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

Summary

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

August 21, 2025 | Morbid Network | Wondery

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Episode Overview

In this third and final chapter covering Randy Kraft, known as "The Scorecard Killer," Ash and Elena bring listeners through the chilling escalation of one of America’s most prolific and sadistic serial killers. With their signature blend of deep research, true crime analysis, and candid (often darkly humorous) banter, the hosts trace Kraft’s final murders, his modus operandi, the expansive investigation, and his eventual capture and trial. Amidst the discussion of horrifying crimes, they also grapple with the toll on victims’ families and the unanswered questions about possible accomplices. This episode pulls no punches regarding the forensic, legal, and human sides of an almost unimaginable killing spree.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Catching Up: Life Updates and Show Announcements

• The hosts begin the episode in a playful, irreverent tone—sharing concert stories (Rod Stewart's farewell tour, Ghost at TD Garden) and personal updates.
  • Memorable Moment:
    • "Anything for Rod." — Both Ash and Elena (06:32)
    • "That song 'Do You Think I’m Sexy?' is gonna get caught in your head for years to come!" — Elena (07:38)
• Announcement: Their "ReWatcher" podcast will cover "True Blood" next.

2. Why the Case Is So Complex & Lengthy

• Elena explains the decision to keep this a long episode rather than splitting it:
  • The darkness of the case, the sheer number of victims, and the lack of natural 'break points' in the narrative.
  • "This is gonna be kind of a long episode, but it’s the end, so we’re gonna get to some kind of resolution..." — Elena (10:36)

3. Kraft’s Escalation: From Freedom Back to Murder

Begins deeper dive at ~11:26

• Kraft remained free in the late 1970s/early 80s due to lack of evidence, even as suspicions mounted.
• His life with boyfriend Jeff Selig seemed stable for a time, as did a business career, but the peace was a facade—murders continued in waves.

4. Signature Crimes and Victims (Timeline & Patterns)

Elena walks through key murder cases, illustrating disturbing trends:

• Use of drugs (Valium, Tylenol, antihistamines) and alcohol to incapacitate victims.
• Victims (often hitchhikers, servicemen) discovered bound, sexually assaulted, and tortured.
• Cases across California and Oregon, with many bodies dumped off freeways, consistent use of ligatures, and evidence often found months or years later.

Notable Cases (with Crime Details and Forensic Notes)

• Michael Sean O'Fallon (17): Hogtied, strangulation, drugged. (14:11)
• Larry Parks (30): Strangulation with Valium and painkillers in his system. (16:06)
• Robert Loggins Jr. (19): Found at El Toro Air Base, bound, single sock, high blood alcohol, possible smothering/asphyxia. (17:33)
• Michael Cluck (17): Struck 16 times, massive head wounds, drugs/alcohol in system—Kraft visited ER soon after for a foot injury, possibly from the attack. (19:26)
• Raymond Davis (13) and Robert Avila Jr. (16): Youngest victims so far, found together near Hollywood Freeway, weeks apart, both strangled—shocked even the hosts. (23:23)
• Bryant Witcher (26): Missing clothing found later in Kraft’s home. (25:47)
• Lance Taggs (19): Died with orange gym sock shoved down his throat. (27:08)

5. Forensic Links & Modus Operandi (MO)

• Use of drugs to control/knock out victims.
• Items consistently stolen/collected as trophies (camera, gym bag, jackets, personal effects), later found in Kraft’s home.
• A blend of control and calculated movement: fewer murders during happy life periods, bursts of killings during times of emotional turmoil. (21:31)

6. Possible Accomplices

• Evidence suggests more than one person at some disposal sites (footprints, movement of bodies).
  • "Detectives were never able to determine who, if anyone, had helped him commit the murders or dispose of the bodies..." — Elena (59:12)
• Photographs taken with traditional film, but Kraft lacked the skills/darkroom for development, implying outside assistance. (60:10)
• Multiple former boyfriends investigated, but no charges/clear evidence.

7. Investigation, Breakthroughs & Kraft’s Arrest

(Timeline resumes at ~41:49)

• Highways, multiple victims, and slowly collaborating investigations in Oregon and California begin revealing an interstate pattern.

• Growing serial murder evidence: matching fibers from car/home, body disposal patterns, and finally—luck.

  The Capture (42:49):

  • Kraft pulled over for erratic driving; passenger Terry Gambrell found dead in his car, amidst pills, ligatures, and blood—caught mid-disposal.
  • "So they caught this man mid... mid disposal of a body." — Ash (44:02)

• Evidence found in car/home: murder supplies, blood, victims' belongings, and most significantly, a three-ring "scorecard" notebook with 61 cryptic murder references.

8. The Infamous "Scorecard" and Evidence Trove

• 61 entries, each a shorthand for a murder (e.g., “parking lot,” “diabetic,” “two in one”)—remarkable for its callousness and specificity.
  • "This is where the Scorecard Killer’s name comes from. This document eventually was referred to as his scorecard..." — Elena (51:42)
• Dozens of explicit photographs, identifiable victims alive and dead, personal items from confirmed and suspected victims.

9. Legal Proceedings, Defense Tactics, and the Verdict

• DA and prosecution built their case over years, focusing on 16 cases with irrefutable links (forensics, belongings, photos, fibers, fingerprints).
• Defense attempted alternate suspect theories, alibis, and even claimed the scorecard was a birthday guest list.
  • "It may be no more than a guest list for a roommate's birthday party." — Defense attorney Merwin (70:24)
• Kraft acted as co-counsel, cross-examining witnesses aggressively.
• Jury deliberated 11 days; found him guilty of all 16 murders, plus additional charges (74:12–74:43).
• Sentenced to death in 1989, frequently appealing but remaining on death row (no execution due to California’s moratorium).

10. Reflection: Victims’ Families, Systemic Issues, and Lingering Questions

• Deep empathy for families witnessing brutal evidence at trial.
  • "Every mother in there had 16 beautiful sons, and that guy destroyed them. He should pay something.” — Jeffrey Nelson’s mother, Judy (71:59)
• The hosts reflect on true crime’s impact—on themselves, on listeners, on society.
• Persistent mystery: Who developed the photos? Who was the possible accomplice? Will advances in forensics one day answer these questions?

