Morbid - Episode 700: Randy Kraft: The Scorecard Killer (Part 3)

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Throughout the 1970s, Southern California residents were held in the grip of terror as multiple serial killers stalked the streets, preying on victims from every walk of life, including the area’s gay community. From 1971 to 1983, Randy Kraft kidnapped, tortured, and murdered at least sixteen men and boys, but the real number of victims is believed to be considerably higher. When he was arrested in 1983, investigators searched Kraft’s home and found a list with cryptic references to what they believed were sixty-one victims in total. The discovery of that list led the press to dub Kraft “The Scorecard Killer.”Following his arrest in 1983, Randy Kraft was tried and convicted of sixteen counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Although the arrest and trial put an end to Kraft’s murder spree, several critical questions remain unanswered, including the most important aspect of the case detectives were never able to solve: who was Randy Kraft’s accomplice?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesArnold, Roxane, and Jerry Hicks. 1983. "Kraft suspected in deaths of 14 men in 3 states, Gates says." Los Angeles Times, May 20: 73.Associated Press. 1983. "Five murders charged to computer analyst." Sacramento Bee, May 25: 2.—. 1978. "Police seek link in deaths of 18." San Bernardino County Sun, November 24: 3.—. 1983. "Freeway killing pattern repeats." The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, CA), February 19: 2.Bajko, Matthew. 2016. Gay serial killer breaks silence. November 2. Accessed May 15, 2025. https://www.ebar.com/story/246748.Grant, Gordon. 1983. "How a routine stop led to a big arrest." Los Angeles Times, May 20: 73.Hicks, Jerry. 1988. "Alleged 'death list' made public as Kraft trial opens." Los Angeles Times, September 27: 69.—. 1989. "Kraft condemned to death by jury for serial killings." Los Angeles Times, August 12: 1.—. 1988. "Kraft defense says marine found in car was not dead." Los Angeles Times, September 28: 76.—. 1989. "Kraft guilty of 16 sex slayings, jury decides." Los Angeles Times, May 13: 1.—. 1989. "Orange County jury gets Kraft serial murder case." Los Angeles Times, April 28: 76.—. 1988. "Two other states were closing in on Kraft." Los Angeles Times, January 4: 3.—. 1989. "Witness says Kraft drugged and sexually assaulted him in 1970." Los Angeles Times, June 6: 3.Hughes, Beth. 1982. "L.A. area's missing youths-a trail of mystery and murder." San Francisco Examiner, August 23: B5.Jarlson, Gary. 1983. "Suspect in 4 slayings also investigated in 6 Oregon murders." Los Angeles Times, May 19: 80.Kennedy, J. Michael. 1978. "Four deaths turn into four mysteries." Los Angeles Times, September 2: 17.Los Angeles Times. 1973. "Head of a man found in a bag at paper plant." Los Angeles Times, April 27: 23.—. 1988. "Randy Kraft's scorecard?" Los Angeles Times, October 2: 117.McDougal, Dennis. 1991. Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree. New York, NY: Warner Books. Stay in the know - wondery.fm/morbid-wondery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go. It's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion, no ads, just you, and early access to new episodes. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Think about the most disturbing government secrets you've learned from history. Now imagine discovering one that begins in a moment. a hospital room and leads straight to classified military operations that were buried for decades. Listen to a redacted medical mystery, a special episode from Redacted and Mr. Ballin's

medical mysteries, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Hey, what's up? Hi, hi-a-durn. Hi-a-Durne. That's a little Wayne, but you would not know that. I did not know that. I just thought of Laura Dern. I shortened them a little bit to be more respectful to my listeners. You guys are dumb and old.

Just kidding. Somebody better get mad at her about that. I'm America's sweetheart. I'm just kidding. No, we were just talking happy things because we have lots of. happy things happening and we were saying how we noticed that a lot of people were saying that they've noticed recently that we're like a little unhinged and like like kind of like old morbid and I got to tell you one I'm really happy that you notice that yeah and two I feel like

unhinged happy it's like Stella got her how Stella got her groove back it only took a few years I'm feeling it you know it's it's quick for you to lose your groove it's very quick to lose your groove um but yeah when you when your when your groove gets punched in the jaw it's easy to lose it but yeah then you can't shake your groove thing it's like a lot happens when when your groove is affected it's true and you just have to come back from it slowly but surely and here we are i think we're almost back to our groove yeah we're almost back um it's feeling really good though it's feeling seriously good okay we were not on the same page there but yeah it's feeling seriously good. And groovy.

It's feeling both of those things. Our telepathy was not fully turned on at that point. You know, it's later in the day. And we've been doing some things, so we've been busy. It's true. So I don't think I told you guys how awesome the Boston

Ghost Show was. It was fucking rad. Hell yeah, brother. It was so good. It was at TD Garden. And I'd never been to a show there before. You really have never been to a show there? I had been to taking you to see high school musical on ice there. Fuck yeah, we saw that. So what do you mean you never saw a show there?

What do you mean? I guess I have seen a show there. Was that not an experience for you? It was a good experience, but Ghost was also really great. Yeah, that's a little more up there. And I met a lot of you at the Boston show. So I just wanted to make sure you guys knew that that was fucking awesome meeting you. In fact, I was right behind a couple of people, a couple of listeners.

I was right next to a couple of listeners. And it was great. Yay. I loved it. And again, if you have a chance to go to a ghost ritual, go to one. Yeah, I like that. They call them rituals. Yeah, they call them rituals.

There was so, there was a part of me that said, jump on a train and go to New York the next day. But I said, responsibilities, Elena. John was like, do it. You should go. And I was like, no. Yolo. We're on a floating rock in space. If you want to disregard your responsibilities, you got to do it.

I probably should have. It's your stellium and Capricorn that won't allow you, but we'll work on it. Yeah, we'll work on that. You also have a stellium in Sagittarius, which is very like, let's go. Let's go travel. Let's go see the world. But I have to see what house it is in for you. In case you didn't know, I'm taking an astrology class, and I'm getting a lot more well-versed in astrology.

She is. I'm learning about the houses now. I'm pretty impressed. I got to say. Thank you. But another concert we didn't tell them about, we took Elena's mom, my grandma. Oh, my God. Yeah.

We took Ma to go see Rob Stewart. and we didn't know what to expect. Like, I like a couple of Rod Stewart songs, but I don't know a ton of them. Yeah. And I was just like, what is this going to be like? And I grew up with my mom and my dad, but my mom, my mom loves Rod Stewart.

She thinks he's sexy. Yeah, like, she, like, Rod Stewart is her, like, Tobias Forge. Yeah. Like, it's like so, I was like. Andor Harry Styles. Exactly. So I grew up listening to Harry Styles to Ron Stewart a lot. Like, I know all the songs.

It's very nostalgic for me. She just loved it. My dad loves them, too. So it's just a fun thing. And, yeah, but we didn't really know. I was like, what do I expect from a Rod Stewart concert? And it's his, like, farewell tour, too. So we took her to it because, you know, he's his farewell tour.

It was one of the best fucking concerts I've ever been to. Rod Stewart goes hard. puts on a motherfucker. And I hate telling you this now because it's his farewell tour. Well, you know what? He's still going to have a lot of chances to see him again. But if you can, if he's coming near you, I'm telling you. Go see him. What did we learn? Anything for Rod. That's what we learned that night. We learned that right away. That song where he is like, do you think I'm sexy or whatever? If you want my body and you think I'm sexy. I've always forget that the next part is. I sang it wrong. I thought it said something about sugar babies. You did. It doesn't. No. Rod Stewart's not like. that no he's not but during that song and like on the side thing it just said sexy question mark sexy and I thought that was the funniest thing in the world he's still

moving around he's grooving he had five costume changes yeah like not even just like like a minimal costume change oh no new shoes soup to nuts he had new everything no beyond it was crazy he had like And his voice sounds phenomenal. I know, like, if you're, if you're like a Gen Z right now, you're like, what the fuck are you talking about? You better discover Rod Stewart. But go discover Rod Stewart.

Anything for Rod Gen Z. Because the other thing is, like, you're, that song, do you think I'm sexy? Goes so hard. It's got caught in your head for years to come. It transcends time and space. Like, we have been, it's in John's head now, too. So, like, the two of us, but like, we're always around the kids. So, like, we can't just be like, do.

I have feel like, bye. So both of us are just being. And it's, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a great song. So that's what we learned in the last couple weeks is that Rod Stewart fucking puts on a banger of a show and I would do it again in a second. Yeah, I wish I knew sooner. Yeah, shit.

But at least we got to see him. I know. And Maggie Mae Live was the coolest thing I've ever seen because I've loved that song forever. Infatuation. Great song. Infatuation. Oh, yes. So good.

