fantasies John Wayne Gacy did it Jeffrey Dommer did it Like you see this quite often where the first murderer will they say accident they say accident Oh, there's no way I could ever could have controlled myself from cutting that man to pieces

Where it's like it seems like it's a big process I guess there's a lot of steps in which you could where it's like you could stop yourself We're like he just kind of created it's this opportunity came and maybe it's also what we also learned too Randy Krapf's a process killer as we can now see right like because he liked the going through this entire Rigor Moral like he had his yeah his time. He liked to spend with him But I also you're gonna want to go with a rigmarole on that, huh? Maybe you could go with a hullabaloo all of the hullabaloo But you know, maybe it also comes down to the thing is is that when you keep them alive they talk

Oh, what's the so this escalation happened over three years between the 13 year old and then the murder it's actually about a year Okay, yeah, it's a little it's a little more than a year, but not too long But and that's the thing is that we're pretty sure that Wayne Duquette is the first actual victim because Wayne Duquette His designation was the first one on the scorecard Randy used the word stable because that was the name of the bar Or Wayne Duquette worked and that's how they were able to figure out like so many different victims with Randy Kraft Is because the mnemonic devices that he used were very thinly veiled like even people that were Investigating it could figure out like oh Wayne Duquette worked at stable. We found Wayne Duquette's body. He probably killed Wayne Duquette He's missing two key words anything but

Because that would really describe this man at this point anything but stable now as we said Randy himself was actually a bartender in the scene He worked nights at the Bowie shed But eventually he cleaned up his act by studying computers at Long Beach State University After that he got a job at Aztec aircraft where he ran computer payroll beginning a long and boring career and data processing If you're working at the office right now, right? If you're at the office, so when you shut off the podcast So when you could go down to processing right go to see is this HR? I'm just saying you know Who's killing people right? This is the time jacuz. You want to go in there? You want to fucking point him out?

Just see watch him squirm see what he does office jobs are brutal. You know what do you know who it is sure? Mm-hmm at Long Beach University. However, Randy met his first long-term boyfriend Jeff Graves They soon moved in together and participated in the freewheeling 70s gay swinger scene picking up men at an historic Long Beach gay bar called Club ripples It doesn't really sound fun, but you know like it kind of their lifestyle to sound fun. It sounds very busy Sounds very tiring. I can't like what I'm getting older though. I'm gonna be like I need my ripple Can I have a little taste of my ripple, please? Just give him some tea you can't taste anymore. He lost his tongue 10 years ago But club ripples is another place too where you know like the author of Angel of Darkness was you know again this seedy underbelly

You've come and fuck and you're like meanwhile like the head of I was reading another thing about ripples where the guy's like Yeah, yeah, it was a gay bar But you know people went there and now you know a lot of times They just drank and sat there and they'll meet somebody sure they'll hook up or a lot of times They'll meet somebody to like date or whatever. It's a it's a bar. It's a bar Yeah, it's not a dangerous dark fuck labyrinth. It's a place. It's got stools. Sure pinball machine. Yeah, you know Now the Long Beach Police Department didn't just refuse to investigate murders in the gay population rather They denied the population even existed and as late as 1981 their official stance was that there were no gay people in Long Beach

at all there this of course was contradicted by such bars and clubs in the area as impact forced heat and The mine shaft if there is a mine shaft It's kind of like how what you know about like what they way they pull politics something like that where it's like if it's 20% It probably means it's bigger You know I'm like if it has a certain amount where it's like if you have a bar called the mine shaft Your town there was at least a 20% gay population Well, what if there's actually if there's a mine around

You don't want to think about the mine when you're going over the bar you want to call it like Johnny's Pizza Cates, you know what I mean? Like you wanted something to something else. Yeah, not where you just came from right? How annoying it would be the mime shaft Honestly, I love mimes. I love mimes. I love clowns all of it. What fascinating It's actually more offensive than Kissel's fucking stance about how much he loves Randy Kraft. I don't love Randy Kraft I'm standing by it. I'll stand by my love of clowns the day I fucking die. I have a clown room in our home I do like clowns. The mime you know, it's difficult what they do. So I do respect the mime It's not fucking difficult. It is difficult. No, it's not yet. The balloon isn't actually heavy