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Notable Quotes & Moments (With Timestamps)

• Elena: "It’s a lighthearted nightmare in here, weirdos!" (00:00)
• Ash: "Anything for Rod." (06:32) — Fun, irreverent moment early on.
• Elena: "He’s just shaking his bum on the street... Good for him. Shake his butt." (08:38)
• Elena: "Sorry. I’m about to take you down. This is gonna be a long one." (09:59) — Tone shift before launching into case.
• Ash (on young male victims): "They're like little kids." (24:53)
• Elena (on the callousness of the scorecard): "He just didn’t even bother [using their real names]." (54:20)
• Ash (on Kraft’s lawyer): "You know what’s like free to do? To shut the fuck up? It costs you $0." (49:06)
• On the “birthday guest list” defense:
  • Elena: "I'd love to know who's coming to his birthday party named 'Portland Head.'" (70:52)
  • Ash: "Two for one. Yeah... Get a grip." (70:50)
• Elena: “It just came down to fucking luck.” (46:00, 46:14) — on how Kraft was finally caught.
• Jury reaction: "One juror said, 'I’m never going to be normal again. I was so naive about so many things.'" (75:36)
• Ash: "It never ceases to amaze me that people like this exist. That’s the thing—what happens to make people this way?" (81:46)
• Elena: "Like, when does it stop? And when does he get caught? Because I can't read about another one of these." (82:44)
• On accomplice mystery:
  • Elena: "Who the fuck had a darkroom and was developing these sick photos?" (60:16)
  • Ash: "That could have been more than one person. It’s horrifying that nobody was willing to come forward..." (61:22)
• On Kraft’s denial (post-conviction):
  • Elena: "He said the scorecard was just a birthday guest list. 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 going to surprise his roommate." (80:14)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Episode Mood Set & Host Banter: 02:07–09:52
• Why the Case Is Split as It Is: 09:59–11:19
• Resuming the Timeline (Murders Continue): 11:26
• Graphic Crime Details (Kraft’s Oregon Victims): ~14:11–18:50
• The Scorecard/Linking Evidence: 51:38–54:20
• Kraft’s Arrest: 42:49–45:17
• Discovery and Implications of the Scorecard: 51:38–54:20
• Legal Case, Defense Antics, and Verdict: 62:32–74:43
• Reflection on Victims, True Crime Community: 71:44–76:42
• Final Reflection, Unanswered Questions, Kraft Today: 77:46–84:16

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Final Thoughts & Takeaways

Ash and Elena close with a reflection on the magnitude of Kraft's crimes, the trauma experienced by the families, and the personal toll of researching such evil. They express deep empathy for all affected, underscore the complexity and horror of cases like Kraft’s, and tease a much-needed lighter, spooky-topic episode next. The Scorecard Killer case stands out—for its brutality, duration, and chilling evidence—as one of the most unnerving and significant the show has ever examined.

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Note:
If you or someone you know is researching this case or exploring its impact, this episode is both a thorough true crime resource and a reminder of the resilience of victims’ families, the slow progress of forensic science, and the enduring mystery that shrouds serial crimes—even decades later.

Transcript

[Ash]

Hey, weirdos, it's Ash. Before we dive into today's twisted tale, let me tell you about the spooky perks of Wondery. It's like having a skeleton key that unlocks ad free listening and early access to new episodes. So don't wait. Try Wondery. Today you can join Wonder plus in the Wondery app or in Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[Elena]

You're listening to a morbid network podcast.

[Ash]

Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking. Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall wellbeing. Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible originals all in one easy app. Find the genres you love and discover new ones. Explore bestsellers like my sister's title, new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. I. I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me. She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you. And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it. I love all the different narrators. I love Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30 day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.commorbid. think about the most disturbing government secrets.

[Elena]

You'Ve learned from history.

[Ash]

And now imagine discovering one that begins in a hospital room and leads straight to classified military operations that were buried for decades. Listen to a medical mystery, a special episode from redacted and Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries, available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Elena]

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. Hey, what's up?

[Ash]

Hi. How you doing?

[Elena]

Hi, Adair.

[Ash]

Hiya, Dern. That's a Little Wayne, but you would not know that.

[Elena]

I did not know that. I just thought of Laura Dern.

[Ash]

I shortened it a little bit to be more respectful to my listeners. You guys are dumb and old.

[Elena]

Just kidding. Somebody better get mad at her about that.

[Ash]

I'm America's sweetheart.

[Elena]

Just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, we were just. 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.

[Ash]

Like, kind of like old morbid.

[Elena]

And I gotta tell you, one, I'm really happy that you noticed that.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And two, I feel, like, unhinged, happy.

[Ash]

It's like Stella got her. How Stella got her groove back. Yeah. It only took a few years. I'm feeling it. You know, it's. It's quick for you to lose your groove.

[Elena]

It's very quick to lose your groove. But, yeah, when you. When you're. When your groove gets punched in the jaw, it's easy to lose it.

[Ash]

But, yeah, then you can't shake your groove thing. It's like, a lot happens when. When your groove is affected.

[Elena]

It's true.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

We're so close back.

[Elena]

It's feeling really good, though. It's feeling seriously groovy.

[Ash]

Okay. We were not on the same page there, but, yeah, it is feeling seriously good and groovy.

[Elena]

It's feeling both of those things.

[Ash]

Our telepathy was not fully turned on at that point.

[Elena]

You know, it's later in the day and we've been doing some things, so we've been busy.

[Ash]

It's true.

[Elena]

So I don't think I told you guys how awesome the Boston Ghost show was. It was fucking rad.

[Ash]

Hell, yeah, brother.

[Elena]

It was so good. It was at TD Garden, and I'd never been to a show there before.

[Ash]

You really have never been to a show there?

[Elena]

I had been to taking you to see High School Musical on ice there.

[Ash]

Fuck yeah, we saw that. So what do you mean you never saw a show there? What do you mean?

[Elena]

I guess I have seen a show there.

[Ash]

Was that not an experience for you?

[Elena]

It was a good experience, but Ghost was also really great.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's a little more up there.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yay.

[Elena]

I loved it. And again, if you have a chance to go to a ghost ritual, go to one that's.

[Ash]

Yeah, I like that. They call them rituals.

[Elena]

Yeah, they call them rituals. There was. 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.

[Ash]

You should go.

[Elena]

And I Was like, no, you'll go.

[Ash]

We're on a floating rock in space. If you want to disregard your responsibilities, you got to do it.

[Elena]

I probably should have.

[Ash]

It's your stellium in Capricorn that won't allow you.

[Elena]

But we'll work on it. Yeah, we'll work on that.

[Ash]

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. I'm learning about the houses now.

[Elena]

I'm pretty. I'm pretty impressed, I got to say.

[Ash]

Thank you. But another concert we didn't tell them about. We took Elena's mom. My girl.

[Elena]

Oh, my God.

[Ash]

Yeah. We took ma to go see Rod Stewart, and we didn't know what to expect. Like, I like a couple Rod Stewart songs.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

But I don't know. A ton of them.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And I was just like, what is this gonna be like?

[Elena]

And I grew up with my. My mom and my dad, but, like, my mom. My mom loves Rod Stewart.

[Ash]

She thinks he's sexy.

[Elena]

Yeah. Like, she. She like, Rod Stewart is her, like, tobacco. Tobias Forge. Like, it's like. So I was like. And.

[Ash]

Or Harry Styles.

[Elena]

Exactly. So I grew up listening to Harry Sty. Styles to Rod 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. What do I expect from a Rod Stewart concert? And it's his, like, farewell tour, too. So we. We took her to it because, you know, he's. It's his farewell tour.

