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

[Milyandel]

Reading back the thread this UID caught my eye and I checked his information again: https://identifyus.org/cases/4240. His height is measured as 114(!) inches, and although my only knowledge about feet & inches is through inches-to-centimeters calculators, it just can't be correct, right?

I'm also wondering if the UID's estimated time of death could be even earlier than 1983, even going as far back in time as 1975, when Larry Williams disappeared? If so, I'd be very tempted to connect this UID not only to the LB MARINA notation (as has been already done in this thread), but also to Williams.

 

[Ambercat]

Reading back the thread this UID caught my eye and I checked his information again: https://identifyus.org/cases/4240. His height is measured as 114(!) inches, and although my only knowledge about feet & inches is through inches-to-centimeters calculators, it just can't be correct, right?

I'm also wondering if the UID's estimated time of death could be even earlier than 1983, even going as far back in time as 1975, when Larry Williams disappeared? If so, I'd be very tempted to connect this UID not only to the LB MARINA notation (as has been already done in this thread), but also to Williams.

I saw that number and asked Daniel Machian of the Los Angeles County Coroner about this man's height. He responded

His height was estimated to be about 5 ft. 11 inches. There was no weight estimation listed in the report.

I also asked him about the estimated date of death (if it could be prior to May 1983). He responded

The estimated time since death was listed as less than one year, it possibly could have been before May1983.

I thought the unidentified might have been Mitchell Todd Hein, but since the unidentified man had straight hair, it is really not possible.

It is strange that no one saw this person being buried at the location because 800 Ocean Blvd is the Villa Rivera building (a really large building with many condos). http://villariviera.net/

Before about 1989 (?), next door to 800 Ocean Blvd was the Pacific Coast Club. On the other side (across the Alamitos Blvd, is the International Tower (many more condos). I'm really surprised that no one saw anything.

I always thought "LB Marina" referred to the marinas on the other side of town, near where John Doe "76" and Craig Victor Jonaites. I could definitely be wrong, though.

 

[CarlK90245]

I always thought "LB Marina" referred to the marinas on the other side of town, near where John Doe "76" and Craig Victor Jonaites. I could definitely be wrong, though.

The Shoreline Marina at Shoreline Drive and Ocean Blvd was opened in 1982.

http://www.longbeach.gov/park/parks_and_open_spaces/parks/long_beach_shoreline_marina.asp

Kraft was arrested in May 1983

So this John Doe, who was found in April 1984 could have been "LB Marina", but he would have had to have been one of Kraft's final victims.

https://identifyus.org/cases/4240

 

[Ambercat]

The Shoreline Marina at Shoreline Drive and Ocean Blvd was opened in 1982.

http://www.longbeach.gov/park/parks_and_open_spaces/parks/long_beach_shoreline_marina.asp

Kraft was arrested in May 1983

So this John Doe, who was found in April 1984 could have been "LB Marina", but he would have had to have been one of Kraft's final victims.

https://identifyus.org/cases/4240

Thanks! I always thought it was a little later when the marina down by Shoreline Village and the Villa Rivera opened than that (I was a little kid back then). The guy in the sand could very well be his victim (I just don't really think he is LB Marina -- I could be wrong, though).

 

[Ambercat]

Stewart Simmons was in the Navy in San Diego, CA in 1982, when he disappeared. According to NamUs --

Simmons was in the United States Navy in 1982 and was stationed in San Diego, California. He got into a minor altercation and was sent to the brig for a short time. Simmons was granted temporary release to locate his vehicle; he disappeared during this time.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/717/6/

 

[Ambercat]

I accessed a website that reprinted a few articles that ran in the 1970s regarding the murder victims of Randy Kraft. http://gayhistory.wikidot.com/randy-kraft
On August 11, 1973, The Star News of Pasadena, discussed the young men who had been found deceased in the Long Beach/Seal Beach/Harbor area and included one unidentified victim who I had never heard mentioned before

May 20 - Another headless body is found in the Wilmington area by a motorist. The body is found in an oil field near Victoria Street in Carson, one-quarter mile east of Wilmington Avenue and is identified only as a while male, about 20 years old.

There is also a reprint of Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California) - June 8, 1975 which talks about the two still unidentified men (Wilmington and Hawth Off Head) found in 1973.

Less than two weeks later, on Feb 6, 1973, the nude body of another young man - still unidentified - described as between 18 and 20 years old was found near another freeway. He had been strangled and abused. Pictures of the body, found in the brush off the Terminal Island Freeway, were shown to hundreds of persons around the city. He had been seen frequently in homosexual hangouts in Long Beach, primarily in the bluff area along Ocean Boulevard, but no one knew his name.