Yeah, but then you just do it with your arms. It'd be different. I would love to see you try to be a mine for a day Uh, yeah, yeah, this is a podcast buddy. No podcast You just I didn't because you couldn't hear me No, I succeeded. Okay Actual heavy balloon. There was some mimery in there Now Randy's first long-term love affair wasn't a calm one Partly because he and Jeff were supplementing their open relationship with massive amounts of booze weed

Benny's and Amel nitrate. Cool. Therefore Randy and Jeff fought a lot And when they'd fight Randy would get in his car and cover miles upon miles of highway all around Southern, California Yeah, man, and it is ideas. I guess we were joking about this Natalie and I were talking about like the cannibal cop You know, I mean because it all came from the fact that it's all about like if your boyfriend or your girlfriend or husband Or wife like spends too much time like up on the computer late at night, right while you go to bed They're the cannibal cop like now We've been calling the cannibal cop if she goes to bed before me or if I go to bed before her and I come down to Sierra on the laptop and you're like being fucking cannibal cop right now

There's the thing about like when you order when you get to a fight and you guy goes like I'm going out and then he's gone for like Two days It's not good. No, it's not. It's like not good. It's like what are you doing out there? Especially because your bed's here your stuff's here. Yeah, oil price gas prices Oh, these days of the pumps were Ukraine. Mm-hmm I'm not coincidentally Randy's nighttime drives He's happened about the same time that corpses began popping up off certain freeways One of those was a 20 year old named Edward Daniel Moore

Unimaginatively titled EDM on Randy's scorecard electronic dance music On Christmas Eve 1972 Randy Kraft picked up more somewhere took him elsewhere and beat him in the face with a metal pipe Oh Ligature marks around Moore's ankles and wrists imply that he'd been tied up and as a very odd perhaps practical MO Kraft shoved a sock up his rectum Apparently this was a body transport trick used in the military to keep the body from purging itself of fluids during transport Which implies that Randy in some cases might have taken his victims to actual locations to torture them in

Increasingly violent ways. He worked within his car up to a point And then we are talking about when you really set up this pattern We'll go as we describe more that it really does seem like he is a one thing about Randy Kraft as well as that He is highly organized. He's one of those killers for he's a planner. He plans really Explicitly and so the idea that like maybe that's what it is is that when you're moving these back and forth You don't want to I mean this is disgusting But you don't want to spill and you don't let him like you want and you got to put him out someplace where no one will See you. All right

Mm-hmm, and that's the things I don't think that he did all of his crimes within his car Because there's a lot of blood involved in these crimes and if he would have done it inside his car His car would have been a traveling fucking slaughterhouse Yeah, it just it would everything would have been soaked to the fucking bone with blood at all times And it's not like no one ever gotten this fucking Mustang. They did of course He had a long-term boyfriend who had no idea what was going on So he had to have had some location somewhere where he was taking Carl's junior Carl's junior you actually really be surprised what you can do there and of course the Chevy slaughterhouse. It was discontinued

The car slaughterhouse Come on, I mean, I know it's the 80s, but I guess the 70s at the 70s. It's the 70s even weirder Well, it goes into the 80s though. Well as far as disposal went more his body had been dumped from a moving car And was spotted by a motorist at 1 45 a.m. On the westbound off ramp of the 405 and 605 Freeways about a day after he was last seen alive Now as I said earlier Randy Kraft was not the only person killing dudes and dumping them off freeways in Southern, California He's simply the most well-known as such by the end of 1972 11 bodies have been found only two of which had belonged to Randy Kraft. What is going on?

This is the only real this is the only place where I really say like the cops in this crux had a very difficult time Because what about just patrolling it's your amount of bodies that popped up in a very short amount of time What it was like a blitzkrieg like it happened really fucking fast the these crimes Escalated was there a lot of press was this like did he obviously Randy Kraft hasn't admitted to any of this stuff? Which is so surprising but like was the media covering this stuff? Was there like a did he follow his crimes at all? Like some of them were covered later on But at this point and and there's also like there's also to remember at this point like in the 1970s like the murder rate We really today like when people talk about how America is going to the dogs now

Crime is on the rise and everything's going to shit We cannot imagine the murder rate of the 70s in America. We can't fucking imagine it But even though the bodies were piling up cops still wanted to press the jealous homosexual lover angle whenever they could and in the case of Edward Moore they tried pinning the murder on his on again off again boyfriend Charles Vine Nicknamed the major wait until you meet the minor. Oh, my son. Oh Oh, he's lovely. Unless he's doing wonderful in school. Very nice. Remember that's your major dad. Yeah Yeah, is it? Yeah gonna like that in it. Yeah, this is all like that Controversial episode of major very controversial. Yes