So good. And, yeah, I have so much to say about it, but see for yourself. Go see Rob. Go to Abu Dhabi. I think that's where he's finishing it. He's ending it in Abu Dhabi. Yeah. But that man is crazy.

He's 80 years old going everywhere. And he's just shaking his bum on stage. Good for him. Right. But, yeah. All right. And again, we have some really fun stuff coming up with the rewatcher. If you're not on that train yet, I highly recommend you get on that train.

Well, we should probably say, too. And don't worry, we're going to get to have a case. But this is actually like. business um we announced it on the rewatcher that we are going to be doing true blood for the next season too next season so we're finishing up buffy i think we're probably going to be done with buffy like around octoberish yeah in the fall yeah like in the fall um around that time don't quote me yeah i don't know but but then we're going to true blood true blood we're starting it from the beginning and it's going to be so much fun and i have never seen a single episode yeah with buffy

i'd seen like an episode or two not much not a single episode of true blood nothing she has no idea what she's in for so so shh yeah and you don't tell her you've seen it through once yeah I've seen it through once but I haven't rewatched but then Mikey who produces morbid and is a co-host on rewatcher has seen it like a bunch so yeah it's really staying true to the theme if you're already a rewatcher that you know and we have a really cool little surprise that will let you soon about that literally so exciting and life life has been I just want to like shout out to the the big you the universe that's there she's She's bestowing gifts.

Yeah, life is lifing. It is. So I really appreciate that. But yeah, now that we've just said life is lifeing and the universe is great and everything's been wonderful, sorry, I'm about to take you, take you down. This is going to be a long one. Yeah.

I was going to split this into four parts. But when I was looking at them, one, it didn't feel like there was a natural way to split it that way. Yeah. Just because they're long. That was the only reason. And it felt like part two would have been too dark and depressing and not any kind of like forward momentum

if I had just split it into like another part. Or you mean part three would have been more? Part three. Yeah. Or no, part two would have. If I had split part two into like another part, it would have just been abysmal. A bunch of victims being found in awful, awful ways. And there wouldn't have been any kind of light

at the end of the tunnel. Yeah. So that's why these are a little longer. Hopefully you guys are cool with that. I just didn't want to split it, split it, you know. I felt better this way. So this is going to be kind of a long episode, but it's the end. So we're going to get to some kind of resolution at the end of this.

When we last left to you guys, we had tacked on even more victims. They had talked to Randy Kraft. They had brought him in for at least a couple of victims. that they were suspecting him of being involved with. Right. But they didn't have anything to hold him on, so they just had to let him go. And he was free to continue to keep going.

And he kept going. Yeah. So while investigators in Los Angeles were just struggling to determine which victims belonged with which killer at this point because there's so many and they're happening so fast, 1980 was off to kind of a great start for Randy Kraft.

Really? He and his new boyfriend, Jeff Seelig, had bought a small house in Long Beach, and Jeff's small candy business was doing well. It wasn't his last boyfriend's name, Jeff? Does he have a thing for Jeff? Jeff, maybe he has a thing for Jeff. Yeah.

Yeah. That's interesting. I feel like it was. It started with a J for sure. Yeah. So Randy himself had also gotten back on his feet in, you know, a career sense. He found work as a processor with Lear Siegler Industries. He had even begun considering enrolling in the University of Southern California's MBA program.

Wow. Remember, we're like, whoa, look at that. And I'm like, wait. He just, he's murdered at least 18 people. Yeah. That would have allowed him to further climb up the corporate ladder if he was getting an MBA. So, and he had actually even started getting a little active in politics again. Interesting.

Yeah, like speaking out on issues and all that stuff. One of the perks of Kraft's new job with Lear Siegler was that he had like business trips every once in a while and they would kind of expense them for him. And so that meant he got to explore that interest of his, which he did want to travel more. But it was a little limited. In the summer of 1980, Kraft was assigned his first out-of-state job on a project with peerless trailers, and that was going to be in the neighboring state of Oregon. So he was in Salem, Oregon, and that's when the news broke in California that authorities had arrested William Bonnan, the man they believed to be the freeway killer.

Oh. We've talked about William Bonham before. We sure have. After he was arrested, Bonin confessed to sexually assaulting, torturing, and strangling 14 young men and boys. But he was suspected of at least seven additional murders. He was even believed to have had an accomplice for the majority of his murders, which fit with what investigators knew or at least suspected about many of the murders in Southern California. Even his active period matched that of Randy Crafts, which was like 1968 to 1980. The thing was, William Bonnan was the man the press referred to as the freeway killer,

but unbeknownst to just about everybody in Southern California, he was not the only one strangling young men and dumping their bodies alongside the highway. They thought they got him. Okay. With his many of his crimes temporarily assigned to William Bonnan now, Randy Kraft felt less restricted because he was like, well, he's getting blamed for him. And he's taking the fall. So, and once again, he was free to pursue his really violent fantasies.

without any hesitation or restriction. In the early morning hours of July 18th, 1980, a man hauling beans to a cannery in Salem, Oregon, discovered the nude body of 17-year-old Michael Shano Fallon. At the time of his death, Michael had been on a solo hiking trip before he was going to be starting his first year of college in the fall. The driver had stopped that morning

because he thought he saw a large stuffed animal in the road. But when he got out of the car and approached what he thought was a stuffed animal, He discovered that it was a body. O'Fallon's hands were tied behind his back with shoe laces, which were secured to a second set of laces that bound his ankles together. So he was like hog-tied. Yeah.

This is very graphic. We said this in the first two episodes. There's a lot of graphic brutality in this. There was also a shoelace tied around his scrotum and secured to the bindings around his ankles. Oh, wow. The medical examiner listed O'Fallon's death as being caused by strangulation, but also noted that he did have high levels of valium and Tylenol in his

system at the time of his death. Becoming a thing. Yeah, and he had consumed at least one or two beers in their interviews with his mother. Investigators learned that he had left home a few weeks earlier and was intent on seeing parts of Canada before starting school in the fall. He had wanted to travel light, so he brought only, like, the basic necessities he needed for camping, like a camera. the camera would be found among the evidence

confiscated from Kraft's home a few years later so he took the camera. He was also known to have been hitchhiking for a lot of his trip because again, it was that time period where it was really not a big deal. Just one day after O'Fallon's body was discovered in Salem, police in the nearby town of Woodburn found another body.

Jesus. The day after. This was the body of 30-year-old Larry Parks just off the side of the highway. Like many of the other very, victims. Parks's body was fully clothed, but he was missing his belt and his shoe laces. His cause of death was listed as ligature strangulation, but the medical examiner also saw that there was high levels of Valium and over-the-counter pain relievers in his system at the time

of death. At the end of July, Randy, who had been an Oregon, returned to Long Beach. Just one month later, another body was discovered. One month later. Yeah. What this did was it effectively undermine the certainty investigators felt at having caught the man responsible for strangulation deaths in Southern California. Right. Because in Oregon, they could at least say, like, maybe this is someone else. Now we're back in Southern California. On the morning of September 3rd, 1980, a group of boys playing near the El Toro Air Base found the body of 19-year-old Marine Robert Loggins Jr. He was wrapped in a plastic bag and dumped at the end of a dead end street. He had been found in the fetal position and was bound at the wrists and ankles, which feels a little, this is like a newer

kind of thing. The only article of clothing found with his body was a single sock. And the medical examiner did theorize that it had been inserted into the victim at one point and be had become dislodged due to advanced decomposition. Okay. Yeah. The medical examiner estimated that the body had been in the location for nearly a week. Wow.

Which made identifying the exact cause of death. pretty impossible. Yeah, because remember, this is California. Exactly. Yeah, as best as he could tell, the pathologist figured the most likely cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation, but indicated that smothering could also have been the cause.

Oh, wow. At the time of death, Loggins' blood alcohol level was quite high. It was 0.25. There was also high levels antihistamines in his system, which that was with another victim antihistamines were a thing. Although it seemed less likely than strangulation, the ME acknowledged that the common. combination of alcohol and drugs could have contributed to the death. But again, he wasn't sure.

