CA - Unidentified & possible missing victims of Randy Kraft, 1971-1983

[ivonne]

Located & Identified Persons

 

[szycs_fan]

I found Paul Fuchs' Junior photo in the 1974 Woodrow Wilson High School Yearbook.

His Senior Photo is not in the 1975 book.

There was also a photo of him in 1973 Wilson High yearbook.

 

[Ontheriver]

Another old case from 1973, one that I was not familiar with before. Nothing on NamUs about them or the LA Coroner website, but mentioned in this article from the Press Telegram. Apparently found early morning on May 19, 1973 in a Carson oil field. Could be a reference to OIL, one of the last entries in his scorecard but also one of his earliest murders too.

I agree that this could be the victim Kraft designated as "Oil." Was this the same victim whose head was found on a conveyor belt in a recycling plant soon after?

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

I agree that this could be the victim Kraft designated as "Oil." Was this the same victim whose head was found on a conveyor belt in a recycling plant soon after?

Different victim altogether. That was a young man found in late April 1973, "HAWTH OFF HEAD". I don't believe this victim, whom was found a month later, ever had his head recovered.

 

[szycs_fan]

There was also a photo of him in 1973 Wilson High yearbook.

I also made an enhanced pic on MyHeritage a while back...

 

[Ontheriver]

Different victim altogether. That was a young man found in late April 1973, "HAWTH OFF HEAD". I don't believe this victim, whom was found a month later, ever had his head recovered.

Have you ever come across any other information on this victim? I've searched under John Doe No. 70 and under Carson but found nothing. It's sad someone's child/sibling/friend can be murdered and their case quickly drops off the radar. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever taken a second look at the case since 1973.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Have you ever come across any other information on this victim? I've searched under John Doe No. 70 and under Carson but found nothing. It's sad someone's child/sibling/friend can be murdered and their case quickly drops off the radar. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever taken a second look at the case since 1973.

Couldn't find anything on NamUs or DoeNetwork about this case at all, I'm afraid.

 

[Green_Turtle]

I think there were only a few that were ever publicly released, which portray known victims (Wyatt Loggins and Rodger DeVaul Jr.). I believe at least one other photo was that of Eric Church. As for any others, I don't believe it was ever confirmed if there were other victims in those photos.

That's what I understand too, almost half of the photos were of Loggins and DeVaul; one was of Eric Church. The 25 that remained showed men both living and unconscious/dead. Most were eventually identified. In the McDougal book (published in the early 1990s), a member of law enforcement told the author that "two, possibly three remain unidentified."

 

[Green_Turtle]

Ambercat posted a news article earlier in this thread that said the photos were released to the media in hopes that additional victims could be identified.
Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search

 

[Ontheriver]

Ambercat posted a news article earlier in this thread that said the photos were released to the media in hopes that additional victims could be identified.
Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search

By the word media, I assume they mean television. This was in 1983 so no internet. I've searched newspaper archive sites and have never found any of the pictures posted. About 4 years ago I contacted McDougal's photographer, who is friends with the prosecutor Bryan Brown. Brown told him all of the people in the photographs have been identified. I am not sure who in LE can confirm that. Orange County Sheriff Dept maybe??

 

[John/Jane Doe]

I've always wondered if this guy could be a victim of Randy Kraft, Earl Anthony Joggerst He ran away from home with a friend and was accompanied by a ("30 year old man"). her friend was found alive in California, but Earl was never heard from again.

Earl Anthony Joggerst – The Charley Project

 

[CherylJT]

Hello all & thank you very much for keeping this thread alive! I've been feeling a bit bad because of my long absence, but there has been some major things going on in my life, so other activities had to give way to them.

carbuff: thanks so much for making that list about the "unexplained" entries, it's really helpful to us all!

CarlK: when checking my notes, Larry Williams is among the possibilities I have written down. Thanks for bringing him up, and Paul Fuchs too. Paul, it seems, is actually listed on the scorecard article as notation 34. EXPLETIVE DELETED (And btw, I remember wondering if the notation really was "expletive deleted" or was it for example that four-letter-word starting with f, which bears unfortunate resemblance to Paul's last name, and the article just censored it away...)

Ambercat: thanks for bringing those cases to our attention too. I haven't got as far as 1981 in my listing of UID's, but I'll keep HC 1283 in mind when getting there.

Now that I'm looking at these cases & reading the thread again, I'd like to refer back to Roger C. Levell. As tatertot suggested, it maybe should be checked, but I don't know how to go about submitting him. Any tips/ideas ?