In fact the Orange County DA believed that a good chunk of the 11 victims had been killed in one night stands that had gotten out of hand Although I have no idea where this assumption came from I don't know. It's just this idea that every single time a gay man has sex They have to do blood play and choke and and beat the shit out of each other and that's only one out of five times Either way, you don't end up on the side of the frickin highway Corpse no most of the time you end up at the jack in the box. Sure having a good time Nevertheless more bodies kept showing up by February a John Doe was found naked lying face-up in a ditch on the Terminal Island Freeway with his arms outstretched and a brown sock shoved up his rectum on Easter Sunday of that same year

Another John Doe was found after the body had been thrown from a moving vehicle. This one was missing its genitals Entirely because they've been cut off minutes before the victim died. Oh my god He was identified in 1995 as Kevin Bailey. Remember this just same thing. Wow. Yeah, same thing We just now we're seeing with Dean Corral. They only are just starting to identify some of these bodies, too Yeah, they really so good. It's it's really that's how many he killed just that they have to keep like digging it up and figuring out Like more and more of the shit and this is this murder is really where you start to see his specific MO Come through don't really want to ask. I guess I'm just a little curious What did he do with the cock and balls? No, no, do we have any idea?

Did he keep them like some of them? We know some of them. We know what he did with it. Is he cannibal? No, no, I don't know. Don't know. Oh gosh It's also possible at this time that Randy was experimenting with full dismemberment Although the victim found soon after Kevin Bailey might have been a victim of one of the other two freeway killers Operating at the same time and place as craft All you need is be able to afford a car or a driver's license and you can go anywhere in a manner of minutes Yeah, I'm not sure if they were too worried about the license, but this victim named John Doe 52. Oh my god Yeah, John Doe 52 52

52 I think it was probably the president's we've had Yes, if I'm I mean, I I'm just guessing I'm speculating completely I would imagine he's John Doe 52 because he was probably the 52nd John Doe found in That area or in that city that year. I would imagine God this guy was dismembered decapitated and spread across multiple locations His head was found in a brown paper bag behind a supermarket His arm torso and right leg were found in trash bags roadside in San Pedro And the left leg was found behind the buoys shed bar where craft used to work

Oh, it's kind of like he's like, all right, I guess this can go here. Yeah, it's a little close to home, but Additionally, there were ligature marks around his ankles his genitals had been removed his eyelids had been cut off His hands were actually never found. Oh my god, but using context clues It's likely that this victim was the one named Hoth off head on Randy's scorecard It's always when they do it when it's kind of funny to them that it always really makes my stomach turn Yeah, it's like this like little inside joke to himself. He and BTK man. I think that they both probably thought they were quite humorous Yeah, they thought that what he just thought he was a genius He's that type of person too where he just thinks that he's the ultimate villain and right but even though he won't admit it

BTK wanted to see everybody writhe when he was giving his confessions like he's the other type That's what makes him extra fucking awful is because BTK continued the trauma in jail You wonder for the victims families if they would like for him to confess. I don't know. What's better or worse? I don't know. It's a horrible situation all around Randy's life meanwhile. It was in an upswing Well, I also remember when I was listening to that I was listening to some Documentary on this and this is such like a true crime spouse moment or like I was making dinner and Natalie walked into the kitchen And it was just like and he was found bow to his eyelids removed his gender removed

And she's like having fun watching the cooking channel on weird Guy Fieri. That's a unique approach A roast as dark as the night Perfect for fueling the cryptid research and mad ravings required for your podcasting. Don't mind the red eyes He's just trying to warn you of the bridge the bridge finally from the caffeine-addled brains of Spring Hill Jack coffee and last podcast on the left Bre bring you moth men's red-eye blend. Yes delicious Panama beans go to last podcast merch calm to order yours today By 1972 Randy Kraft had found a candidate to believe in with George McGovern

And Kraft also showed up to his high school reunion Not as a John Bircher, but as an openly gay liberal data processor who believed weed should be legal It's an incredible character. It's like it really is it's a character character, right at the same time though Randy's crimes were continuing The next victim Ronnie Weeby met the same fate as the ones before except he was covered in bite marks Weeby however Contradicted the police theory that there were packs of rabidly jealous homosexuals rampaging across Southern California I think a lot more other things would get disrupted if there was just packs of jealous homosexuals

