Randy Kraft, known as the Scorecard Killer, is a convicted serial murderer caught by chance in 1983 with a drugged, dying Marine in his passenger seat and a cryptic list of 61 coded entries in his trunk that prosecutors tied to a decade of killings along Southern California’s freeways. He was convicted of 16 counts of first-degree murder in 1989 and sentenced to death, though investigators believe his true victim count exceeds 60 across California, Oregon, and Michigan.1NBC News. Suspect in Oregon Cold Case Identified as Serial Killer He is 81 and remains on California’s condemned inmate list; the state has not executed anyone since 2006.
The Traffic Stop That Ended It
Around 1:00 a.m. on May 14, 1983, a California Highway Patrol officer pulled Kraft over on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo for erratic driving. Slumped in the passenger seat was 25-year-old Marine Terry Lee Gambrel, drugged and already dying.2Los Angeles Times. Randy Steven Kraft Biographical Profile A search of the car turned up photographs of young men in compromising positions hidden under the floor mat, and in the trunk, a single sheet of paper covered in 61 shorthand notations.3Los Angeles Times. Kraft Scorecard Details
Until that night, Kraft had operated for roughly a dozen years without serious police attention. He was a computer consultant in his late thirties with steady work, long-term relationships, and no criminal record beyond a 1975 misdemeanor. The traffic stop produced, in a single hour, nearly all the physical evidence prosecutors would use against him.
What the Scorecard Was
The sheet of paper in Kraft’s trunk is what gave him his nickname. It held 61 entries written in a private shorthand — geographic markers, physical descriptions, and situational tags. Prosecutors would come to call it a “death list,” and over the course of the investigation they matched 43 of the 61 entries to specific murder victims.3Los Angeles Times. Kraft Scorecard Details Roughly 18 entries have never been connected to any known case. Two confirmed victims, including Gambrel himself, do not appear on the list at all, meaning the real total is almost certainly higher than 61.
The entries read like a notebook kept for private reference. “MARINE CARSON” denoted a Marine killed near Carson. “EUCLID” marked a victim tied to Euclid Street. “TWIGGIE” referred to a victim in whose body cavity investigators found a four-foot twig. “GR 2” was two cousins from Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose keys later surfaced in Kraft’s hotel room.3Los Angeles Times. Kraft Scorecard Details Others, including “ANGEL,” “HARI KARI,” “VAN DRIVEWAY,” and “WHAT YOU GOT,” have never been matched to anyone. Kraft told investigators in 1983 that the list referred to friends of his and his roommate. One source has placed the number of entries believed to represent actual victims at 67.4ABC7. Orange County John Doe Randy Kraft Serial Killer
The Pattern of the Killings
Kraft’s victims were overwhelmingly young men — many hitchhikers, many Marines picked up near Southern California bases and freeways. The killings are believed to have begun in late 1971 and continued until the night of his arrest.3Los Angeles Times. Kraft Scorecard Details
The crime scenes shared a grim set of features. Victims were typically found with alcohol and prescription sedatives in their systems — diazepam in particular — suggesting Kraft incapacitated them before the assaults. Many bore ligature marks on their wrists and necks, burns from a car cigarette lighter, and signs of sexual mutilation. Bodies were usually dumped near freeways and highways.5Stanford Law – Supreme Court of California. People v. Kraft That consistency is what eventually let prosecutors argue that even murders without direct physical evidence belonged to the same hand.
Why He Wasn’t Caught Sooner
Kraft came to police attention eight years before his arrest. In March 1975, 19-year-old Keith Daven Crotwell disappeared after being seen leaving a Long Beach parking lot in a white Mustang driven by an older man in a sailor’s cap. Friends traced the car and reported it to police, who linked it to Kraft. Kraft admitted being with Crotwell but said his car had gotten stuck in mud on a dirt road and that Crotwell had walked off. A severed head pulled from Long Beach Harbor that May was identified as Crotwell’s, but the autopsy listed cause of death as “possible drowning.” Long Beach police asked prosecutors to file murder charges; the Orange County District Attorney’s office declined, citing insufficient evidence.6Los Angeles Times. Keith Daven Crotwell Investigation Headless skeletal remains later found in a Laguna Hills culvert, within two miles of where Kraft said his car had been stuck, were not matched to Crotwell until after the 1983 arrest.