[Ash]

It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

[Elena]

Rod Stewart goes hard, puts on a. And I hate telling you this now, because it's his farewell tour.

[Ash]

Well, you know what? He's still going to have a lot.

[Elena]

Of chances to see him again, but if you can, if he's coming near you, I'm telling you.

[Ash]

God, what did we learn? Anything for Rod.

[Elena]

Anything for Rod.

[Ash]

That's what we learned that night.

[Elena]

We learned that right away.

[Ash]

That song where he's like, do you think I'm sexy?

[Elena]

Or whatever. If you want my body and you think I'm sexy.

[Ash]

I always forget that. The next part is I sang it wrong. It said something about sugar babies.

[Elena]

You did.

[Ash]

It doesn't.

[Elena]

No.

[Ash]

Rod Stewart's not like that.

[Elena]

No, he's not.

[Ash]

But during that song and, like, on the side thing, it just said sexy.

[Elena]

Question mark. Sexy.

[Ash]

And I thought that was the funniest fucking thing in the world.

[Elena]

He's still moving around. He's grooving. He had five costume changes.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like, not even just like. Like a minimal costume change. Head to toe, new shoes, soup to nuts.

[Elena]

He had.

[Ash]

Knew everything beyond. It was crazy.

[Elena]

He had. 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?

[Ash]

You better discover Rod Stewart. But.

[Elena]

Go discover Rod Stewart.

[Ash]

Anything for Rod. The other thing is, like, you're.

[Elena]

That song do youo Think I'm Sexy? Is gonna get caught in your head for years to come.

[Ash]

It's. It transcends time and space.

[Elena]

Like, we have been. It's in John's head now, too. So, like, the two of us, but, like, when we're always around the kids. So, like, we can't just be like, do I feel like my body? So both of us are just being like. And it's. I. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Ash]

It's a great song. I really wouldn't.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah. I wish I knew sooner. Yeah.

[Elena]

But at least we got to see him.

[Ash]

I know. And Maggie Mae Live was the coolest thing I've ever seen because I've loved that song forever.

[Elena]

Infatuation. Great song. Infatuation.

[Ash]

Oh, yes. So good.

[Elena]

So good.

[Ash]

It was. And, yeah, it was. I have so much to say about it. But, see, go see Rob go to Abu Dhabi.

[Elena]

I think that's where he's ending it. In Abu Dhabi. Yeah, but that man is crazy. He's 80 years old, going everywhere, and.

[Ash]

He'S just shaking his bum on the street.

[Elena]

Good for him. Shake his butt.

[Ash]

But, yeah, it's great.

[Elena]

And again, we have some really fun stuff coming up with the Re Watcher. If you're not. If you're not on that train yet, I highly recommend you get on that train.

[Ash]

Well, we should probably say, too. And don't worry, we're gonna get to the case. But this is actually, like, business. We announced it on the rewatcher that we are gonna be doing True Blood for the season. Two next season. So we're finishing up Buffy. I think we're probably gonna be done with Buffy, like, around October. Ish.

[Elena]

Yeah. In the fall.

[Ash]

Yeah, like in the fall. Around that time. Don't quote me.

[Elena]

Yeah. I don't know. But.

[Ash]

But then we're going to True Blood.

[Elena]

True Blood. We're starting it from the beginning, and it's gonna be so much fun.

[Ash]

And I have never seen a single episode with Buffy. I had seen, like, an episode or two.

[Elena]

Not much. Not a single episode of True Blood.

[Ash]

Nothing.

[Elena]

She has no idea what she's in for, so. So. Shh.

[Ash]

Yeah. And you've seen it through once.

[Elena]

Yeah, I've seen it through once, but I haven't rewatched.

[Ash]

But then Mikey, who produces Morbid and is a co host on Rewatcher, has seen it, like, a bunch.

[Elena]

So it's.

[Ash]

It's really staying true to the theme if you're already a rewatcher that, you know.

[Elena]

And we have a really cool little surprise that we'll let you know soon about that.

[Ash]

God, literally, so exciting. Life.

[Elena]

Life has been.

[Ash]

I just want to, like, shout out to the. The big You. The big universe up there. She's. She's bestowing gifts.

[Elena]

Yeah. Life is lifing.

[Ash]

It is lately.

[Elena]

So I really appreciate that, in a good way. But. Yeah. Now that we've just said life is lifing and the universe is great and everything's been wonderful. Sorry. I'm about to take you. Take you down. This is gonna 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 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 forward momentum. If I had just split it into, like, another part or.

[Ash]

You mean part three would have been part three? Yeah.

[Elena]

Or. No, part two would have. If I. If I had split part two into, like, another part. Oh, it would have been, like, 2.

[Ash]

And 3 would have been abysmal.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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 gonna be kind of a long episode, but it's the end, so we're gonna get to some kind of resolution at the end of this. When we last left, 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.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

And he kept going.

[Elena]

Yeah. So while investigators in Los Angeles were just struggling to determine which victims belonged with which killer at this point. Cause 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 Selig, had bought a small house in Long Beach. And Jeff's small candy business was doing well.

[Ash]

Wait, wasn't his last boyfriend's name Jeff? Does he have a thing for Jeff?

[Elena]

Jeff. Maybe he has a thing for Jeff.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Yeah. Was it Jeff's? Interesting.

[Ash]

I feel like it was started with a J for sure.

[Elena]

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 University of Southern California's MBA program.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Interesting.

[Elena]

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 Bonin, the man they believed to be the Freeway Killer. Oh, we've talked about William Bonin 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 Kraft's, which was like 1968 to 1980. The thing was, William Bonin 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 Bonin. Now, Randy Kraft felt less restricted because he was like, well, he's getting blamed for him.

[Ash]

He's taking the fall.

[Elena]

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 18, 1980, a man hauling beans to a cannery in Salem, Oregon, discovered the nude body of 17 year old Michael Sean O'. 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 shoelaces, which were secured to a second set of laces that bound his ankles together. So he was like hogtied.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Oh, wow.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Becoming a thing.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Jesus.

[Elena]

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 victims, Parks body was fully clothed, but he was missing his belt and his shoelaces. 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 in Oregon, returned to Long Beach. Just one month later, another body was discovered near. One month later.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

What this did was it effectively undermined the certainty investigators felt at having caught the man responsible for strangulation deaths in Southern California. Right. Cause 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 3, 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 had become dislodged due to advanced decomposition.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah, because remember, this is California. Exactly.

[Elena]

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 at the time of death. Logan's blood alcohol level was quite high. It was 0.25. There was also high levels of 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 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 Aug. 22. 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, Logan said he wanted to sleep on the beach and walked off. Yeah. His friends tried to get him back to the car to return to the base, but they were unsuccessful. He just wasn't gonna go.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

The following morning, when Loggins failed to show up for work, they went out looking for him, but 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 10, police in Goshen, Oregon, received a report about a body that was discovered alongside Interstate 5. 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.

[Ash]

That's happening a lot more recently.