See Weeby who was last seen at the sportsman bar in Los Alamedos at 2 a.m. In late July. He was straight That meant that any young man might become a victim and it was also becoming obvious The same guy was doing it because Weeby's body was found in almost the exact same spot as Randy Kraft's second victim From there Kraft began experimenting even further shaving the heads of victims for reasons unknown or shoving pieces of wood Thick and thin into the penises and rectums Before he committed the act of murder Yeah require you to basically get he that's why he needed to get you as fucked up as possible, right? So that you could not like physically move against it

Like you literally he gets you to the point where you're so peeled up and drugged up very similar to Dahmer Nilsson or like so then you become a pliable mannequin Mm-hmm, but perhaps surprisingly Randy did not only prey on the weak and marginalized Specifically Randy seemed to enjoy specializing in hitchhiking Marines. This is the shit That is it shows like not to be anything. This is not like I don't know how I don't know how to frame this But it really shows like what he wanted was a challenge in many ways where like he also one of them all subdued It was about Subduing a killing machine, right because at the time period coming out of Vietnam

These are a lot of guys who have seen action. These are people that have have killed people that are now like Then become your victim and he gets really obsessed with young Viral five foot nine to five foot eleven blonde Marines But I think what it is that what Randy Kraft is doing here is to put it in video game terms Like he's using a cheat code like he is killing He is killing Marines like he is killing these like viral mean motherfuckers But he's doing it by taking them down to a level where they can't fight back where they're basically just flesh bags So he's not actually doing anything. He's just you he's just using the big fucking sort

He's using whore for a stomp doesn't the movie Rambo start with him hitchhiking. Yes That's a good thing. Good thing. He didn't get picked up by ready for any craft and versus Rambo Well about an hour away from Long Beach is Camp Pendleton and every weekend Marines training or stationed at the base Spread out into the surrounding communities and many of them hitchhiked to get to where they wanted to go and When Randy and Jeff fought Randy would sometimes temporarily move in with friends and Sometimes disappear for days after mumbling something about going down to quote-unquote

Look for Marines. I gotta go look for Marines. You can tell by their hats. What's that? I'm looking for Marines There's one there's one So I read this in very interesting essay about a guy that realized decades after this that he basically he was a young Marine in Southern California and he heard this like this idea of like like people were talking about afterwards like this is about 15 years ago when he wrote this essay where he was looking into this guy That someone brought up about a serial killer that killed Marines and so Cal from in this time period And he was like I was a Marine in so Cal during that time period. Is it that guy? There's no way it's that one guy. This is not a good aha moment. No, exactly

Because he realized that he had this moment with a man that he'd never experienced before again This author says he's like, I'm straight as fucking hell Right And he said he was on the beach and then this young Yuppie-looking guy rolls up to him and he starts talking and they they hit it off And then he's like all of a sudden him and this guy they're talking having a great time And he says hours go past and he's like again, I don't talk to chicks this long And then he's talking to this guy and then eventually this this man

Turns out to be Randy Kraft because he sees that but he obviously saw the picture later on He knew it was Randy Kraft. Randy Kraft's like, let's go up to my motel. Come on I got good beers, which at the time was like an entire thing to him No No, because at the time Marines could only afford shit beer at like shitty little saloon So he's like, yeah, I'll have some good-ass beer me and my new bro We're gonna go have friend. We're gonna have some friendly time dudes guys Just being dudes up in his hotel room alone with each other. And so they went up there

And he brings out he goes under his little refrigerator and he says that he said that he handed him This was an interesting detail. He said he handed him the beer just below belt level in a way that dudes and friends do Like an assemble of camaraderie, right? I was like, I don't know That must be a marine thing. I don't know I don't I don't know but he said that he had this I don't know But he said that he had this drink and they're lying on the bed together and then Randy Kraft does this thing where he's like How do you feel about gay sex? And he's like, you know, I'm straight man I'm super super straight like, you know, like this is a funny and all because he's like what he realized that he was like

Falling in love with this man for a moment where like they talked about everything under the Sun for hours It was like that movie before sunset after sunset where they're like hanging out together, right for an entire day And he's like, you know, I'm straight and he's just like, you know 90% of you marines love gay sex. He's like you guys all love gay sex and he's just like, no We don't my buddies are all straight. They're super super straight and he's like, yeah Not until you get him away from his friends and then you realize he like hit him because he was a sniper And he was just like, okay, this is kind of this is fine But eventually he starts telling me it's like he convinces him to take a shirt off