I can attest that it was not Roger Levell, as he was not gay.

 

[Vern]

I can attest that it was not Roger Levell, as he was not gay.

I'm pretty certain that Randy Kraft did not care about a victim's sexuality, although most were. Many were lured in with drugs/drinks and sexually assaulted/tortured after becoming unconscious. I wouldn't be ruling anyone out based upon that.

 

[Springrain]

I'm pretty certain that Randy Kraft did not care about a victim's sexuality, although most were. Many were lured in with drugs/drinks and sexually assaulted/tortured after becoming unconscious. I wouldn't be ruling anyone out based upon that.

Yes, he did prey on gay and bisexual men, as well as straight men. He didn't care about their sexuality. He had a lot of victims that, as you mention, were drugged and then victimized. Some of his victims were gay prostitutes or employees/customers at gay bars but a lot were not.

 

[NotMyPants]

Sorry, I should've clarified in my post, I was talking about Feb 1873 JD who was probably Wilmington on the scorecard, AND 1392UMCA with the paid stamp who may have been Front of Ripples on the scorecard. He didn't put a date for "Front of Ripples", he was just kind of jumbled in there.

Hello..
New here. LA Coroner has an unidentified w a PAID stamp on the hand. I believe you can find it by searching :LA Coroner Unidentified and then search white, and male. it was late 70s early 80s. Dunno the exact case number

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Hello..
New here. LA Coroner has an unidentified w a PAID stamp on the hand. I believe you can find it by searching :LA Coroner Unidentified and then search white, and male. it was late 70s early 80s. Dunno the exact case number

1392UMCA
Referring to this case?

 

[NotMyPants]

Im not sure, but I think its the same person.

What I know is.. I have lived in Long Beach for a long time. We have several older cases of missing persons and unidentified remains that I believe are victims of Kraft. My sources for this information are from old newspaper articles, the LA County Coroner website and whatever I can find. I started looking into all of this when I was searching for a loved one who was missing.

I learned that the oldest MP case in the city of Long Beach is a presumed victim of Kraft. Not knowing whom Kraft is.. I started searching. And here I am.

The oldest known missing persons case is a man named
Evan Snider.

when mentioning the "marina" in long beach.. there are several places that it could be.
Marina Pacifica ...
Alamitos Bay Marina aka LB Marina (near Pacific Coast Highway and 2nd street, which is were Kraft frequented
and there was ALOT of Marines and Navy personell because of the Navy Shipyard/Marina area

Here is a link to an article about LB Missing Persons detectives that mentions Evan Snider.

Long Beach missing persons detectives don’t stop searching until the job is done – Press Telegram
LB

Evan Snider went missing from a street named Cedar which is NOT near the Marina, but is in the downtown area of LB and near the terminal island freeway.

There are cases from the LA Coroner website which COULD be from Kraft. The earliest was 9/4/67

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

Catalina is very close to long beach.. there is this
https://mec.lacounty.gov/unidentified-person-detail/caseNumber=1968-02586

this 1000000% sounds like Kraft:
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

This was who I was originally posting about
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

i think, but am not sure ... this one could be Kraft's scorecard reference to "van"He would have been too young to go to Ripples, but COULD have been at the Pike, which was downtown long beach... he COULD have received the PAID stamp there.

Possible dump site in Torrance, Ca which is a 15 min drive from Long Beach

Skeletal Remains, but Pearblossom highway is not close to LB
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

and lastly..
https://patch.com/california/longbe...lved-murder-cases-long-beach-including-police
This police officer MAY have stumbled upon Kraft assaulting a man and been shot and killed for it. The area where this crime occurred, is close to where SEVERAL of Krafts victims have been dumped. I know they have questioned persons of interest.. but it could be.

I know this is alot.. but I want to help families get closure, if possible.

Can yall help me put all the pieces together?

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Im not sure, but I think its the same person.

What I know is.. I have lived in Long Beach for a long time. We have several older cases of missing persons and unidentified remains that I believe are victims of Kraft. My sources for this information are from old newspaper articles, the LA County Coroner website and whatever I can find. I started looking into all of this when I was searching for a loved one who was missing.

I learned that the oldest MP case in the city of Long Beach is a presumed victim of Kraft. Not knowing whom Kraft is.. I started searching. And here I am.