[Elena]

So scary.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like recently in the case.

[Elena]

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 force wounds to the back of the head which had caved in the victim's skull. Oh, my God. When the results of toxicology came back, they showed large amounts of antihistamines, painkillers and tranquilizers in his system. And he had a blood alcohol level of.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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

At the same time that investigators were searching the scene for evidence, Randy Kraft visited the emergency room in Tualatin, 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 3am while moving around his hotel room barefoot, in the dark, trying to reach the television so he could watch the space shuttle launch.

[Ash]

I feel like you wouldn't injure your foot that badly in that scenario.

[Elena]

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 in a dresser at Kraft's home. Wow.

[Ash]

He kept a lot.

[Elena]

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 Cluck and Goan they seemed to stop again without explanation. Eventually, these breaks in 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.

[Ash]

Yup.

[Elena]

For instance, like the large break in activity following the murder of Mark hall in December 1975 was attributed eventually to Kraft having begun his relationship with Jeff Selig. You were correct.

[Ash]

I was.

[Elena]

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 Selig appeared to have been going well. But by early 1982, they had hit a rough patch in their relationship and began seeing a therapist in late June. That's when the murders began again.

[Ash]

Yep.

[Elena]

So as soon as it starts going downhill, he's mad.

[Ash]

Yeah. The town of Agda in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex. But lately, life on the coast has.

[Elena]

Taken a strange turn.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

Local people have been getting. I am the Archangel Michael.

[Ash]

The whole town has been thrown into.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Chic for the mystic and the Mayor, as we investigate a story of power, corruption and magic.

[Elena]

Binge all episodes of the mystic and.

[Ash]

The Mayor, exclusively and ad free right now on Wondery. Plus. Start your free trial in Apple podcasts, Spotify, or the Wondery app.

[Elena]

On July 29, 1982, an employee from the California Department of Transportation was sent to investigate reports of a strong, very unpleasant odor near the Hollywood Freeway and Echo Park. When they got to the location, they did discover a body that of 13 year old Raymond Davis.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

Thirteen.

[Ash]

That's his youngest victim so far, right?

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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 17, 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 reporter. 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 and a phone number. But her son never gave her 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 100ft 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.

[Ash]

They're like little kids.

[Elena]

Yeah, what the fuck? Children. Robert had been strangled to death with a length of wire. And while Davis body had been in that location for more than a month and was in an advanced state of decomposition, Robert was believed to have been there since July 21. 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. 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 24, the body of 26 year old Bryant 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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Witcher was dressed in a pair of pants and he 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.

[Ash]

I didn't know if it was going to be antihistamines, Valium, Tylenol. Yeah, all over the place.

[Elena]

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

[Ash]

Geez, it's really insane how much he kept from these victims.

[Elena]

Like something from everybody. On the night of December 9, just two weeks after Witcher's murder, the body of 19 year old Lance Taggs was discovered on the side of Interstate 5 in Tigard, Oregon. That's less than a quarter mile from the spot where Brian Witcher's body was found.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

The previous evening, Tags had been seen leaving his house carrying a nylon tote bag with a town in Hawaii's name printed on the side.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

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 throat.

[Ash]

Jesus.

[Elena]

While he was alive, he shoved an orange gym sock down his throat and he asphyxiated. At the time of death, his blood alcohol level was.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. Boom. Also one of 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 18, another body was discovered on the side of a residential road adjacent to i5. 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 guard duty. The couple didn't have a car, so Anthony decided to hitchhike.

[Ash]

Hitchhike?

[Elena]

Because the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, the ME Was unable to give a definitive cause 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 couldn't deduce it. Right. The victim had also been sexually assaulted and was subjected to very various other forms of torture before being killed. The results of this toxicology report showed a blood alcohol level of 0.23. And there was a lot of volume in his system.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

How is he getting all this Valium as well?

[Ash]

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 and antihistamine?

[Elena]

I think so.

[Ash]

And Benadryl like really has like drowsy calming effects. I wonder if when he was running.

[Elena]

Low on value he would use the.

[Ash]

Antihistamines, he'd give people large doses of that.

[Elena]

Yeah, I think that's a valid theory because I think it definitely has similar effects at the very least.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In larger houses.

[Ash]

That's the thing, I think.

[Elena]

In larger house. 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.

[Ash]

Huh.

[Elena]

The type that Anthony Silvera was reported to have been wearing on the day he left his house. He put this man's jacket on after.

[Ash]

Brutally murdering and torturing him.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Huh.

[Elena]

Like what the fuck?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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 Schoenbern and his 24 year old cousin Dennis Alt. When Kraft's seminar ended on December 7, 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 11pm back to where he needed to go. Thomas agreed, but wanted to talk with some friends and buy a round of drinks before they left, so he stepped away. And so he left Christopher and Dennis at the bar with Randy?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

When he returned a short time later, they were nowhere to be seen.

[Ash]

Everyone was gone.

[Elena]

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 9, the bodies of Dennis Alt and Christopher were discovered about 5ft from a rural road about 9 miles from the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. And remember, these are two full grown men.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like what?

[Ash]

That's an accomplice potential. Who is it?

[Elena]

Like, Alt 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 his system and a blood alcohol level of 0.16. There was also evidence that at least Christopher had been tortured, including having an Anway grand branded ballpoint pen inserted into his urethra, which 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 crafts home.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

So you would think that there'd be.

[Elena]

A place to do it too.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

So maybe. I think that's the key. Yeah. Is this.

[Ash]

But you still think that, like, people must hear something. I know, like see something weird.

[Elena]

Where is he taking them to do this?

[Ash]

He must take them like deep into the woods 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.

[Elena]

Couldn'T move them or he didn't have his accomplice during those.

[Ash]

Exactly. But like, that's what. That's usually what he does maybe is bring them out to the woods.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Goes from there.

[Elena]

It's horrific. It is. Now, once he was back in Oregon, Kraft killed Lance Taggs. Then he returned to California shortly after, assuming he'd gotten away with yet another murder.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Since the trips seemed 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 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 years.

[Ash]

Yup. 10 years.

[Elena]

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 employee. Those poor California transit employees. He discovered the body of 21 year old Eric Church alongside the 7th street off ramp near Seal 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.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Which is just interesting.

[Ash]

Yeah, it is.

[Elena]

During the autopsy, the ME found ligature marks around his wrists, 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 Valium 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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah. He's only preying on children.

[Elena]

He has done that in the Past. But it's not, he's not just going after like 13 year olds like all, all the time. It's like.

[Ash]

But you have to wonder if that was when he had an accomplice with him.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Because it's like when he's going after multiple.

[Elena]

The Chris and Christopher and Dennis at the hotel.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

They were in their 20s.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like they're, they're like grown men. And he. That's the one that he did the two.

[Ash]

But then you think about the fact that he's drugging them. Yeah, he's drugging them and getting them super drunk.

[Elena]

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 some way, it really kind of is.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

In a moderate, mild to moderate coma.