You start taking some pictures, you know, and he was like if you work hard for the abs You got to show him that's what he said. He felt beautiful for the first time in his life He said it was the first time he felt seen by somebody that somebody's there You're in and then it wasn't until decades later He realized that like in a way because he held he held firm. He's like, I don't want to have sex with you Like this is a feeling I've never felt before but it's not sexual and in that full way I'm not boned up. So I'm gonna walk away and he said this look of he said it was on his face was when some Disappointment was on Randy Kraft's face where he's like, all right. Well, I guess you're gonna get out of here

So but thanks for the pictures. That's something I can remember you by and when he left he realized, you know He put this all together. He's like, I just put myself in this crazy position Hyper vulnerable position with this dude that I just fucking met it happened that fast It was like all of a sudden you're you're in the trap You're in the trap and it's like in a way He felt like Randy Kraft kind of let him go like because but then there's a part of him thinks He's like did he put a volume in the beer like cuz he only had two beers in there and his head started swimming And he was just like he didn't know what what he was being overwhelmed with but it's that moment where he's like, okay

But then I started putting to tune together when I realized who he was the hotel was positioned in a way where if you looked out The window you literally watched the strip where you can see from the window watching marines walk from From fleet week whatever the release you can watch him walk That's for the Navy man. Yes, whatever their time they're bringing it. They're bringing it back in New York He's like like a sniper He's like he completely positioned himself perfectly the freeway off ramp was right over like it was like half a mile away He can completely see physically when you could walk and when the packs are going and he understood Just go after people when they're alone and that people are different

When they're out of the context of their social groups and it's really easy to get in he says like yeah So I could see sure definitely he used drugs on some guys. He's booze on some guys He's sex on some guys like he did that thing But for me he saw a hole in like my love spot like you saw a thing where he Made me fall in love with him like he did it each he he was like I witnessed the master class of Associate path of the height of his powers and he had me. Yeah. Yeah, all right. I remember the love spot reminds me of Jodi areas Now some of these marines were in fact gay But most were either just looking for rides or looking to get drunk on the cheap

But what they all shared was that they were young between 18 and 20 and Randy Kraft took full Advantage of their naivete With Marine Roger Dickerson Kraft chewed off his nipple and penis Before dumping him on a dead-end street off Laguna Beach after Dickerson told friends He'd found someone to drive him to Los Angeles After Dickerson three more were killed between August and November of 1974 all picked up at bars or on the side of the road Two were just strangled but one met his end with a four-foot-long tree branch shoved up his rectum. Oh gosh

But perhaps the most graphic murder of a marine and perhaps the most grotesque of Randy's entire spree was that of Mark Hall? Yeah, and that's what fucking and in the book he described Mark Hall as looking like Ringo star the quote-unquote Slow Beetle Taken from a party where he'd passed out drunk on a couch on New Year's Eve Hall was found three days later Naked in dead with a point six seven BAC the equivalent of it's 30 beers. I Mean we've technically we've probably had 30 beers in a night. Yeah, but it's not good for you No, but it's over a period when you say 30 beers in a night You mean like you started drinking at seven and you stopped drinking at seven like I'm gonna start drinking

That's a noon. That's a noon It's many many hours Now one thing that we can say about many of these murders is that Kraft either did them in his car or beside his car Because starting with Mark Hall Many showed evidence that the killer was using his car cigarette lighter as one of his torture tools Are we supposed to do a gold star? I think this is a way to say that I actually think this is a gold star episode in a lot of ways It's kind of light Yeah, dude

Because he literally chewed a man's genitals. Yes, this is a gold star. You're the one who likes this guy I don't like this guy. Oh my lord Today the honest truth. I might as well just go ahead and make the announcement now that like every serial killer episode We're gonna do from now on is gonna be a gold star episode Because we're now where we're at with like cover and serial killers We've covered so many that the ones left are the ones that are too brutal for people to talk about So it's just gonna be this forever. Oh Just wonderful. Oh

Oh, God, let's get back in the vibe, please With this first one craft had used the lighter to brand Hall's scrotum cheeks nose upper lip and finally his eyeballs Oh my Jesus that sounds horrible His legs have been cut deep close to the bone and a cocktail swizzle stick had been jammed into his penis All the way up to his bladder Finally craft had cut off Hall's genitals and shoved them up howl's rectum along with some Unidentified burned material and leaves and according to the medical examiner Hall was alive through most of it