Robert was last seen on the night of August 22nd. He and three friends had left the base. They were just going out for a night of drinking. According to the three men he was with that evening, they had found a spot near the beach where they passed around a bottle of Soco. Southern comfort. When that was gone, the group visited a liquor store near the Huntington Beach Pier. and at that point, Loggins said he wanted to sleep on the beach and walked off. His friends tried to get him back to the car to return to the base, but they were unsuccessful. He just wasn't going to go. The following morning, when Logans failed to show up for work, they went out looking for him

that they couldn't find any evidence of him anywhere. A few months later, in the spring of 1981, Kraft was sent back to Oregon. On the morning of April 10th, police in Goshen, Oregon, received a report about a body that was discovered alongside Interstate. state five. When they got to the scene, investigators were shocked at the level of violence that this victim suffered. The victim was 17-year-old Michael Cluck. 17. Just a baby. When he was discovered, Cluck's body was still warm, indicating that this had happened pretty recently. That's happening a lot more recently. And it's so scary. Yeah, like recently in the case. Yeah. He was nude from the waist down and he had been sexually assaulted. This is just like graphic. According to the

autopsy, his death resulted quote, from 16 blunt forced wounds to the back of the head which had caved in the victim's skull. Oh my God. When the result of toxicology came back, they showed large amounts of antihistamines, painkillers, and tranquilizers in his

system, and he had a blood alcohol level of 0.09. According to his mother, Michael had left home in Kent Washington the day before with the intention of hitchhiking to Bakersfield, California to get a job. Under the circumstances, investigators theorized that he had been picked up by his killer while hitchhiking,

and the man gave him a beer, drugged him, assaulted him, and murdered him. At the same time that investigators were searching the scene for evidence, Randy Kraft visited the emergency room in Tuolitan, Oregon. He was looking to get treatment for a badly bruised foot. Huh. He told the emergency room doctor that he had badly injured his foot around 3 a.m. while moving around his hotel room barefoot in the dark, trying to reach the television so he could watch the space shuttle launch.

I feel like you wouldn't injure your foot that badly in that scenario. No. It would take several more years, but eventually Kraft would be connected to the victim when investigators found Cluck's shaving kit under some clothes and a dresser at Craft's home. Wow, he kept a lot. Yeah, he did. Now, in keeping with his new pattern, the killings in and around Long Beach stopped when Kraft was in Oregon. And they started again once he returned to California.

Then, following the murder of Michael Kluck and Goshen, they seemed to stop again without explanation. Eventually, these breaks and the frequency of the murders would be attributed to his domestic routines and successes, apparently. Like when things were going well in his life and he was experiencing less stress, there were fewer murders. And when things in his romantic life were positive, there appeared to be less of an impulse to commit murders. For instance, like the large break in activity following the murder of Mark Hall in December 1916, 75 was attributed eventually to Kraft having begun his relationship with Jeff Seelig, you were correct, around that time. While his personal successes were definitely a factor, the opposite was unfortunately also true.

Yeah. Throughout the latter half of 1981, things between Kraft and Seelig appeared to have been going well, but by early 1982, they'd hit a rough patch in their relationship and began seeing a therapist in late June. That's when the murders began again. Yep. So as soon as it starts going downhill, he's mad. Yeah. The town of Agda in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex. But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.

His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant. Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting. I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos. As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all. Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson and journalist Leo Schick for the Mystic and the Mayor, as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.

Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondry Plus. Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or the Wondry app. On July 29, 1982, an employee from the California Department of Transportation was sent to investigate reports of a strong, very unpleasant odor. or the Hollywood Freeway in Echo Park. When they got to the location, they did discover a body, that of 13-year-olds, Raymond Davis.

Oh, my God. Thirteen. That's his youngest victim so far, right? Yeah, yeah. Raymond Davis was laying just off the road by the Rampart Boulevard exit ramp. His wrists and ankles were tied behind his back with a shoelace,

similar to that of the other victims, and he had been strangled. Raymond Davis was from Pittsburgh, California, nearly 400 miles north of Los Angeles and had come to the area to visit his mother for the summer months. On the night of June 17th, he had left his house, he told his mom he was going to visit a friend

and then was never seen or heard from again. Davis told reporters, his mother told reporters he had a new friend. He was always playing with him. I told him I wanted to know where he lived in a phone number, but her son never gave him the information. For reasons that remain unclear, there were also reports that Davis had gone out that evening to look for a lost dog.

Okay. So I'm not sure what that's about. To the absolute horror of the person who found this body, the transit worker, about 100 feet from where Davis's body was lying, there was a second body. The second body was 16-year-old Robert Avila Jr. He had been reported missing about a week earlier. They were like little kids. Yeah.

What the fuck? Children. Robert had been strangled to death with a length of wire. And while Davis's body had been in that location for more than a little. a month and was in an advanced state of decomposition. Robert was believed to have been there since July 21st. Although there was no evidence that the two boys knew one another, it seemed pretty unlikely that they had been placed in the same location by coincidence.

Yeah. And investigators acknowledged that they, quote, believed one suspect killed both youths. Yeah. Now, in late November, 1982, Kraft was sent back to Oregon to continue working on the project, and the killing continued once he got there. In the early morning hours of November 24th, the body of 26-year-old Brian Witcher was discovered alongside a residential road that was kind of parallel to Interstate 5 in Wilsonville. This was a town that was like just outside of Salem where he was hunting before. Yeah.

Witcher was dressed in a pair of pants, only pants, and he was missing his belt. It was clear from the scrapes on his body he had been thrown from a slow-moving vehicle, and there was obvious ligature marks around his neck. His cause of death was listed as asphyxiation, but he also had a pretty high blood alcohol level, and there was a large amount of, say it with me now, Valium in his system. I don't know if it was going to be any histamines, volume, Tylenol. To pick your poison.

According to his friend, Earl Davis, Brian was last seen on November 23rd the day before, wearing distinctive clothing that Davis had given him including a velour pullover jacket. At the time of Witcher's disappearance in death, Randy Kraft was known to be working in nearby Tuolitan Oregon and when investigators searched Kraft's home

after he was arrested later witcher's velour jacket was discovered in the garage It's really insane how much he kept from these victims Like something from everybody On the night of December 9th Just two weeks after Witcher's murder The body of 19 year old Lance Tags was discovered on the side of Interstate 5

and Tigard Oregon That's less than a quarter mile from the spot where Brian Witcher's body was found. Right. The previous evening, Taggs had been seen leaving his house carrying a nylon tote bag with a town in Hawaii's name printed on the side. Okay. But when he was found, the bag was nowhere to be seen. At the time, he was dressed in a shirt and swim shorts, but he was missing his shoes and socks. It also appeared like he had been redressed. According to the autopsy, Taggs' cause of death was asphyxiation, which was the result of an orange gym sock having been shoved down his

his throat. Jesus Christ. While he was alive, he shoved an orange jim sock down his throat, and he asphyxiated. At the time of death, his blood alcohol level was 0.07, and there was a large amount of value in his system. During this period, Kraft was known to have been in the area working for Lear Siegler, and based on an expense report, he submitted to the company for reimbursement. They were able to confirm that.

Also, when Detective Searchcraft's home the following year after he was arrested, Tag's nylon gym bag was discovered among his belongings. Again, another one. Jesus. A week later, on December 18th, another body was discovered on the side of a residential road adjacent to I-5. It was that of 29-year-old Anthony Silvera. According to Silvera's wife, Anthony, who was in the National Guard,

had left home on December 4th to travel to Medford for her. guard duty. The couple didn't have a car, so Anthony decided to hitchhike. Because the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, the ME was unable to give a definitive cons of death, but the ME was confident that the most likely cause of death was asphyxiation, because that was supported by the very obvious ligature mark around his neck. Yeah. He could deduce it. Right. The victim had also been sexually assaulted and was subjected to various other forms of torture before being killed. the results of the toxicology report showed a blood alcohol level of 0.23 and there was a lot of volume in his system. Yeah. How is he getting all this valium as well? I'm like, do you know what I was

thinking actually? And I almost said it, but I wonder if when he, because you've also said that there were like antihistamines present in a lot of people's systems. Isn't Benadryl in antihistamine? I think so. And Benadry like really has like drowsy calming effects. I wonder if when he was running low on Valium. He would use the antihistamines. He'd give people a large dose of, of that, yeah. I think that's a valid theory, because I think it definitely has similar effects at the very least.

Yeah, I'm not sure how similar. That's the thing I think in large amounts. Yeah. So the same day that Anthony went missing, Randy Kraft drove from Oregon to Seattle to visit his friend Gary Newell. The next year, in interviews with investigators, Gary Newell recalled that not long after arriving at his house, Kraft went out to the rental car,

and when he returned, he was wearing an army-style jacket. Huh. The type that Anthony Silvera was reported to have been wearing on the day he left his house. Wow. He put his man's jacket on. After brutally murdering and torturing him. Because it had been more than a year, Newell couldn't be certain, but he told the detectives that the name on the jacket began with S and was a quote unquote Hispanic sounding name. Huh?

Like, what the fuck? Yeah. During the visit, Kraft also mentioned to Newell that after he was done in Oregon, the company was sending him to Grand Rapids, Michigan. So he was going to be starting a whole new place, killing people. Kraft arrived in Grand Rapids on December 5th to attend a seminar. He arrived at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. And at the time, there was also a large agricultural conference being held at the hotel.