[Ash]

Like that. Clearly I think that was probably like accidental that he gave that much over.

[Elena]

Overdid it.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

I feel like we have never covered somebody who has gone this long.

[Elena]

No.

[Ash]

This hard. This long.

[Elena]

Because I'm sitting here being like, it's gotta end, it's gotta end now. In the early morning hours of February 12, 18 year old Jeffrey Nelson knocked on the door of the home of his friend Bryce Wilson in the town of Cypress, which is just outside of la. 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 Duvall. This was the last time anyone saw either young man alive. Later that morning, LAPD officer Donald Backelder 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. Oh no. Indicating that he was alive. The officer jumped back into his car and drove to the nearest phone booth 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.

[Ash]

It's so sad.

[Elena]

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 time, this was just a very familiar scene at this point. Yeah, 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 M.E. believed had occurred after death. In this scenario, witnesses told investigators that on the night they went missing, neither Nelson nor Duvall 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 high. And he had Valium and the blood pressure medication. Propanolol, I think it's called in his system. It's for hypertension.

[Ash]

Why would he give him that?

[Elena]

Not really sure, but. Well, it's a beta block, I was just gonna say. According to the toxicologist, 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 texts discovered two distinct fibers that connected Nelson to the other victims. Cause, remember, there was a couple of victims where they did find fiber on them. They just didn't have anything to compare it to.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

The first, a single maroon fiber, was determined to have come from the socks of the previous victim, Eric Church. 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 Kraft's car. Huh. The following day, around 3pm A driver in the San Bernardino Mountains pulled into a turnout near Malt Baldy Road, and he discovered the body of Roger Duvall. Thank God. So they had gone out together, and so he's done it again.

[Ash]

Or two.

[Elena]

He was fully clothed, but his pants were unbuttoned and pulled down. Duvall 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, Duvall 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 Valium in his blood at least Enough that Duvall 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.

[Ash]

10 years and he's leaving barely any evidence.

[Elena]

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 i5 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 unbelievable or unprepared 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.

[Ash]

That's never what you're supposed to do, Howard said.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Oh.

[Elena]

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. 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.

[Ash]

So they caught this man mid. Mid disposal of a body.

[Elena]

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. Craft told the officers that he'd given Gambrel some beers and some of his adipant, but because he had just picked the man up, he didn't know whether he'd taken anything early in the evening. Eventually.

[Ash]

How do you explain all the other things, Randy?

[Elena]

Yeah, eventually the paramedics arrived and examined Gambr, but at this point, the man was already dead.

[Ash]

That's so sad.

[Elena]

His body was removed to the nearest hospital where he was officially pronounced. At the autopsy, the ME identified Gambrel'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 petechial hemorrhages in his neck indicated that the strap had been repeatedly tightened and loosened before his death. Which, remember, he has used a garrote 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.

[Ash]

Because obviously he hadn't just picked this.

[Elena]

Guy up at all.

[Ash]

If he doesn't have socks and fucking shoes.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Kraft was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion on murder, and his bail was set at $250,000.

[Ash]

I can't believe this is how he got caught.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

There have not been many cases where that has been the case. Like, what a dumb sentence.

[Elena]

That wasn't a dumb sentence.

[Ash]

It was a little crazy.

[Elena]

It was just kooky, that's all.

[Ash]

There have not been many cases where we've seen. That is what I meant.

[Elena]

The fact that this just. It just came down to fucking luck. Of all the cars in Los Angeles.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

For these two officers to just happen to find themselves behind this car.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

While he happens to be weaving mid.

[Ash]

Disposal like, damn, he's a complete dumbass.

[Elena]

Yeah. A complete dumbass.

[Ash]

Like, thank goodness, but what a dumbass.

[Elena]

Thankfully, he is refusing to speak to anyone at this point, too. Yeah, that checks now. Within a few days, investigators had confidently connected Kraft to the murders of Eric Church, Jeffrey Nelson and Roger Duvall. And Kraft's arraignment was postponed in order to give him more time to find an attorney, which he definitely needs now.

[Ash]

Yeah, for sure.

[Elena]

Or determine his eligibility for a public defender. In the meantime, Bill was increased to $753,000 because they said, we are finding.

[Ash]

Out some more about you.

[Elena]

Sir, I wonder in what is this 1983. I wonder how much. 70 $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.

[Ash]

1983. Yeah, about 2.4 million. Whoa, that.

[Elena]

So they were like, you're not leaving.

[Ash]

It's cray cray. I had to just read that like three times to make sure I was right. Yeah, about 2.4 million.

[Elena]

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 and connected Kraft to 14 unsolved murders in three states.

[Ash]

But we know there's more than that.

[Elena]

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 Duvall. In a statement to the press, Kraft's lawyer, Doug Otto accused investigators of using his arrest as an opportunity to close old cases.

[Ash]

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.

[Elena]

Past decade the same exact way. Yeah, he said they're living up every unsolved murder they can find. They're clearing paper on this case.

[Ash]

I don't think so. I think your client's just an absolute piece of shit.

[Elena]

Here's the thing, Doug.

[Ash]

Otto Gross.

[Elena]

Shut the fuck up, Doug Otto.

[Ash]

Here's the thing. Fuck off.

[Elena]

You know what's like free to do to shut the fuck up?

[Ash]

It is. That's the cool thing about shutting the fuck up. It costs you $0.

[Elena]

It costs you nothing.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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, especially When a few days later, investigators searched Kraft's home and.

[Ash]

Car, it sounds like they found a.

[Elena]

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 Gambrell's neck, as well as a large amount of ativant, 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.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

Technicians also took samples of the carpet, and they determined them to be a match for the fiber samples found on Roger Duvall'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 Duvall, were among those on the victims list, while others were not known to investigators. In some cases, the subjects in the photographs were clearly alive when the photos were taken. Others, though, depicted images of men who were sleeping, unconscious, or dead.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

Not only did these photographs provide a lot of circumstantial evidence connecting him to the victims, they also connected the victims to Kraft'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 there, in this entire thing.

[Ash]

Pictures worth a thousand words.

[Elena]

But the most sensational and consequential evidence was found in the trunk of his car.

[Ash]

Why was he just keeping. I mean, like, thank you.

[Elena]

He's bopping around with all this stuff.

[Ash]

Super duper cruel of you to, like, give them everything they needed in your literal vehicle. But why are you keeping this all in your car? Sir?

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

61 entries? I'm assuming this is the scorecard.

[Elena]

This is where the Scorecard Killers name comes from. This document eventually was referred to as his scorecard and would prove significant at trial. 61 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. 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.

[Ash]

Oh, my. Like what?

[Elena]

One of them's Harry Cary. One of them's Airplane Hill Marine. Down van driveway. Two in one.

[Ash]

Two in one.

[Elena]

Yep. Twiggy Wilmington. Laguna Beach Marina, Pier 2.

[Ash]

So he's even just referring to some of these people as where he either.