If you might need this honestly, you might need this. So if you want to play a little drinking game Just every single time we say the word genitals. Yeah, take a big long drink Well, eventually you just pass out like you just go to sleep. Isn't that what happened to these poor victims? That's why make sure you're alone. Oh With the thing is yeah, don't be driving because honestly They did not put drinking in the list of the things you can do on the freeway No, but then also try to hang your head off the side of the bed if you could face down So you just puke on the floor. Oh my goodness

And by this point the freeway killings were becoming a bit of a problem in Southern, California. Yeah, it is a bit of a bummer It's hard to surfs up Yeah, especially after five or so Marines had shown up dead on the side of the road from was though like with the night stalker murders These murders were happening in multiple precincts and they were therefore being investigated piecemeal For the LAPD's investigation, you had Sergeant John St. John aka Jigsaw John. That's cuz I like construction Yeah, he'd been working murders for over 20 years But despite his ability to put cases together hence the nickname Jigsaw John

He could see no pattern other than that. They were all young and male and their penises keep falling off It seems like there's a pattern In Seal Beach where half a dozen bodies have been found you had Sergeant Gary buzzard But buzzard was also coming up empty But at the crime scene where Mark Hall had been found there was a shattered bottle of liquor Ironically named winners vodka Randy Kraft's fingerprints still on it. You know that ain't good man No, you have to say no you're a winner when you're drunk on vodka

Yeah, sometimes you are but a lot of the times especially if it's in a broken bottle at the side of a freeway next to a Gentilist corpse. Yes, you might be not a winner. No winners vodka It sounds like that'll make you blind more so than the cigarette lighters. They should honestly only be in it should be only for closers Yeah However, Randy had never been arrested. So this bottle would remain unused until Randy's trial But as Randy took two more victims the investigation ramped up Detectives look closely at the practice of putting socks into the anuses because it was implied that the killer might have a military background Additionally, some had white tissue shoved up their nose for the same purpose of purge prevention

These techniques implied that the killer was driving long distances with the bodies in his car and wanted to keep the whole business from getting Messier than it needed to be Technically, that's good cop work. Yeah, they so there aren't a something here. They're trying they are trying this point They are trying well just cuz you know, we've talked about this all time like, you know that sometimes laziness of cops could know no bounds but like this type of Massive amounts of bodies just rolling up like really shows like oh like oh no like this is this ain't good Especially like when the cops look like the victims, you know, like you starting to see yourself a little bit You start to get a little bit of that you get a wet-up or lip like wondering like, you know

I kind of kind of looks like my brother. It kind of looks like me and you start to like, you know Am I next it really helps to give them a little bit of fear. That is interesting Now eventually the FBI was brought in for a profile profile said the killer lives some distance from his crimes Cruised to find victims and was methodical and cunning. This actually pegged Randy's MO, but really didn't do much in terms of capture a Psychiatrist at UC Irvine also took a stab at the profile speculating that the killer was quote Completely baffled as to his sexual preference The one thing that we can say is that he seems to know what he likes Yeah, yeah a little too in a Freud territory

The psychiatrist said that the killer bit the nipples and genitals off his victims to make them female That's reinforcing the killer's self-image of masculinity. He would just kill women if that was the case I have a gum addiction. I actually be also you didn't say that correctly Marcus Is that how am I supposed to say it? psychiatrist said that the killer bit the nipples and genitals off his victims to make them female No, you're just making that up. No, no, I am just always studying the nipple removal silence All right No profiles aside Randy Kraft did almost get caught on his 13th victim

But unfortunately his presumed assumption that a sheen of gay keeps the cops away proved once again to be correct That's our next piece of merch We're gonna sell that on a t-shirt In March of 1975 Randy found 19 year old Keith Cropwell and 15 year old Kent May Hanging out in a parking lot near Belmont shore Kraft pulled up in his black and white 1974 Mustang and offered the boys arrived They accepted and after a little bit of driving Kraft gave them volume with a few beers to wash it down Eventually Kent May noticed just before he passed out in the back seat that Randy wasn't taking or drinking anything

Well, he's driving. Hey, he's driving. Yeah. So this is where he tows the line. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah No, no, he just likes to pick up kids and give them beer and kill them a good time. Yeah That's it. Like all like dudes do that. Like it's something dudes do for kids Kid the back of kissles truck let the other day. I saw him. He had like 10 kids back there All chanting like drop us off drop us off I mean that's weird and then he had that weird Randy kraft number one bumper sticker and I was like I didn't know where you got that. I don't even need to make that. What did I do to deserve this today? Oh my goodness