And going to that conference was a 20-year-old man named Christopher Schoenburn and his 24-year-old cousin, Dennis Alt. When Kraft's seminar ended on December 7th, he and a co-worker had dinner together and then visited the hotel bar. That's where they met and then spent about an hour talking to Christopher and Dennis. Then Kraft's co-worker left after midnight, and he was alone with the two of them. Also in attendance at the agricultural conference was Dennis Alt's cousin Thomas, who was in the bar with them that evening. According to Thomas, Dennis had been drinking heavily and asked if Thomas would drive him around 11 p.m. back to where he needed

to go. Thomas agreed, but wanted to talk with some friends and buy around drinks before they left. So he stepped away, and so he left Christopher and Dennis at the bar with Randy. When he returned a short time later, there would nowhere to be seen. Everyone was gone.

So Thomas assumed they'd gone back to their hotel room. Yeah. Kraft checked out of the hotel the following morning and returned to Oregon. The next day, December 9th, the bodies of Dennis Alt and Christopher were discovered. about five feet from a rural road about nine miles from the Amway Grand

Plaza Hotel. And remember, these are two full grown men. Yeah. Like, what? That tells you like, accomplice potentially. Who is it? Like, all was fully dressed, but his pants were unbuttoned, and he

was exposed, and his boots were missing. When the autopsy was conducted, the medical examiner found high levels of volume in his blood and a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit. Alt's cause of death was listed as asphyxia by choking, which was supported by linear pressure marks discovered on his neck. Christopher was nude with no signs of his clothing anywhere.

Like Alt, he had also been strangled, leading to asphyxiation. He had a lot of volume in a system and a blood alcohol level of 0.16. It was also evidence that at least Christopher had been tortured, including having an Anway grand branded ballpoint pen inserted into his urethra, which it caused, quote, extensive hemorrhaging. I would think.

As with many of the other victims, clothing and personal belongings belonging to both of these victims would later be found in Kraft's home. You also, and I don't know why I just thought of it, but you also wonder where he did all of these things to people because he's doing these things while they're still alive. Exactly. So you would think that there be a place he could do it too. That's like, where is he doing this where nobody's hearing something. But then I guess he's getting people near sedation, sort of.

So maybe, I think that's the key. Yeah. Is this. But you still think that like people must hear something and like see something weird. Where is he taking them to do this? He must take them like deep into the woods. Yeah. And then because he obviously moves a lot of the bodies.

But then there's been a couple of bodies that have been discovered in the woods. So I wonder if maybe he just couldn't move them or he didn't have his accomplice during those. Exactly. So he just left them where they were. That's usually what he does. Maybe he's bring them out to the woods and then goes from there. It's horrific. It is.

Now, once he was back in Oregon, Kraft killed Lance Tags, then he returned to California shortly after, assuming he'd gotten away with yet another murder. Yeah. So he was just on a little spree, just going home. Now, while it was true that he had at least temporarily gotten away with it, investigators in Oregon had started to see connections between the victims found along the side of the road. So they were putting them together now. Yeah, obviously.

Given the pattern with which the murders occurred and the fact that the bodies were found again alongside the road, they theorized their killer was some kind of salesman or other professional who traveled to the state with some kind of consistency. Yeah. Since the trips seem to be more frequent, they further theorized that the killer was probably coming from a nearby state

like Washington or California. So we're starting to close in a little. Operating on that assumption, detectives in order, Oregon put out a call to the law enforcement agencies in those states and quickly received a response from detectives in Los Angeles. Wouldn't you know it? They felt that the Oregon murders bore a remarkable similarity to the large number of victims from the previous 10 fucking years.

Yep. Ten years. Yeah. Just going for it. Once he was back in Long Beach, Randy wasted little time getting back into his routine. On the morning of January 27, 1983, a California transit. transit employee, those poor California transit employees. He discovered the body of 21-year-old Eric Church alongside the 7th Street off-ramp near Seale Beach, where some of the other victims were found.

That's why it sounds familiar. Right. Church was fully dressed, not wearing any shoes. Unlike some of the other victims, however, it looks like the killer had come to a skidding stop at the location where he was found, rather than pushing him from a moving car. Okay. Which is just interesting. Yeah, it is. During the autopsy, the ME found ligature marks around his wrist. ankles and neck and determined the cause of death was asphyxia from strangulation. He couldn't say with certainty, but the medical examiner also noted that church had likely been sexually assaulted. His blood alcohol level was within the legal limit, and there was a large amount of volume discovered in his system,

which the medical examiner described as a, quote, potentially fatal amount that would have put him in a mild to moderate coma. Wow. Yeah. Having gotten away with multiple murders for more than a decade, Randy Kraft was becoming much more brazen with his behavior. Not only were victims showing up with much increased frequency at this point. He's just one after the other, but he's also demonstrated a capacity for handling more than one victim at a time.

Yeah. Which is horrifying. Grown men. Like this, that's crazy to me. Especially, and again, these are able, like, these are like strong, like, you know, not like, you know, these are grown-ass men. Yeah, so he's only praying on children. He has done that in the past, but it's not...

But he's not just going after, like, 13-year-olds, like, all the time. It's like... But you have to wonder if that was when he had an accomplice with him. Yeah, because it's like... When he's going after multiple people. The Chris and... Christopher and Dennis at the hotel. Yeah.

They were in their 20s. Yeah. Like, they're, like, grown men, and that's the one that he did the two. But then you think about the fact that he's drugging them. Yeah. He's drugging them and getting them super drunk. That's your answer right there. Like, it seems shocking and it is.

But it's like when you really think about it, the fact that there's valium found in high amounts in all of these cases, they are being incapacitated. So whether they're strong, grown men or not, it really kind of is, it negates that. Because also think about the fact that at least one of these people, victims has been found with enough volume to put them in a coma. In a moderate, mild moderate coma. Like that clearly, I think that was probably like accidental that he gave that much. Like over, over did it. Yeah. So just two weeks after the murder of Eric Church,

Kraft was out on the streets again looking for another victim. So he is escalating. I feel like we have never covered somebody who has gone this long, this hard, this long. Because I'm sitting here being like, it's got to end. It's got to end. Now, in the early morning hours of February 12th, 18-year-old Jeffrey Nelson knocked on the door of the home of his friend Bryce Wilson in the town of Cyprus, which is just outside of L.A.

Wilson's mother answered the door and said Bryce was sleeping and she wasn't able to get him out of bed so Nelson left in the company of his friend 20-year-old Roger Deval this was the last time anyone saw either young man alive later that morning LAPD officer

Donald Beck Elder was on his way to work when he spotted Jeffrey Nelson's nude body lying beside the ramp in Long Beach when the detective got out of his car to investigate he noticed Nelson's foot move slightly

indicating that he was alive the officer jumped back into his car and drove to the nearest phone booths he could find to call emergency services but by the time they arrived at the scene they were unable to find Nelson's pulse or detect any respiration it's so sad it's unclear whether he was still alive when he was discovered the autopsy indicates that

Nelson was dead when he was dumped from the vehicle so I don't know if he just thought he saw that or what by that this was just a very familiar scene at this point. There were tire marks on the pavement, looked like the killer had skidded to a stop before dumping the body. And there were ligature marks around his neck,

which would later be associated with his cause of death, asphyxiation from ligature strangulation. There was ligature marks around his right wrist, and he had had his genitals cut off, which the ME believed had occurred after death in this scenario. Witnesses told investigators that on the night they went missing, neither Nelson nor Deval had been drinking or taking any drugs.

But when the autopsy was conducted, the ME noted that Nelson's blood alcohol level was 0.14. Wow. That's hard. And he had Valium and the blood pressure medication, propanolol, I think it's called, in his system. It's for hypertension. Why would he give him that? Not really sure.

But, well, it's a beta blocker. I was just going to say, according to the toxicologists, the combo of these drugs as well would have made him very, very noticeably sedated and possibly caused him to fall asleep. Yeah. Now, in their investigation of the scene, crime scene text discovered two distinct fibers that connected Nelson to the other victims. Because remember, there was a couple of victims where they did find fiber on them.

They just didn't have anything to compare it to. Right. The first, a single maroon fiber was determined to have come from the socks of the previous victim, Eric Church. Oh. So this is not only putting them together as having the same. fibers on them this is connecting them as being in the same exact place the second fiber would later be identified as coming from the floor mats in randy craft's car huh the following day around

3 p.m. a driver in the san bernadino mountains pulled into a turnout near malt bald baldy road and he discovered the body of roger deval my god so they've gone out together and so he's done it again yeah he was fully clothed but his pants were unbuttoned and pulled down uh deval was wearing Nelson's jacket, immediately connecting him to the other victim. Also connecting him to other victims was the cause of death, ligature strangulation. Like Nelson, Deval had ligature marks around one wrist, and there was also evidence he had been sexually assaulted. At the time of his death, his blood alcohol level was 0.07, and there was volume in his blood, at least enough that Deval would have been impaired, if not unconscious. And again, they were not drinking or doing drugs. Right.