[Elena]

Found or dumped them. Like driveway. Diabetic. Skates.

[Ash]

Diabetic.

[Elena]

Uh huh. Which also. How did you know that?

[Ash]

It must have come up in conversation.

[Elena]

Portland Navy White user. Parking lot. Parking lot was connected to Keith Crotwell. I was wondering that. Deodorant dog. Teen trucker. 7th Street. MC Laguna Hoth. Off head. Two in one hitch. New Year's Eve, Westminster Date. Jail out.

[Ash]

Oh, that was the victim who had just gotten out of jail.

[Elena]

Just got out of jail. Two in one beach. He likes when he kills two people in one or dumps two people in one. He says two in one.

[Ash]

That's disgusting.

[Elena]

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 cold. You can tell he, like, thinks he's. He thinks he's done something here.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

With these names, too. Like, he likes that. He's just, like, calling them oil dog.

[Ash]

Like, that's so sad to be reduced to that.

[Elena]

Yeah. And the worst part is, he probably knew most of their names.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But he just didn't even bother. Right. So the quote unquote scorecard would prove essential to the prosecution's case against him. 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 Kraft'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 Kraft, 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.

[Ash]

They finally figured it out.

[Elena]

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 pair of nunchucks belonging to Lance Taggs, a camera belonging to Michael o', Fallon, 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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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 Kraft. Yeah.

[Ash]

I mean, this is over a decade.

[Elena]

And they wanted to do it right.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, among the more challenging tasks they faced were determining which of the 37 suspected victims they could confidently and irrefutably collect to craft. They couldn't mess around with these.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

And which ones they were unfortunately not going to be able to prosecute him for at that time.

[Ash]

Which is a tough task, especially going to like, their families and explaining the why and what and everything.

[Elena]

Exactly. Ultimately, the DA went ahead with charges of first degree murder for the following victims. Edward Daniel Moore, Kevin Clark Bailey Ronnie Jean Wyby Keith Davin Crotwell Mark Howard Hall Scott Michael Hughes, Roland Gerald Young, Richard Allen Keith Keith Arthur Klingbeal, Michael Joseph Interbeaten Donald Harold Kreisel, Robert Wyatt Loggins Jr. Eric Herbert Church, Roger James Duvall Jr. Jeffrey Allen Nelson and Terry Lee Gambrell, which are 16 victims. Yeah. So that's who they could irrefutably connect him to, which is many others that they can connect him to. They just were worried that they didn't want to.

[Ash]

They wouldn't stand in trial.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

16 to be able to prove irrefutably murders. Irrefutably is absolutely bonkers.

[Elena]

Wild work.

[Ash]

Especially when you think about this time period.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

They didn't have like a ton when it came to D. Like, and it was relatively new for a jury to understand. To have the confidence to bring 16 murders to trial and say these. This evidence is irrefutable is like unheard of.

[Elena]

Insane.

[Ash]

Truly unheard of.

[Elena]

Truly unheard of. Because usually when you have this, like you were saying, when you have this massive amount of victim pool going on, you can really. A lot of times we see that they can only grab, like, two or three of them.

[Ash]

And even that is tough.

[Elena]

And that's always like, whoa. I can't believe they were able to connect that.

[Ash]

I think even, like, Rodney Alcala had had a very high number of victims, and they. They couldn't get a ton of. A ton of his victims proved in.

[Elena]

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 they could. Could they potentially question this one?

[Ash]

Or could this turn the entire trial?

[Elena]

And then they'll question these ones and, like, we don't want to lose them because of this.

[Ash]

And you have to think, too, of all the technicalities that he is definitely going to appeal on when he's ultimately proven guilty.

[Elena]

And with 16, they feel like they have it.

[Ash]

Yeah. That's bonkers.

[Elena]

Crazy. Now, in addition to the murder charges, he was also charged with one count of sodomy against Michael Interbeaten.

[Ash]

I'm actually shocked that it was only.

[Elena]

One count of sodomy, one count of inflicting mayhem against Jeffrey Nelson, and one count of sodomy against Roger Duvall.

[Ash]

What does inflicting mayhem entail?

[Elena]

It involves maliciously maiming or disfiguring another person.

[Ash]

Oh, okay.

[Elena]

So that absolutely makes sense. There should have been a lot of those.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In these cases, special circumstances were attached, making it a death penalty case.

[Ash]

Nice.

[Elena]

Also, despite their best in this case.

[Ash]

Nice.

[Elena]

Nice. Like, get by. Despite their best efforts, there remained many unanswered questions with regard to several of the cases, too. Unfortunately. Yeah. 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. No. Also, at a few of the dump sites, there was evidence of another person having been there at the same time.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like the footprints alongside the other set.

[Elena]

Of footprints with William Morris crime scene. That's where the second set of footprints was. There was also the matter of the photographs found in Kraft. While some were taken with a polar road camera and didn't need to be developed, many more were taken with a traditional film camera and would have required traditional processing craft had no dark room in his house, and he was not known to be familiar with film processing.

[Ash]

So who the fuck had a dark room and was Developing these sick photos.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

What the. And the fact that to this day.

[Elena]

They don't know who it was.

[Ash]

Like, however many Years later, almost 50 years later, at this point, we still.

[Elena]

Don'T know, because no one else could have developed those. Whoever developed those cameras saw what was in them.

[Ash]

Yeah, yeah. Especially with that kind of developing back then. So then in a dark room, you're literally like washing them, drying them, letting them, like.

[Elena]

Because they're like. He couldn't have just brought it to a film developing place because those people would have seen it, 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.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Or all three or two.

[Ash]

And realistically, like, it could be multiple people.

[Elena]

Yeah, some.

[Ash]

Maybe one person had the whole photos and then maybe somebody else did the disposals.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's.

[Ash]

That. That could have been more than one person. It's horrifying that nobody was willing to.

[Elena]

Come forward and like, no one decided to have a conscience.

[Ash]

And that he wouldn't.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

That he wouldn't break on. That is interesting.

[Elena]

Crazy.

[Ash]

I mean, he really. When it's a death penalty case, there's even.

[Elena]

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 Kraft or the victim, found on the victim's bodies.

[Ash]

You hope that they still have that somewhere.

[Elena]

I hope.

[Ash]

Process that shit.

[Elena]

Let's use it, man. We gotta find out who this is.

[Ash]

Absolutely.

[Elena]

And with regard to the potential accomplice, investigators obviously looking in the most likely place he had two known long term boyfriends that he lived with.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So it's like you would think the person in the house with him is probably a likely suspect. 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.

[Ash]

Really?

[Elena]

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. Okay. I was gonna say, what, like he wasn't murdered?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Jeff Selig was also considered as a possible accomplice. But like Graves, he denied any role. And there was never enough evidence to. To connect him to the murders. So after years of delays, his trial finally began on Dec. 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, MacDonald nonetheless accused the prosecution of trying to inflame the jury and color their thinking so that they would arrived at a preconceived decision before they'd even listen to the evidence. Evidence, brother, that's. They don't need to. He was found with a victim.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In his car.