Instead of winding up dead on the side of the road Kent May woke up in his own bed Apparently a couple of other kids hanging out in the parking lot said that Randy's Mustang pulled back in And Kent got shoved out onto the pavement unconscious The kids took Kent home. But when Keith Crotwell never showed back up those same kids followed a police report Well over a month later Three teenagers out on the beach near a marina jetty spotted Keith Crotwell's decomposing skull With rotting flesh still attached to the brows cheeks and temples. The rest of his body was never found Oh my now this as it always is should have been the end of it and it should have been ended by the cops

But as it went Randy's distinctive Mustang was not found by the cops But by two Scooby-Doo teenagers who took it upon themselves to find it. Holy shit There's some sock in the butthole Scoob. They actually did they oh my god If you're a kid, this is kind of cool right in a sense because this is what you always dream of but in reality It's really bad. It's very scary. Was it the movie. Was it the with the uh with Jerry O'Connell in it is the chubby boy Stand by me stand by me What was worse was the fact that the Mustang was found less than a mile from where craft had picked up the boys The kids took the location of craft's car to the police who sent a detective named Mike Woodward

But all Woodward was focused on when he went to craft's apartment was craft's big gay mustache The poster of a big gay man hanging on his wall and crafts quote unquote gay tendencies when he spoke Yeah, he showed up. He had little boy shorts on he had a lampshade on his head and he just went like Golly gee you want some read us, you know, like just a new stereotype is formed in the officer's mind. Well, that's what happens That's what gave him new addresses furniture He's one of those guys too where he'd shape shift because again when you see he'd act super not You know, he'd do the macho thing like he's got the macho thing. He's got the fun gay Normal stand-up man thing right because then he has his like me and my boyfriend

We enjoy our time together and we have we maintain petunias every Saturday and then like and then you have this where he just like He does the whole like floppy wrists mince thing to be like, you know, I'm worried about me I mean, I'm silly little goose. I wouldn't do anything like that. You know, I mean, so it's scary Wow After talking to craft Woodward came up with the theory that craft had picked up the two boys and gave him a little too much to drink after dropping one off Craft made the moves on the other by the marina, but crotwell probably just fell in the water somehow Where's the rest of his body? Yeah, do you?

Are all of us so Cal Banana peels are all over southern california, and I'll tell you what I took a picture on them on the sand Oh, my look up. You want to talk about this? Would I just see a banana peel? Look at the look at the picture. I just took this this morning when I posted to the studio look at this And there's a banana peel right outside the door of my fucking car. That is a banana peel Two is striking again trying to get me to accidentally quote-unquote wink wink wink trip into a harbor Look at that. Check your do you see it marcus? I don't see you're holding it up to a fucking zoom camera. I can't see it

It's a banana Yeah, dude, I live in New York City I see banana peels on the street every fucking day of my life It's really a non sequitur. Check check your rectum Uh later on this evening though just to make sure. Oh, you know, I've been jamming socks up there just so that honestly it pads the Royce Well craft that according to the police theory was afraid that his sexuality would be exposed So when the boy fell into the water, he just walked away to let him drown

Oh my god At least that's the police theory and they were fine with this theory by the way. Well, that's what happened Boys fall into rivers and stay there forever. Yeah every day Now at first craft denied ever meeting either boy But on his second interview He said that he dropped off kent after the kid got too drunk Then he continued driving around with crotwell But when craft's car got stuck on an embankment

Crotwell wandered off while they were waiting for a tow truck Which is another runaway boy, and then he just lost his entire body. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yep Now to the detectives slight credit. They did surmise after the second interview that this dude totally killed that kid He might have killed this child. So let's just press charges there. We have enough. Mmm. No, no No evidence. No body because that's the thing is that they had gone and talked to him and Let him know like oh you killed someone the cops are kind of on your trail. I'm sure he cleaned up his car I'm sure he made sure there was no evidence and there was nothing that was connecting randy to a murder There was no body. There was just a head. So body. No crime. So we gotta be the head has got to count for something

