March 19, 1945 - Randy Steven Kraft
Operating across more than a decade, Kraft carried out a methodical campaign of violence against young men in California, leaving a body count that investigators have never fully resolved. The coded scorecard discovered at his arrest — sixty-one entries in cryptic shorthand — suggested a level of organization and detachment that distinguished his case from more impulsive offenders. Sixteen murders were confirmed at trial, but the full scope may reach into the dozens, making him one of the most prolific unresolved cases in American criminal history.
From Wikipedia
Randy Steven Kraft (born March 19, 1945) is an American serial killer and rapist known as the Scorecard Killer, the Southern California Strangler, and the Freeway Killer, who committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of sixteen young men between 1972 and 1983, the majority of whom he killed in California. Kraft is also believed to have committed the rape and murder of up to fifty-one other young men and boys. He was convicted in May 1989 and is currently incarcerated on death row at the California Institution for Men, in San Bernardino County, California.
Kraft became known as the "Scorecard Killer" because upon his arrest, investigators discovered a coded list with sixty-one entries on a scorecard containing cryptic references to his victims; he is also sometimes referred to as the "Freeway Killer" because many of his victims' bodies were discovered beside or near freeways.
- Last updated on .