[Ash]

He was found with a dead body in his car.

[Elena]

His car is rife with evidence and his house is rife with evidence.

[Ash]

There's personal notes, there's blood.

[Elena]

This is one of those that as the defense attorney, you just got to go, all right. We just got to try to minimize at this point, like, you know what I mean?

[Ash]

Like we honestly shocked he didn't go for like an insanity defense or something?

[Elena]

In that case, you kind of have.

[Ash]

To go for that because you have to explain why he did this, because.

[Elena]

We can't claim that he didn't do this.

[Ash]

No. There's a dead body in his possession, brother.

[Elena]

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 Craft was acting as his own co counsel. Oh, and had a tendency to be confrontational with witnesses.

[Ash]

What a fucking piece of absolute garbage.

[Elena]

Outside the courtroom, tensions between the press and the judicial system earned 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. MacDonald 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 biology class in seventh grade and explain that.

[Ash]

What the fuck?

[Elena]

You don't need a pulse or a heartbeat to have viability.

[Ash]

So what gives you.

[Elena]

Are you just talking about the potential of like brain waves Firing off or something. Something like that. That means he's. He still was murdered. Like, what are you. What are you talking about?

[Ash]

That's beyond.

[Elena]

In response.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In response, the prosecution pointed out that regardless of whether Gambrell was still warm and possibly alive when Craft 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. Like, they're like. I would have been like. Did he spontaneously die in the passenger seat? No.

[Ash]

What the.

[Elena]

He had a ligature mark around his neck.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Are you kidding me?

[Ash]

And drugs in his system.

[Elena]

Who did that?

[Ash]

Right?

[Elena]

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 that was what he was going.

[Ash]

Like, attempted to do that in a intelligent way, you would think. Because if I was on that jury, that would have a 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.

[Elena]

Questions. You would have to go.

[Ash]

Your Honor, me and the jury literally.

[Elena]

Hello. Hello.

[Ash]

I just.

[Elena]

Can you.

[Ash]

Can you clear something up for me? Do we have a science teacher in the room? Hi.

[Elena]

Biology. Hi.

[Ash]

Hi.

[Elena]

Basic biology.

[Ash]

Hey, qua.

[Elena]

What the fuck?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, in support of that, the defense presented of his strategy of, like, let's just create chaos.

[Ash]

Yeah, exactly. Let's create a fucking circus.

[Elena]

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 Bonin.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

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 Crotwell's murder, for example, they presented previously obtained testimony from Jeff Graves. Graves, Remember, Jeff Graves was the one who supported the whole. He got stuck in the mud. He called me to come get. Like, he called me for help kind of thing.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah.

[Elena]

And when we first hear that, we go, oh, well, yeah. But then 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 it.

[Ash]

Literally.

[Elena]

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 a 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.

[Ash]

There you go.

[Elena]

I love that a detective was like, I'll trb. And then just drove the route and was like, nope. While MacDonald's case may have been at times kind of compelling to watch, I suppose maybe the prosecution had a significant and far more compelling, seriously compelling amount of physical evidence.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like the fact that they have things that these victims were last seen wearing or carrying in this house.

[Elena]

They also photograph and blood and fibers.

[Ash]

And a dead body found in his possession, which I will never stop yelling from the rooftops.

[Elena]

They had physical evidence, forensic evidence, witness testimony.

[Ash]

They had it all.

[Elena]

Yeah. He at least murdered the 16 men that they were presenting.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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?

[Ash]

Yeah, that's beyond reasonable doubt.

[Elena]

On April 29, 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, evidence and testimony that they had just witnessed. Finally, he reminded them of the victim list found in Kraft'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. Of acting a fool.

[Ash]

Yeah, exactly.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

That he has photos in his possession of them dead.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Are you fucking kidding me?

[Elena]

That's a literal quote.

[Ash]

Are you fucking Kidding me.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Various dates.

[Elena]

What do those dates mean?

[Ash]

How many roommates do you have?

[Elena]

Also, did the roommate give every single one of these people a nickname? Yeah. That include blood and multiple.

[Ash]

Multiple have the same nickname. Two for one. Yeah.

[Elena]

Portland Head. Who's that? I'd love to know who's coming to his birthday party named Portland Head.

[Ash]

Get a grip. Like, get a grip.

[Elena]

Get a fucking grip.

[Ash]

And a life while you're at it.

[Elena]

Get a literal grip. Get a life. As my dad would say to anybody that pisses him off.

[Ash]

It's my favorite thing that he says, get a life.

[Elena]

He says it with such fucking.

[Ash]

He does.

[Elena]

He burns.

[Ash]

Hell's Aiden. Traffic.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Get a life.

[Elena]

It's pretty great. Fuck that guy, though. My dad. This guy. On May 2, the jury. Just in case that wasn't clear. On May 2, the jury retired for deliberation, which lasted a full 11 days. Which is wild, too.

[Ash]

Baby girls, why did it take you that long?

[Elena]

What is going on? Disrespectfully. What took so long before emerging on May 13th to find Randy Kraft guilty of all 16 murders iconic, as well as one sodomy charge and one charge of mayhem.

[Ash]

Good.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

Absolutely.

[Elena]

And you know what, Judy? I fucking agree.

[Ash]

Yep. Wholeheartedly.

[Elena]

Quick little side tangent. We haven't talked about, like, the Idaho murders a lot. One, because we are not.

[Ash]

We're not covering.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

It would just be, like, really disrespectful to everybody involved.

[Elena]

We're not gonna cover them anytime soon. They're 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 Enten, who covers a lot of these, he covered, like, the Gabby Petito case while it was going. He's, like, very.

[Ash]

He's a great journalist.

[Elena]

He's a very great and very respectful journalist from what I've seen. He was in the sentencing for Bryan Kohlberger, 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.

[Ash]

Trying to say that Bryan Kohlberger was not giving guilty. Meanwhile, his evidence, his DNA, was found as evidence.

[Elena]

Yeah, I won't even. I won't even. And so, like, what are you doing.

[Ash]

Texting a murder victim's mother like that.

[Elena]

Like, pisses me off. Like, you gotta 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. Like, I'm not gonna go far into this, because, again, I said I would not cover this. But just, like, we gotta get it together. We've all had moments where we thought something about a case and theorized. We have been guilty of that before.

[Ash]

Absolutely, we have.

[Elena]

But you gotta evolve. Start evolving. Everybody evolve. It's 20, 25. We gotta stop that and realize that you don't know everything. That's the thing. And it's like.

[Ash]

And you never will.

[Elena]

You gotta evolve in the true crime world with, like, not. You gotta know what? Start looking around. Just start looking around, see how you know, like, that. It 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, they did. Like, just.

[Ash]

Just leave people alone.

[Elena]

Just leave. Leave these families alone.

[Ash]

Have some respect.