This time the killer waited less than a week to claim another victim. On April 22, police began finding parts of a human body, carefully placed in green plastic bags, strewn along the Terminal Island Freeway, near where the body of the second victim was found. Two arms, from wrist to shoulder, were found in one bag; the right leg, from hip to toe, was found in another, and the torso was found in a third. Three days later, the left leg was found in a trash bin behind a gay bar in Sunset Beach. The next day, the victim's head was found by a startled Gardena paper company employee sorting trash. Coroner's deputies' findings indicated that the pattern still held - the young, about 20, had been tortured, his eyelids removed, and he had died by strangulation. Again, the youth was identified by Long Beach gays as a homosexual who frequented gay bars. But, again, no one knew his name.

I have wondered if Kraft was living with either Jeff Graves or Jeff Seelig during the time that he was murdering people, where did he commit the actual murders? If he was doing this somewhere in public, how did it take him so long to get caught? I read that one of his friend that was visiting his house to play cards was disturbed that he had a hitchhiker passed out in another room, but didn't really think that much of it. Did anyone else notice anything? William Bonin's neighbors in Downey (which is not that far from Long Beach), reported bloodcurdling screams that occasionally came from his house but they just ignored them for some reason or another (according to an LA Times article) and didn't think about it too much until after he was arrested. I just have trouble believing that people around Randy Kraft didn't notice that there was something sinister going on.

 

[Ambercat]

I came across a post about Russell Goudy, Jr. a teenager found murdered in Glendora in 1977 in the Cold Case section of Websleuths.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54068
One of the posts on a local website (Topix Glendora) thought that Randy Kraft may have been responsible
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/glendora-ca/TDT3C91I3CB6A29RF#comments
Other than these two sites, I couldn't find any more information about Russell Goudy.

 

[Renzolla]

In the wiki article on Kraft, Bob Jackson hypothisizes that Twiggie refers to a murder committed with him rather than James Dale Reeves. It's very debatable whether he is a reliable source on this though. He also confessed to murdering two hitchhikers with Kraft, one in Wyoming in 1975 and Colorado in 1976. Just food for thought here, since
I hadn't seen this mentioned.

 

[jabberwocky]

Also, regarding the cryptic notations on the scorecard:

"2 IN 1 MV TO PL"

I'm thinking that MV stands for Mission Viejo, (i.e., a coastal Orange County city right in Kraft's area of operation).

There are no two-word California cities with the initials PL, but it could be something like Placentia, which is a city in Northern Orange County.

Actually, there is Point Loma in San Diego.

 

[CarlK90245]

Also, regarding the cryptic notations on the scorecard:

"2 IN 1 MV TO PL"

I'm thinking that MV stands for Mission Viejo, (i.e., a coastal Orange County city right in Kraft's area of operation).

There are no two-word California cities with the initials PL, but it could be something like Placentia, which is a city in Northern Orange County.

Actually, there is Point Loma in San Diego.

I noted that later in the thread (post #36).

Point Lobos (near Monterey) is a bit of a stretch from Mission Viejo (if that is what MV stands for).

Point Loma (in Laguna Niguel) sounds plausible though. It is about a 7 mile drive from Mission Viejo.

There is also a Point Loma in San Diego (about 75 miles away from Mission Viejo)

 

[jabberwocky]

So, if it is Point Loma in san Diego- The MV could stand for Mission Valley or Mountain View (both in San Diego area) ...or even Moreno Valley

 

[jabberwocky]

In response to carbuff's post, yes, he seemed fond of making sick puns. He nicknamed one victim "Twiggy," the name of a popular model, and he had assaulted the victim with a twig.

I wonder whether he heard Paul Fuchs say his full name or went through his wallet afterward and read it off his drivers license. It seems a little more likely that he made the connection between the surname and the expletive if he saw it in print, though both scenarios are possible. If he read it off his license, did he have some personal desire to find out his victims' names?

I don't know if this was already posted, but Kraft nicknamed his lover Bob Jackson "Twiggy" and it is believed that he was an accomplice in a few of the murders:

"Author McDougal thinks he solved a portion of the mystery, years after Kraft's conviction and their years in civil court. In his article published in Beach magazine in January 2000, McDougal recounted his interviews with one Bob Jackson, who allegedly confessed to murdering two hitchhikers with Kraft, one each in Wyoming (1957) and Colorado (1976), then joining Kraft in "several" California murders after 1977. Nicknamed "Twiggy" by Kraft, Jackson assumed the matching notation on Kraft's cryptic list referred to one of their joint homicides. More chilling yet, he told McDougal that the list included only Kraft's "more memorable" slayings, while the total body count stood closer to 100."