All right, but craft was set free crotwell's death was ruled as an accidental drowning and craft was allowed to murder Dozens of times more. Wow. Who did they think removed the head flounder? I don't mean that's the thing It would be Sebastian if anything. He's got the cause Well, well a body will dissipate once it gets into the ocean salt water fucks up a body real bad And then you got the seals. There's a bunch of seals down there. The seals are gonna fuck up a body quite a bit I actually got an email. Oh, yeah seals serial killers of the ocean But I also got an email after we talked about finding skeletons in the underneath the water And it's actually it does kind of preserve like things would be together

His skeleton would be together still it would take a lot from his head to be separated from his skeleton Unless it was snipped off by a seal I don't know that's that's it. We're not gonna start passing blame on seals here This is about randycraft If you are free this weekend get fucking absolutely blind drunk at the zoo and start accusing seals of murdering little boys Oh, well, the nice thing is you could do a tight five in front of the seals and then it'll clap for you Yeah, yeah

Well, possibly because craft was getting his kicks elsewhere. He began winding down from his more hedonistic bar hopping cruising days And he became more interested in dinner parties and vacations at key west. He was becoming a respectable gay This is what's happening to our friends. Yeah It's what happens to all of us eventually we get into serial murder and then No, we started getting more into it's not so much about going out and getting fucked up all the time It's about, you know, let's all get together and have dinner or like, let's take a nice vacation together Yeah, that's not the bad part. Yeah, when you blow after you've done blowing loads into the dismembered butthole of the devil corpse That's the problem

Boyfriend Jeff graves. However, four years younger than Randy. He didn't feel the same way They therefore broke up permanently and Randy started seeing another Jeff named Jeff ceiling Described by author Dennis McDougal as quote a chubby apprentice baker Whatever. Oh come on. He better be if you're a banker. I want you kind of chubby. Absolutely By the start of 1976 Randy would move in with the second Jeff and ceiling would spend eight years living with craft Never once suspecting that his partner was a serial killer. Oh my god And that's where we'll pick back up for part two of randy craft. Oh my god You don't know who anybody is ever and I just want you to remember that you don't know who your spouse is

You don't know who your friends are. You don't know anything really about them I'm gonna say it's rare To find out that your partner is a serial murderer to the point where they killed 67 people 25 percent Not 25 percent Oh my god one percent is enough. All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for listening to this episode We're back to murder. That's for dang sure. Yep. And uh, yeah, we hope you're all doing well out there We uh, I don't know how to segue into come see us live Yeah, we want we're gonna be in Jacksonville Atlanta Memphis turn you into a bunch of parts

If you come see us live absolutely not from falling apart from laughter And we'll only split sides when it comes to our jokes. That's right Uh, all right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for listening. It's good. That's good. It's really good material Do we have any other plug? That's what you call salesmanship Salesmanship we got last comic book on the left if you look over at z2 you still get your pre-orders in We're writing stuff for that right now. It's gonna be really fun We have soul plumber number six has been released. It's out of the uterus Yep, soul plumber six is out

So if you've been waiting for the entire series to be done before you read it so you can do it all in one go You can now do it Uh, you can please try to go down to your local comic book store and pick up all six issues if you can If you can't, you know, you can read it on whatever comic book app you prefer Thanks to everyone so much. Who is they thanks everyone who read it so much and all the kind words like we really fucking appreciate We worked really hard on it and it was a fun frank ham and lauder type ride for us You guys did a fantastic job writing that it was so entertaining and john mcray and pj holden It's just a fantastic job by them as well. Um, so we were just so lucky to have such talented people all out there

It's amazing what people can do It really is you know, sometimes what they can do is get you so drunk You get a 0.67 blood alcohol level and they cut off your lips and your scrotum. It's crazy what people can do It really is. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Take care of yourselves. Hail yourselves. Hail satan yogi maghustalations everybody. Yeah, that's nice, man. Just be yeah, be careful, man Be careful and again Never go to a second location. I don't know how many times we have to say this throughout our entire tenure here Never go to a second location when you're drugged like that. Yeah. Oh, yes

Well, no never take drugs from a stranger. That's that's another thing Unless a drink or a drink from a stranger or anything like that. I'm not again if those are really really hot That's also just super hot. Yeah, that that is true. Yeah, then you have no choice Then you have to none and hot people don't lie. They don't like you sound like horrible parents trying to give a lesson before Their kids go to Bonnaroo. Oh, yeah, never trust a man named spider who doesn't sell reptiles. That's This show is made possible by listeners like you Thanks to our ad sponsors You can support our shows by supporting them for more shows like the one you just listened to go to last podcast network.com