So for more than a decade, Randy Kraft at this point had been killing men in multiple states now, confounding investigators. They could rarely find even a shred of evidence in this case. For 10 years. And he's leaving barely any evidence. I mean, the evidence he's even leaving, they're just now starting to connect just them to each other. It's not even connecting them to an outside source.

Right. Now, in the end, though, it wouldn't be determined law enforcement or strong evidence. that brought Kraft's reign of terror to an end. But it was just simple luck. Really? Yep. What was it? In the early morning hours of May 14, 1983,

Sergeant Michael Howard and Officer Michael Sterling, the Michaels, of the California Highway Patrol, were driving north on the I-5 when they spotted a car in the oncoming lane that appeared to be weaving from one lane to another. Assuming the driver was probably drunk or impaired in some way, the officers turned on their overhead lights

and indicated for that driver to pull over. Before they were even out of the cruiser, the driver, Randy Kraft, was out of his car and walking towards them. That's never what you're supposed to do. Howard said we walked towards him and took him up to the front of his car so we could administer a field sobriety

test. We hadn't seen anyone else in the car at that time. Oh. While Sterling conducted the sobriety test, Howard approached the car and started speaking to the man in the passenger seat that he just noticed. Kraft said that was a hitchhiker he just picked up. Mm-hmm. When he got no response from this man in the passenger seat, he moved closer and tapped on the window, which still didn't rouse the man.

It was then that Howard noticed the passenger, who was identified eventually as 25-year-old Terry Gambrell appeared to be slumped over in his seat with pill bottles and beer cans scattered at his feet. When he looked closer, he noticed that the victim's pants were pulled down just below his groin

and his pants appeared to be wet with some kind of liquid. Howard also noticed that there was, quote, indentations on his wrists that were similar to those of wide rubber bands like that kind of indentation. So they just caught this man mid.

mid-disposal of a body Howard called for an ambulance and while the officers waited for paramedics they questioned Kraft who had then failed the sobriety test and been placed in the back of a police car Kraft told the officers that he'd given Gambril some beers and some of his adophant

but because he had just picked the man up he didn't know whether he'd taken anything early in the evening and how do you explain all the other things Randy? Yeah eventually the paramedics arrived and are examined Gambrell, but at this point the man was already dead. That's so sad.

His body was removed to the nearest hospital where he was officially pronounced. At the autopsy, the ME identified Gambril's cause of death as asphyxia due to ligature strangulation. The marks on his neck indicated that he had been choked with a strap and the patechial hemorrhages

in his neck indicated that the strap had been repeatedly tightened and loosened before his death. A garot. Which remember, he has used a garot before. He also noted ligature marks around the victim's wrists and when he was removed from the car, he was missing his socks

and shoes. Oh my God. So he was absolutely in mid-disposal. Yeah, because obviously he hadn't just picked this guy up at all if he doesn't have socks and fucking shoes. No. Given the circumstances and the evidence collected before and during the autopsy, investigators strongly suspected that they had just found

the man responsible for dozens of murders in Los Angeles over a fucking decade. Yeah. Craft was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion on murder, and his bail was set at $250,000. I can't believe this is how he got caught. Yeah.

There have not been many cases where that has been the case. Like, what a dumb sentence. That wasn't a dumb sentence? It was a little crazy. It was just kooky, that's all. There have not been many cases where we've seen that is what I meant to say. The fact that this just, it just came down to fuck. lock of all the cars in Los Angeles.

Yeah. For these two officers to just happen to find themselves behind this car. Yeah. While he happens to be weaving. Mid-disposal. Like, damn. He's refusing. Yeah, a complete dumbass.

Like, thank goodness, but what a dumbass. He is refusing to speak to anyone at this point, too. Yeah, that checks. Now, within a few days, investigators had confidently connected craft to the murders of Eric Church, Jeffrey Nelson, and Roger DeVall. And Kraft's arraignment was postponed in order to give him more time to find an attorney, which he definitely needs now. Yeah, for sure.

Or determine his eligibility for a public defender. In the meantime, bill was increased to $750,000. Because they said, we are finding out some more about you, sir. I wonder in, what is this, 1983, I wonder how much $750,000. I can let you know. Was. You're always my go-to for that. Because I'm very interested.

It went from 250 to 750. 1983? Yeah. About 2.4 million. Whoa. That. So they were like, you're not leaving. It's correct, right.

I had to just read that like three times to make sure I was right. Damn. Yeah, about 2.4 million. Holy shit. Damn. That's bonkers. Later that same day, authorities from Oregon who'd heard about the arrest, later contacted detectives in Long Beach

about a possible connection between Kraft and six unsolved murders in their state. Marion County Sheriff Chuck Foster told reporters when the fellow was arrested in Orange County that caused us to do a follow-up investigation which produced evidence that leads us to list him as a definite suspect. Within a week, investigators from various agencies

had combined their research sources which like finally... Nice. ...in connected Kraft to 14 unsolved murders in three states. But we know there's more than that. We sure do. Sheriff Brad Gates told the Los Angeles Times, we have evidence which links him to 14 deaths

in Southern California, Oregon, and Michigan. We have made our information available to authorities from other jurisdictions which are interested. The more detectives dug into his background and looked over the evidence, the more the number of suspected victims list grew. On May 25, 1983,

Randy Kraft was arraigned on five counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Terry Gambrell, Robert Loggins, Eric Church, Jeffrey Nelson, and Roger DeVall. In his statement of the press, Kraft's lawyer, Doug Otto, accused investigators of using his arrest as an opportunity to close old cases. No, I don't think so. He was just, you know, like mid-disposal of a man. There was that. Who was in the state that many men had been found in over the past decade.

In the same exact way? Yeah. He said, they're living up every unsolved murder they can find. They're clearing paper on this case. I don't think so. I think your client's just an absolute piece of shit. Here's the thing, Doug Otto. Gross.

Shut the fuck up, Doug Otto. Here's the thing. Fuck off. You know what's like free to do to shut the fuck up? It is. That's the cool thing about shutting the fuck up. Totally free. It costs you zero dollars.

Cost you nothing. Yeah. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time detectives had used an arrest to close cold cases, of course. But that accusation seemed wilds. Balzy. Especially when a few days later, investigators searched Kraft's home and car. Yeah, it sounds like they found a lot there, where they found a mountain of evidence connecting him to a large number of victims. In his car, technicians discovered a belt that matched the ligature marks on Cambril's neck, as well as a large amount of adivant, valium, and alcohol, all of which had been found in the victim's blood.

In the passenger seat of the car, there were large dark stains from what was eventually determined to be human blood, which had soaked deep into the seat cushion. Wow. Technicians also took samples of the carpet, and they determined them to be a match for the fiber samples found on Roger DeVall's body. Wow. The evidence collected in the car was enough to connect him to at least two murders, but it's what was found under the carpet that proved most damning. In a large envelope strategically hidden under the carpet on the driver's side,

technicians found a stash of more than 50 photographs of young men in very lurid and very sexually explicit poses. Some of the men in the photos like Loggins, Church, and DeVal were among those on the victims list, while others were not known to investigators. In some cases, the subjects and the photographs were clearly alive when the photos were taken. Others, though, depicted images of men who were sleeping, unconscious, or dead.

Oh, my God. Not only did these photographs provide a lot of circumstantial evidence connecting him to the victims, They also connected the victims to craft's various homes over the years since many of them were taken in those locations. Dude. The photos were some of the strongest evidence investigators could find in this entire thing.

Pictures worth a thousand words. But the most sensational and consequential evidence was found in the trunk of his car. Why was he just keeping... Thank you. She's just bopping around with all this stuff. Super duper cool of you to give them everything they needed in your literal vehicle.

But why are you keeping it? this all in your car, sir. Exactly. What did they find? Technicians searched the trunk and they discovered a three-ring binder and inside they discovered a sheet of paper with 61 entries written in cryptic language. Sixty-one

entries? I'm assuming this is the scorecard. This is where the scorecard killer name comes from. This document eventually was referred to as his scorecard and would prove significant at trial. Sixty-one names. The prosecution and detectives argued it was a journal

of sorts and listed all of Kraft's murders. Although the scorecard was written in cryptic language with entries only appearing to reference certain aspects of the individual or the encounter, in time, detectives were eventually able to associate certain victims with certain entries. Yeah. I'm not going to read the entire thing

because a lot of it is like not connected to unsolved murder kind of thing or unknown, but some of the names he would give the victims shows you how disconnected he was. Like one of them is just EDM Oh my Like what? One of them's Harry Carey

One of them's Airplane Hill Marine Down Van driveway Two in one Two in one Yep Twiggy Wilmington

El Laguna Beach Marina Pier 2 So he's even just referring to some of these people As where he either found or dumped them Like driveway Diabetic Skates Diabetic

Uh-huh. Which also, how did you know that? It must have come up in conversation. Portland, Navy White, user, parking lot. Um, parking lot was connected to Keith Cratwell. I was wondering about, um, deodorant, dog, teen trucker, 7th Street, M.C. Laguna, Hoth off head. Hoth off head. Two in one hitch.