[Elena]

Yeah. For real. And I'm not. I know it's not you guys list.

[Ash]

No, it's not you guys.

[Elena]

I'm not talking, like, straight to you guys. I'm saying, like. Like, you know, like, when you look around and see those you're probably getting.

[Ash]

You never know who's going to tune in.

[Elena]

Yeah, you never know. But 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 that lasted another two months. Wow. During this period, the defense made a number of arguments for leniency.

[Ash]

You can literally go fuck yourself with that.

[Elena]

Including arguing the head injury that Kraft had sustained as a small child doing damage to his frontal lobe.

[Ash]

I'm sure that it did, but, like, it doesn't make you kill that many people and lose that amount of humanity.

[Elena]

The prosecution disagreed with that and encouraged the jury to return a death sentence. Yeah.

[Ash]

Me as well.

[Elena]

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 this man has 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.

[Ash]

Wow. You have to think like what people.

[Elena]

What juries go through. Yeah.

[Ash]

In a case like this.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

That really will change you for the.

[Elena]

Rest of your life. 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.

[Ash]

Shit you can such a minute level. I. You and I have talked about this before. I feel changed from doing this for so many years.

[Elena]

I'll never. I will never stop thinking about the Morse murders. You just said that.

[Ash]

And that immediately popped into my head.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

It's the pictures. It's the brutal details. And, like, I'm not saying that. That you, like, none of us should have an interest in true crime or anything like that, but, like, it does change you.

[Elena]

Yeah, it. Absolutely. And it should changes you. It should change. I think it definitely should change you. So the judge, Donald McCarten, 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.

[Ash]

Oh, I bet.

[Elena]

He told McDonald 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.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

McCarten 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?

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

Three months for California.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

California's been through it.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Three months later, on November 29th, Judge McCarten 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 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.

[Ash]

He's 82.

[Elena]

Damn. In the years since his conviction, he has appealed several times, but has yet to successfully overturn his conviction or sentence. The challenges he's brought to the appeals 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 responsibility for the murders and maintains that he is innocent of the charges.

[Ash]

That's a joke.

[Elena]

Even after all that evidence?

[Ash]

That's a joke. Also. Sorry. He's 80.

[Elena]

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 Brig, 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.

[Ash]

Oh, he's such a humanitarian.

[Elena]

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 Gambrel. 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.

[Ash]

That's so crazy because, like, who strangled him then?

[Elena]

Yeah. Looking to see if he was wounded or bleeding.

[Ash]

Oh, my God, he said.

[Elena]

Then I noticed the lights of the CHP patrol car that was pulling me over.

[Ash]

Shit like this shouldn't even get published.

[Elena]

No, it shouldn't. And I love that he also had. Which I believe is. Personally, I believe this is him getting a little funny. Funny out of his. His. His statement here when he said he wanted to make sure that nothing was blocking his airway.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah.

[Elena]

Really? Like the several things that you force fed down people's throats and suffocated them with. Yeah. Throughout the years. Yeah, like, that was a cute little addition.

[Ash]

Nice.

[Elena]

You fucking piece of shit. Throughout the interview, he continued to assert that the supposed scorecard the prosecutor made so much about was just a list of guests for an upcoming birthday.

[Ash]

Bernie, why did it have different dates.

[Elena]

Then and different states?

[Ash]

Dates, states, names. What the fuck are you talking about? And why are you wasting people's time?

[Elena]

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 going to surprise his roommate.

[Ash]

And what were the different dates and states about?

[Elena]

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 killer trial, 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.

[Ash]

That's crazy.

[Elena]

And that is the case of the Scorecard Killer, Randy Craft.

[Ash]

That was truly unlike anything we have ever covered.

[Elena]

Truly. I.

[Ash]

Some of the things that we talked about in the past few days are unimaginable. And just like that juror, I feel changed.

[Elena]

I feel completely changed by this case. Completely.

[Ash]

Those poor families having to sit there and hear the. The atrocities that were done to their children.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

I like.

[Elena]

By this piece of absolute garbage.

[Ash]

That's a crime in and of itself that they had to sit there and hear about that.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

That's awful.

[Elena]

It's.

[Ash]

It never ceases to amaze me that people like this exist. That's the thing, like, happens.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

To. To make people this way.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

It is fascinating.

[Elena]

Like, there's not some simple. He bumped his head.

[Ash]

No, it's so. It goes so far beyond that.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

People are twisted, my dude.

[Elena]

Twisted. I mean, this is like, worst nightmare. I can't even come up with a word for that. I mean, monstrous, grotesque, atrocious. Every abhorrent. Like, it's just like everything is. He. 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 these because it's all matter. Like, no matter what. And it's like, holy.

[Ash]

What was it ultimately? 12, 13 years he was killing.

[Elena]

Yeah. It was like, it's over a decade.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like, that is in three states.

[Elena]

States, like several counties.

[Ash]

Like, thank goodness for DNA.

[Elena]

And thank goodness those jurisdictions started talking to each other.

[Ash]

I know.

[Elena]

And opened it up to other jurisdictions. They never would have connected this. I know.

[Ash]

And you just. You really hope that with the. And I've said it like so many times, but I really hope that with the advancements in forensic sciences, he. They can figure out who the helped him with this and who that other DNA belongs to on some of those bodies.

[Elena]

Yeah, I hope so, because I want to just people identify. Identified. Yeah. Nobody should have to be unidentified for that long.

[Ash]

Yeah. And like, the accomplices should not be able to live the rest of their lives.

[Elena]

No. Yeah, the accomplices. We need to find out who the did that. Like.

[Ash]

Yeah, he had help. Absolutely.

[Elena]

Who the is it? And he's not going to turn on anybody because he's not admitting that he was even involved.

[Ash]

Right. And so.

[Elena]

And that would. That would ruin his whole. Like, he's a little so dumb.

[Ash]

Because you're on death row no matter what.

[Elena]

You're in your age, you're dying there. So it's like, just admit it, dude. Clear your conscience. And it's like, not that you have one.

[Ash]

Evil to the core.

[Elena]

He's holding on to his shit. So he knows if he starts pointing fingers, he's now admitting to what he did. So he's never gonna do it. That's why he hasn't pulled anyone in. And I'm shocked by it.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

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.

[Ash]

That's crazy.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Well, like, we promised, our next episode will be spooky. I think we're gonna do spooky games.

[Elena]

Yeah. We found some really cool ones that we just want to get, like, fun with. Yeah.

[Ash]

Just go to.

[Elena]

They're scary.

[Ash]

They're scary. Like, paranormal place.

[Elena]

Yeah. Just for one episode. So we can just take a second. Yeah.

[Ash]

And then I think after that, we've got listener tales.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So. Yeah. Well, with all that being said, we hope you keep listening and we hope.

[Elena]

You keep it weird.

[Ash]

Not so weird that you don't go do something nice for yourself today. Yeah, treat yourself, treat yourself, treat yourself. If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.