The oldest known missing persons case is a man named
Evan Snider.

when mentioning the "marina" in long beach.. there are several places that it could be.
Marina Pacifica ...
Alamitos Bay Marina aka LB Marina (near Pacific Coast Highway and 2nd street, which is were Kraft frequented
and there was ALOT of Marines and Navy personell because of the Navy Shipyard/Marina area

Here is a link to an article about LB Missing Persons detectives that mentions Evan Snider.

Long Beach missing persons detectives don’t stop searching until the job is done – Press Telegram
LB

Evan Snider went missing from a street named Cedar which is NOT near the Marina, but is in the downtown area of LB and near the terminal island freeway.

There are cases from the LA Coroner website which COULD be from Kraft. The earliest was 9/4/67

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

Catalina is very close to long beach.. there is this
https://mec.lacounty.gov/unidentified-person-detail/caseNumber=1968-02586

this 1000000% sounds like Kraft:
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

This was who I was originally posting about
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

i think, but am not sure ... this one could be Kraft's scorecard reference to "van"He would have been too young to go to Ripples, but COULD have been at the Pike, which was downtown long beach... he COULD have received the PAID stamp there.

Possible dump site in Torrance, Ca which is a 15 min drive from Long Beach

Skeletal Remains, but Pearblossom highway is not close to LB
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner

and lastly..
Rewards Renewed for Tips on 3 Unsolved Murder Cases in Long Beach, Including a Police Officer
This police officer MAY have stumbled upon Kraft assaulting a man and been shot and killed for it. The area where this crime occurred, is close to where SEVERAL of Krafts victims have been dumped. I know they have questioned persons of interest.. but it could be.

I know this is alot.. but I want to help families get closure, if possible.

Can yall help me put all the pieces together?

I did read up on Evan Snider's disappearance and the details surrounding it on his Charley Project entry. I don't think he was killed by Kraft, given his car was stolen and stripped and someone was trying to get access to his bank account. Those were not things Kraft did to his victims.

The 1973 Doe found in February is most definitely a Kraft victim, WILMINGTON on the scorecard.

The unidentified could very well be victims, although Kraft was in Oregon when Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner was found. That 1980 unidentified person could have been killed a while before but there's not much info to go on.

And as for the police officer, Kraft, to my knowledge, never used a gun, and didn't like guns.

 

[NotMyPants]

I did read up on Evan Snider's disappearance and the details surrounding it on his Charley Project entry. I don't think he was killed by Kraft, given his car was stolen and stripped and someone was trying to get access to his bank account. Those were not things Kraft did to his victims.

The 1973 Doe found in February is most definitely a Kraft victim, WILMINGTON on the scorecard.

The unidentified could very well be victims, although Kraft was in Oregon when Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner was found. That 1980 unidentified person could have been killed a while before but there's not much info to go on.


And as for the police officer, Kraft, to my knowledge, never used a gun, and didn't like guns.

Apparently, some old LBPD cops also thought Kraft was responsible for Snider.. partially due to method which they arent sharing alot about and missing body. In the LBC, the area around Cedar and PCH and anyhting south has ALWAYS been a bad area with alot of crime, so it COULD be something else entirely. However, I cannot disagree that a person COULD find the mans keys and wallet and or notice the car hadnt been moved and strip it. Parking ALWAYS sucks in the lbc and street sweeping is weekly.. car would have accumulated parking tickets which would be a huge giveaway to steal/strip or vandalize. IF Snider was showing Kraft an apartment he was trying to rent... it is reasonable he could end up a victim and the apartment could have been burglarized or things taken if it was left unlocked... I dont know that the car being stripped is an absolute rule out.
I sure wish we could get more info to know.

What is disturbing is.. the state of Ca Dept of Justice will accept and test DNA on a missing person.. BUT it doesnt appear yet that LBPD has submitted it for a statewide comparison.

thoughts?

 

[Green_Turtle]

That's frightening to imagine. I'm sure he's well aware of this fact too, heck, I even bet that he's been counting down from a certain point during his incarceration. Kraft really needs to have someone to confide in before he goes out.

Is it possible he’s so schizoid he doesn’t know or admit to himself that he’s a murderer?
His live-in boyfriend was supposedly shocked and in disbelief that Kraft was a serial killer. I wonder though. The two men would occasionally bring home prostitutes and hitchhikers to have sex. The boyfriend Jeff was into S&M but said that Kraft was not. It’s hard to believe that Kraft’s dark side wouldn’t be triggered by that activity.