New Year's Eve Westminster date jail out Oh that was the victim Who had just gotten out of jail That morning Two in one beach He likes when he kills two people

In one or dumps two people in one He says two in one That's disgusting Hollywood bus Portland Blood Portland Head Hike out LB boots

oil and one of them is what you got what? Yeah it's just like so yucky

it's so disconnected it's so fucking cold you can tell he like thinks he's he thinks he's done something here with these names too like he likes that he's just like calling them oil dog

like that's so sad to be reduced to that yeah and the worst part is he probably knew most of their names. Yeah. But he just didn't even bother. Right. So the quote-unquote scorecard would prove essential to the prosecution's case against him.

I bet. But it was only one piece in a very big growing mountain of evidence that would eventually connect him to several of his victims. Several fibers found on or like several of the bodies at the time of their discovery were found to be a match to fibers from furniture or carpets in craft's homes at the time of the murders or the carpets in his cars. Other critical pieces of evidence collected throughout the investigation were like semen samples that matched his blood type, hairs collected from various victims, which were a match for craft, and a fingerprint found on the

broken bottle used to cut Mark Hall's body after he'd been murdered. Remember, they could not, it didn't come up in the database. But then they finally figured it out. They can now compare it and it matched. During a search of his home, investigators discovered a large amount of personal items and clothing belonging to several of the victims. This included, among other things, the shaving kit known to belong to Eric Church, which still had Church's fingerprints on the outside. The nylon gym bag and a pair of nunchucks belonging to Lance Tags, a camera belonging to Michael O'Fallan, a keychain bottle opener and boots belonging to Christopher Schoenborn, and a large assortment of belts and shoes belonging to various other victims and were connected to them.

Yeah. Given how huge this case was and the vast number of victims and the incredible amount of press coverage that the case did receive at the time, it took years for the prosecutor's office to build their case against craft. Yeah, I mean, this is over a decade. And they wanted to do it right. Yeah. Now, among the more challenging tasks they face were determining which of the 37 suspected victims they could confidently and irrefutably connect to craft. They couldn't mess around with these. No. And which ones they were unfortunately not going to be able to prosecute him for at that time,

which is a tough task. Especially going to like their families and explaining the why and what and everything. Exactly. Ultimately, the DA went ahead with charges of first degree murder for the following victims. Edward Daniel Moore, Kevin Clark Bailey, Ronnie Gene Yby, Keith Davencrowell, Mark Howard Hall, Scott Michael Hughes, Roland Gerald Young, Richard Allen Keith, Keith Arthur Clingbeel, Michael Joseph Inderbeaten, Donald Harold, Creasel, Robert Wyatt Loggins, Jr., Eric Herbert Church, Roger James DeVall Jr., Jeffrey Allen Nelson, and Terry Lee Gambrill, which are 16 victims. Yeah.

So that's who they could irrefutably connect him to. There are many others that they can connect him to. They just were worried that they didn't want to risk it. They wouldn't stand in trial. Yeah. 16 to be able to prove irrefutably murders irrefutably is absolutely

bonkers wild work especially when you think about this time period they didn't have like a ton when it came to deal like and it was relatively new for a jury to understand to have the confidence to bring 16 murders to trial and say this evidence is irrefutable

is like unheard of. Truly unheard of because usually when you have this like you are saying when you have this massive amount of victim pool going on, you can really, a lot of times we see that they could only grab like two or three of them at the most. And even that is tough.

And that's always like, whoa, I can't believe they were able to connect that. I think even like Rodney Alcala had a very high number of victims and they couldn't get a ton of his victims proved in court. Because it's like, it's really, and when you want to make sure to nab this guy, you can't fuck around with ones that you're like, could they potentially nab us on this? Or could they potentially question this one

and turn the entire trial on its head? And then they'll question these ones and like we don't want to lose them because of this. And you have to think, too, of all the technicalities that he is definitely going to appeal on when he's ultimately proven guilty. And with 16, they feel like they have it. Yeah, that's bonkers.

Crazy. Now, in addition to the murder charges, he was also charged with one count of sodomy. against Michael Inderbeaten. I've actually shocked that it was only one count of sodomy. One count of inflicting mayhem against Jeffrey Nelson and one count of sodomy against Roger Deval. What does inflicting mayhem entail?

It involves maliciously maiming or disfiguring another person. Oh, okay. So that absolutely makes sense. There should have been a lot of those. In these cases, special circumstances were attached, making a death penalty case. Nice. Also, in this case, nice.

Nice. Like, bye. Despite their best efforts, there remained many unanswered questions with regard to several of the cases, too, unfortunately. Chief among them, detectives were never able to determine who, if anyone, had helped him commit the murders

or dispose of the bodies. Randy Kraft was not a large man, and it seemed pretty unlikely that he would have been able to carry and dump a lot of those victims on his own. He really isn't a big guy. Also, at a few of the dump sites, there was evidence of another person

having been there at the same time. Yeah, like the footprints alongside the other set of footprints. With William Laris' crime scene. That's where the second set of footprints was. There was also the matter of the photographs found in Kraft's car. While some were taken with a Polaroid camera and didn't need to be developed, many more were taken with a traditional film camera and would have required traditional processing. Kraft had no dark room in his house.

And he was not known to be familiar with film processing. So who the fuck had a dark room and was? developing these sick photos. Yep. That's what I'm saying. And that's the thing. So investigators concluded that someone had to have developed that film for him. What the fuck? And the fact that to this day, they don't know who it was. Like, however many years later, almost 50 years later at this point, we still don't know. Because no one else could have developed those. Whoever developed those cameras saw what was in them. Yeah. Yeah. Especially

with that kind of developing back then. Like in a dark room, you're literally like washing them, drying them, letting them, like Jesus Christ. He couldn't have just brought it to a film developing place because those people would have seen it. You see the photos. And it's like, so

either someone helped him with the murders, helped him with disposal, or at the very least knows about the murders, saw the pictures. Right. Or all three. Or two. And realistically, like, it could be multiple people. Yeah.

Some, maybe one person had the whole photos and then maybe somebody else did the disposals. Yeah. That, that could have been more than one person. It's horrifying. And that nobody was willing to come forward and like no one decided to have a conscience. And that he wouldn't, yeah, that he wouldn't break on that is interesting. It's crazy. I mean, he really, when it's a death penalty case.

There's even, and if that doesn't convince you that there's another person, in a small number of cases, there was foreign DNA not belonging to. who craft or the victim found on the victim's bodies. You hope that they still have that somewhere? I hope. Process that shit. Let's use it, man. Yeah. We've got to find out who this is.

Absolutely. And with regard to the potential accomplice, investigators are obviously looking in the most likely place. He had two known long-term boyfriends that he lived with. Yeah. So it's like you would think the person in the house with him is probably a likely suspect. Uh-huh. In the cases between 1971 and 1976, detectives believed it was very possible

that Kraft's then-boyfriend Jeffrey Graves had helped him dispose of the bodies after the murders. Really? Graves was interviewed several times and consistently denied having anything to do with the murders, but he died in 1987 shortly before Kraft's trial began. Wow.

And he died of illness. Oh, okay. I was going to say, oh, yeah, like he wasn't murdered. Yeah. Jeff Seelig was also considered as a possible accomplice, but like Graves, he denied any role and there was never enough evidence to connect him to the murders. So after years of delays, his trial finally began on September 27, 1988,

in Santa Ana County, with Deputy District Attorney Brian Brown, acting on behalf of the state, and C. Thomas McDonald representing Kraft. In his opening statement, Brown referenced the large amount of evidence discovered over the years that connected Kraft to the murders, including the fact that at the time he was arrested, the defendant had been found with a victim in his car. Despite his obvious attempts to stick to the facts and avoid any sensationalizing, McDonald nonetheless accused the prosecution of trying to inflame the jury and color their thinking so that they would arrive at a preconceived decision before they'd even listen to the evidence.

Brother, that's just a fact. He was found with a victim. Yeah. In his car. He was found with a dead body in his car. His car is rife with evidence. There's photos, rife with evidence. There's personal notes.

There's blood. This is one of those that as the defense attorney, you just got to go, we just got to try to minimize at this point. Like, you know what I mean? Monis is shocked he didn't go for like an insanity defense or something like that. In that case, you kind of have to go for that. Because you have to explain why he did this. Because we can't claim that he didn't do this.