The investigation was further muddled by geography and timing. Two other serial killers, Patrick Kearney and William Bonin, were murdering young men and dumping bodies along the same Southern California freeways during the same years. Police initially treated the bodies as the work of a single “Freeway Killer.” Kearney was caught first and confessed; when similar bodies kept appearing, investigators moved on to Bonin, who was convicted and later executed. Kraft was the last of the three to be identified, and only because of the traffic stop.7KFOX TV. True Crime Docuseries Details Three Butchers Terrorizing Los Angeles
The Trial and the Evidence
Kraft’s trial became one of the longest and most expensive in Orange County history, with Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin later estimating the cost at more than $10 million.8Death Penalty Information Center. Hanging Judge Calls for End to the Death Penalty Deputy District Attorney Bryan F. Brown led the prosecution. Defense attorney C. Thomas McDonald had fought unsuccessfully to have the 16 murder charges tried separately.9Los Angeles Times. Judge McCartin Assigned to Kraft Trial
Direct physical evidence tied Kraft to only eight of the 16 murders charged. For the other eight, the prosecution relied on the shared pattern of the killings and the scorecard entries. The direct evidence it did have was damning. A pill vial of Ativan prescribed to Kraft was found in his car with Gambrel’s body. Fibers from victim Eric Church’s socks matched fibers from Kraft’s vehicle, a photograph in Kraft’s car showed clothing matching Church’s, and an electric shaver identified by Church’s father turned up in Kraft’s garage. Orange County Crime Lab scientists reconstructed a shattered vodka bottle from fragments at one murder scene in Silverado Canyon and lifted Kraft’s fingerprints from it.10Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Forensic History: How OC Crime Lab Helped Evidence Mount Against Serial Killer Randy Kraft Photographs hidden under Kraft’s floor mat depicted other victims.5Stanford Law – Supreme Court of California. People v. Kraft
After nine months of testimony, the jury convicted Kraft on May 12, 1989, of all 16 counts of first-degree murder, along with one count of sodomy and one count of mayhem. He was acquitted on a separate sodomy charge after jurors concluded the victim was already dead at the time of the assault.11Los Angeles Times. Kraft Death Verdict Multiple-murder special circumstances were found true for 11 of the counts.5Stanford Law – Supreme Court of California. People v. Kraft
Death Sentence and Appeal
The defense called more than 50 character witnesses during the penalty phase. The jury returned a verdict of death on August 11, 1989. At formal sentencing in November 1989, Judge McCartin said the “extreme depravity” of Kraft’s crimes had shocked even his own “world-weary sensibilities,” and later said he had seen no sign of remorse from Kraft during the yearlong trial.12Orange Coast Magazine. Why Isn’t Randy Kraft Dead?
The sentence triggered an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court. Kraft’s defense team raised more than 20 claimed trial errors, with their central argument being that the scorecard should never have been admitted because it suggested to the jury that Kraft had many more victims than the 16 he was being tried for. On August 10, 2000, the California Supreme Court unanimously rejected every argument and affirmed both the convictions and the death sentence, ruling the scorecard was properly admitted.13Los Angeles Times. Kraft Death Sentence Upheld14FindLaw. People v. Randy Steven Kraft
Victims Still Being Identified
The case is not closed, in the sense that investigators are still naming victims decades later. In November 2022, Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators submitted tissue samples from an unidentified body — found September 14, 1974, in what is now Aliso Viejo — to Othram Laboratories for DNA profiling. Through investigative genetic genealogy, the Cold Case Team confirmed in October 2023 that the victim was Michael Ray Schlicht, a 17-year-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.15Orange County Sheriff’s Department. John Doe Identified After 49 Years166ABC. The Scorecard Killer: Randy Steven Kraft Serial Michael Ray Schlicht
While reviewing Schlicht’s files, an Orange County investigator spotted material related to a cold case in Oregon. Working with the Oregon State Police, investigators used genetic genealogy on a blood sample from a man found strangled along Interstate 5 near Woodburn, Oregon, on July 18, 1980. The victim had alcohol and diazepam in his system. In early 2025, DNA profiling and family tree work confirmed the victim as Larry Eugene Parks, a 30-year-old now believed to correspond to the scorecard entry “PORTLAND ELK.”17Orange County Sheriff’s Department. OC Sheriff Assists Oregon State Police Identifying Additional Kraft Victim1NBC News. Suspect in Oregon Cold Case Identified as Serial Killer How many of the remaining unmatched entries will eventually produce names is an open question.
Where Kraft Is Now
As of March 2026, Kraft is listed among California’s condemned inmates in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.18California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate List He is 81 years old. California has not carried out an execution since January 17, 2006, and in March 2019 Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions for the duration of his term, granting a reprieve to every condemned prisoner. The moratorium did not alter any convictions or sentences.19California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Capital Punishment By May 2024, all inmates formerly housed on San Quentin’s death row had been transferred to other maximum-security facilities and integrated into general population housing.20Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty Years Since Last Execution Whether Kraft will ever face the sentence imposed on him in 1989 remains unresolved.