No. There's a dead body in his possession. brother. Over the course of the trial, the jury heard from several witnesses who'd been with the victims before they disappeared. But exchanges with the witnesses frequently became heated upon cross-examination because Kraft was acting as his own co-counsel. Oh. It had a tendency to be confrontational with witnesses. What a fucking piece of absolute garbage. Outside the courtroom, tensions between the press and the judicial system earn the story even more attention. The judge publicly argued with the press over the release of sensitive information, like his so-called scorecard, which they published. From the moment the trial opened, his defense was unusual and pretty bold. With regard to the murder of Terry Gambrell, the defense argued that when the officers discovered Terry in the front seat of Kraft's car, the young man wasn't in fact dead.

McDonald told the jury, of course he wasn't dead. You do not have to have a pulse or a heartbeat to have viability. sir what do you have to have to have viability i need you to go back to uh biology class in seventh grade and explain that what the fuck you don't need a pulse or a heartbeat to have viability so what gives you viability are you just talking about the potential of like brainwaves firing off or something like that that means he's he still was murdered like what are you what are you talking about that's beyond in response yeah in response the prosecution pointed out that regardless of whether Gambrell was still warm and possibly alive when Kraft was pulled over,

he was pronounced dead a short time later, which makes him one of Kraft's victims. He didn't end up dead for no reason in that car. They're like, I would have been like, did he spontaneously die in the passenger seat? No. He had a ligature mark around his neck. Are you kidding me? And drugs in his system. Who did that? Right. In time, it became clear that McDonald's strategy was to create enough reasonable doubt in the mind of the jurors that they could possibly reach any conclusions and would have to acquit. But should you have attempted to do that in an intelligent way? You would think, because if I was on that jury and that motherfucker said to me, you don't need

a pulse or a heartbeat to have viability, I would have to raise my hand and ask the judge a couple questions. You would have to go, your owner? Me and the jury literally, hello? I just, can you clear something up for me? Do we have a science teacher in the room? Hi. Biology.

Hi. Hi. Basic biology. Hey. Qua? What? The fuck? Yeah.

Now, in support of that, the defense presented of his strategy of like, let's just create chaos. Yeah, exactly. Let's create a fucking circus. The defense presented a range of alternative suspects, which weren't exactly in short supply at that time in Southern California, unfortunately. In fact, investigators themselves had initially thought at least some of the victims had been killed by Patrick Kearney or William Bonnan.

Right. And a variety of the supposed alibis for Kraft on the night of the murders he was still trying to use. The defense's other tactic was to offer various alibis for him on the nights that this whole thing, all the things happened. In the case of Keith Crockwell's murder, for example, they presented previously obtained testimony from Jeff Graves. Remember, Jeff Graves was the one who supported the whole he got stuck in the mud.

He called me to come go. like he called me for help kind of thing. Oh, yeah, because he was his boyfriend. And when we first hear that, we go, oh, well, shit, maybe. But now that you know that he had an accomplice and that they were looking at him as an accomplice, it gets a little muddy. That's hit. Literally.

Yeah. Similarly, in the case of Mark Hall's murder, Kraft and several family members alleged he was at a New Year's Eve party at his parents' house all evening, and he returned very early in the morning that following day. But in this case, a detective for the prosecution drove the route described by Kraft. and discovered that he could have left the party and returned the next day at an early hour and still had several hours in which he could have killed Hall. There you go.

I love that a detective was like, I'll try it. And then just drove the route and was like, nope. While McDonald's case may have been at times kind of compelling to watch, I suppose, the prosecution had a significant and far more compelling, seriously compelling amount of physical evidence. Yeah, like the fact that they have things that these victims were last seen wearing or period, in this motherfucker's house. They also photograph and blood and fibers and hair and a dead body found in his possession, which I will never stop yelling from the fucking rooftops.

They had physical evidence, forensic evidence, witness testimony. They had it all. Yeah. He at least murdered the 16 men that they were presenting. Much of that evidence was circumstantial, but for the defendant to have so many of the victim's belongings and photographs like we were just saying, which had been taking before and after their deaths, how are you arguing that Kraft was not responsible for the murders?

Yeah, that's beyond reasonable doubt. On April 29th, 1989, closing arguments began in the trial. In his arguments, Deputy District Attorney Brian Brown pointed to the large amount of evidence in Kraft's possession and reminded the jury of the large amount of forensic evidence and testimony that they had just witnessed. Finally, he reminded them of the victim list found in crap's possession, which he referred to as a, quote, dynamite, piece of evidence that connected 14 of the 16 victims to each other and back to Randy.

In his closing arguments on the other side, defense attorney James Merwin proceeded with their strategy of just being a fool, of acting a fool, reminding the jury that while the forensic evidence did show the craft had been in the presence of these men and may have had sex with some of them, investigators and the prosecution were unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed them. Except for the fact that he has photos in his possession of them dead. As for the supposed scorecard that Brown suggested was irrefutable proof, Merwin dismissed the idea that it was a list of victims and suggested, quote,

it may be no more than a guest list for a roommate's birthday party. Are you fucking kidding me? That's a literal quote. Are you fucking kidding me? Maybe no more than a guest list for a roommate's birthday party. a guest list also, weirdly, that has dates attributed to each of those people. Various dates. What are those dates?

How many roommates do you have? Also, did the roommate give every single one of these people a nickname? Yeah. That include blood and head? Multiple have the same nickname, two for one. Yeah. Portland Head? Who's that?

I'd love to know. Who's coming to his birthday party named Portland Head? Get a grip. Like, get a grip. Get a fucking grip. And a life while you're at it. Get a literal grip. Get a life, as my dad would say, to anybody that pisses him off.

It's my favorite thing that he says, get a life. He says it with such fucking. He does. He burns. Helzade in traffic. Yeah. Get a life. It's pretty great.

Fuck that guy, though. Not my dad, this guy. On May 2nd, the jury, just in case that wasn't clear. On May 2nd, the jury retired for deliberation, which lasted a full 11 days, which is wild to me. Baby, girls, why did it take you that long? What it's going on. Respectfully, no. Disrespectfully, what took so long?

Before merging on May 13th to find Randy Kraft guilty of all 16 murders. Iconic. As well as one sodomy charge and one charge of mayhem. Good. When the verdict was read, the families of the victims wept and cheered the outcome. Jeffrey Nelson's mother, Judy, told a reporter, I know he's guilty. He knows he's guilty. Every mother in there had 16 beautiful sons, and that guy destroyed them.

He should pay something. Absolutely. And you know what, Judy, I fucking agree. Yep, wholeheartedly. Quick little side tangent. We haven't talked about the Idaho murders a lot. One, because we are not... We're not covering now. We weren't

current either. Like, while it was happening, we would have been three weeks behind everything. So we didn't want to be like three weeks behind all the updates and be annoying you guys. It would just be like really disrespectful to everybody involved. We're not going to cover them anytime soon. That's a thing. Not anytime soon. Yeah, anytime soon.

Because one, it happened pretty recently and two, those families are still like, they just went through that sentencing. Not only that, but just thinking about this mother talking about that, Brian Enton, who covers a lot of these, he covered like the Gabby Petito case while it was going.

He's a very up-to-date. He's a very great and very respectful journalist from what I've seen. He was in the sentencing for Brian Colberger, and he saw one of the victim's mothers receiving threatening text messages from some piece of shit internet person who was literally threatening her,

while she was at the sentencing for the man who brutally murdered her child. Trying to say that Brian Colberger was not guilty. Meanwhile, his evidence, his DNA was found as evidence at the crime scene. Like, go fuck yourself. I won't even. I won't even. And so, like, what are you doing texting a murder victim's mother like that? Like, pisses me off. Like, you got to be the lowest form of the same people who were sitting there saying that

the roommates had something to do with it and all that shit. Like, I'm not going to go far into this because, again, I said I would not cover this. But just like, we got to get it together. We've all had moments where we thought something about a case and theorized. We have been guilty of that before. Absolutely, we have. But you got to evolve.

Start evolving. Everybody. Evolve. It's 2025. We got to stop that. And realize that you don't know everything. That's the thing. And it's like, and you never will.

You got to evolve in the true crime worlds with like not, you got to know what, start looking around. Just start looking around. Just start looking. looking around. See how, you know, like, just like that really, thinking about that poor woman getting threatening text messages from people who think they know more. Yeah. Just sent me into orbit. And I was just thinking of this mother, like sitting there being like all 16 mothers in that courtroom lost sons. And I'm like, fuck. They did. Like, just, ugh. Just leave people alone. Just leave, leave these families long. Have some fucking respect. Yeah, for real. And I'm not,

I know it's not you guys listening right now. I'm not talking like to you guys. saying like fuck like you know like when you look around and see those you're probably getting you never know who's going to tune in yeah you never know but uh so back to they you know they came back they gave him the guilty verdict for all 16 victims and they returned to the courtroom on June 5th for the sentencing phase um that lasted another two months wow during this period the defense made a number of arguments for leniency you can literally go fuck yourself with that including arguing the head injury that Kraft had sustained as a small child doing damage to his frontal lobe. I'm sure that it did, but it doesn't make you kill that many people and lose that amount of humanity.

The prosecution disagreed with that and encouraged the jury to return a death sentence. Yeah, me as well. On August 12, 1989, the jury did indeed sentence Randy Kraft to die for the crimes he committed. One juror said, he should die for what he did to all those people. I've had nightmares thinking about the horror of what the man is done. Another juror agreed with this telling a reporter, I'm never going to be normal again. I was so naive about so many things. Wow. You have to think, like,

what people on the juries go through. Yeah. In a case like this. That really will change you for the rest of your life. You are seeing things that the public is not seeing. You are seeing crime scene photos. You are seeing autopsy photos. You are seeing the worst kind of shit you can imagine. On such a minute level,

you and I have talked about this before, I feel changed from doing this for so many years. I'll never, I will never stop thinking about the Moore's murders case. You just said that and then immediately popped into my head. When I accidentally stumbled upon a picture that I did not want to see. I was not looking for it. It came up in the course of something else and I will think about it until the day I die. It's the pictures. It's the brutal details and like I'm not saying that you like none of us should have an interest in true crime or anything like that, but like it does change you. Yeah, and it should. And it

changes you. It should change you. I think it definitely should change you. So the judge, Donald McCarton, chose to reserve a lot of his commentary until Kraft had exhausted his appeals. But he did have some strong words for the defense regarding their conduct

during the trial. Oh, I bet. He told McDonald's and Merwin in a harsh tone before admonishing them for the constant delays and attempts to stall. This trial should have been over

in three months. Yeah. McCarton pointed to the trial of Richard Ramirez which had began on the same day as Kraft's trial and ended in just two months. Wow. Yeah. Isn't that crazy that they started on the same day?

Yes. Three months later... For California. Yeah, California's been through it. Yeah. Three months later on November 29th, Judge McCarton formally sentenced Kraft to death and he remained in custody of the state and then was removed to San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Because

California has gone back and forth over the legality of the death penalty in their state, very few executions have a occurred in the years since he was convicted, and none have occurred since 2006. Today, the death penalty is legal, but there has been a moratorium in place since 2019 that bars the practice. As a result of this whole thing, Randy Kraft remains on death row at San Quentin without any date for his execution.

He's 82. Damn. In the years since his conviction, he has appealed several times, but is yet to successfully overturn his conviction or sentence. The challenges he's brought to the appeal. courts have ranged from the unlawful admission of evidence to the legality of the death penalty itself. But in most cases, the court just failed to find his arguments persuasive at all. As for the crimes themselves, Kraft has consistently denied any responsibilities for the murders

and maintains that he is innocent of the charges. That's a joke. Even after all that evidence. That's a joke. Also, sorry, he's 80. For the most part, Randy Kraft has denied requests for interviews and did not testify on his own behalf or speak during the sentencing phase. Finally, in 2016, he agreed to speak with the Bay Area Reporter, an LGBT news organization in California, about the case and trial. He told the reporter, I'm getting older.

I'm going to die here. If I don't say something, it will never be said. According to Kraft, he met Terry Gambrell at a bar called the Brigg, and the Marine was very drunk and incoherent. He said he was sitting down, holding stuff in his lap near the trash can in the parking lot. He looked out of sorts, and I asked him if he was okay. Oh, you're such a humanitarian. He didn't say anything to me other than he said, El Toro.

I thought he was drunk or whatever and would take him to the base. He claimed that at the time he was noticed by police, he wasn't weaving because he was drunk, but because he was trying to help Gambrell. Oh, yeah. He said, I was shaking him, trying to wake him, shouting at him, trying to see if anything was in his mouth blocking his airway. That's so crazy, because, like, who strangled him then?

Yeah, looking to see if he was wounded or bleeding. Oh, my God. He said, then I noticed the lights of the CHP patrol car that was pulling me over. Shit like this shouldn't even get published. No, it shouldn't. And I love that he also had this, which I believe is, personally, I believe this is him getting a little funny, funny out of his statement here. When he said, he wanted to make sure that nothing was blocking his airway.

Oh, yeah. Really? Like the several things that you force fed down people's throats and suffocated them with throughout the years? Yeah. Like, that was a cute little addition. nice you fucking piece of shit throughout the interview he continued to assert that the supposed scorecard the prosecutor made so much what about was just a list of guests for an upcoming

birthday barney why did it have different dates then and different states dates states names what the fuck are you talking about yeah and why are you wasting people's time he said one column was the names of people i wanted to invite and the other column were maybes it was in code so he wouldn't recognize it because he was in a surprise his roommate and what were the different dates states about. Don't worry about it. As for all the other evidence against him, that was all manufactured by the prosecution to close the case on so

many unsolved murders. He said, I didn't get a fair trial. The government turned it into a serial. I bet. Wow. Whether he did or didn't get a fair trial, he remains on death row to this day and he will likely remain there until he fucking dies. In the meantime, the authorities in California

are continuing to work on identifying those additional victims, both those on the quote unquote scorecard and those who don't appear there, but are nonetheless believed to have been victims of Randy Kraft, the scorecard killer. So there's more than the 61

on that card that they think are attributed to him. That's crazy. And that is the case of the scorecard killer, Randy Craft. That was truly unlike anything we have ever covered. Truly. I... Some of the things that we talked about

in the past few days are unimaginable. And just like that juror, I feel changed forever. I feel completely changed by this case. Completely. Those poor families having to sit there and hear the fucking atrocities that were done to their children. Yeah. I like, by this piece of absolute garbage. That's a crime in and of itself that they had to sit there and hear about that.

Yeah. That's awful. It never ceases to amaze me that people like this exist. That's the thing like happens. Yeah. to make people this way. Yeah. It is fascinating to look into it.

There's not some simple he bumped his head. No, it's so, it goes so far beyond that. Yeah. People are twisted, my dude. Twisted? I mean, this is like worst. Nightmare shit. I can't even come up with a word for that.

I mean, monstrous, grotesque, atrocious. every, abhorrent, abominable, like, it's just like everything is, he's, and that, and there's so many. Like, it got to a point when I was going through this that I was like, when does it stop? Yeah. Like, when does it stop and when does he get caught? Because I can't read about another one of these. But then I was like, you have to read about another one of these because it's all matter. Yeah, they all do. And it's like, holy shit. What was it ultimately 12, 13 years he was killing? Yeah, it was like, over a decade. Yeah. Like, that. is in three states like several counties like thank goodness for DNA and then goodness those

jurisdictions started talking I know I know and opened it up to other jurisdictions they never would have connected I know and you just you really hope that would be and I've said it like so many times but I really hope that with the advancements and forensic sciences he they can figure out who the fuck helped him with this and who that other DNA belongs to on some of those bodies yeah I hope so because I want to get some of those people identified. Yeah. Nobody should have to be unidentified for that long. Yeah.

And like the accomplices should not be able to live the rest of their lives. No. With what they did. Yeah. The accomplices, we need to find out who the fuck did it. Like, he had help. Absolutely. Who the fuck is it?

And he's not going to turn on anybody because he's not admitting that he was even involved. Right. And so he never will. That would ruin his whole. Like he's a little bitch. Which is dumb because you're on death row no matter well. You're in your age. You're dying there.

So it's like, just admit it, dude. Clear your fucking conscience. And it's like, not that you have one. But he's holding onto his shit. So he knows if he starts pointing fingers, he's now admitting to what he did. So he's never going to do it. That's why he hasn't pulled anyone in. And I'm shocked by it.

Yeah, it is nuts. But it's to save his own ass. But I don't know why, because I'm like, you're dying there. But he wants, like, he doesn't want that legacy. He wants to pretend that he's innocent and he was just railroaded. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, like we promised, our next.

episode will be spooky. I think we're going to do spooky games. Yeah, we found some really cool ones that we just want to get like fun with. They're scary. They're scary. Some of them are terrifying. Some of them are terrifying. Just for one episode so we can just take a second. Yeah. And then I think after that we've got listener tales. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Well, with all that being said, we hope you keep it. Weird. Weird. Not so weird that you don't go do something nice for yourself today. Yeah. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. self. I'm going to be able to be.

I'm going to be. You know, I'm going to be the I'm going to I'm I'm you know I'm going to be able to be.

I'm going to And so, you know, the . So, I'm going to I'm

going to I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm

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