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/kraft/10.html

 

[Ambercat]

I don't know if this was already posted, but Kraft nicknamed his lover Bob Jackson "Twiggy" and it is believed that he was an accomplice in a few of the murders:

"Author McDougal thinks he solved a portion of the mystery, years after Kraft's conviction and their years in civil court. In his article published in Beach magazine in January 2000, McDougal recounted his interviews with one Bob Jackson, who allegedly confessed to murdering two hitchhikers with Kraft, one each in Wyoming (1957) and Colorado (1976), then joining Kraft in "several" California murders after 1977. Nicknamed "Twiggy" by Kraft, Jackson assumed the matching notation on Kraft's cryptic list referred to one of their joint homicides. More chilling yet, he told McDougal that the list included only Kraft's "more memorable" slayings, while the total body count stood closer to 100."

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/kraft/10.html

This is a link to the actual Beach Week article which includes the interview with Bob Jackson, written by Dennis McDougal (who also wrote Angel of Darkness, the only book that I know of about Randy Kraft -- if anyone knows of more, please let me know)
http://web.archive.org/web/20010430101048/http://beach.littoral.net/04.05.2000/features/kraft_1.30.2000/

The idea of a missing accomplice [in general] is also addressed in the article

Even during his trial, members of the prosecution team admitted privately that they did not charge Kraft in several murders that they were sure he had committed because extra sets of footprints were found where the bodies had been dumped or semen samples did not match Kraft's DNA. Assistant District Attorney Bryan Brown, who successfully prosecuted both Bonin and Kraft, told me at the time that he believed the inconsistencies could be explained away because Kraft had not acted alone in his initial murder spree. His then-room mate, an S&M freak named Jeff Graves, occasionally helped Randy with the heavy lifting, according to Brown. But Graves died of AIDS before police could question him, so the question of Randy's solo career as a galloping garroter was never raised nor challenged.

This is what Bob Jackson said to Dennis McDougal about the Wyoming and Colorado murders

In fact, he said, the entry "Twiggy" on Kraft's "Scorecard' probably referred to a murder that Jackson and Randy had done together near Rawlings, Wyoming, in 1975. Bob described in detail how he had been working as a paramedic at a Rawlings hospital - his first job after graduation Orange Coast College. He was 19 and Randy had come to visit him, said Bob. For kicks, they picked up a hitch hiker on the road to Casper, just outside of Rawlings. They molested him, killed him, and took his body to a wind-blown area known locally as Nine Mile Ridge, where they dumped him and left.

Similarly, Jackson recalled Randy visiting him about a year later in Colorado, where Jackson had taken a new job as a paramedic. They picked up another youngster on the road - this time he was a long-haired drifter who wore funny-looking glasses and who was looking for a ride back to the college town of Colorado Springs. Randy told him to hop in. The three of them stopped over at a spa outside of Loveland and relaxed for awhile in the hot springs together until it was time to hit the road. Then, as night fell, Randy offered the youngster a beer. The drifter soon fell into a slumber from which he never awoke. They buried him in a shallow grave somewhere near Colorado Springs, but Jackson is not certain just where.

Mr. McDougal contacted LE and this is what resulted

The two detectives kept Bob under surveillance for the next few weeks and, finally, paid him a visit. For several hours, they quizzed Bob Jackson and ended their interview by getting him to voluntarily commit himself to a mental health facility. They did not arrest him.

 

[Milyandel]

I've finally combed through Doenetwork's unidentified males in California from 1971 to 1983 - and oh boy, there are lots of them! I came up with almost 60 UID's that I thought might be worth looking into more closely. Some of them are a bit of a stretch though, and many are hot cases with very little information to begin with.

I’ll try keep my posts short and try to list 2-3 possibilities per post, hope that's ok . So, here goes:

HC1298, found on December 29th, 1974 in Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County. I’m not sure about Kraft travelling so far from his ”operational area” or leaving his victim in desert - he seems to have favoured ravines, ditches and roadsides, ie. easy places to leave a body in when using a car and not bothering to cover up the body or to drag or carry it. But he obviously did get some assistance from his partner(s) from time to time, and this deceased seems to have been wearing only a shirt,, which makes one wonder where the rest of his clothing is.

HC2165, found on April 27th, 1975 in Amboy, San Bernardino County. Same problem with the desert location as in above, and the rock-covered, shallow grave would be even more of an effort on Kraft’s part, which doesn’t seem likely.

HC1281, found on October 4th, 1975 in Mecca, Riverside County. It’s again a bit problematic considering the effort (rope and iron weight), but the victim didn’t have shoes, jewelry or identification on him.

 

[Milyandel]

A very long shot, if only for the long white robe and Japanese sandals. No mention of harikiri, though: http://doenetwork.org/cases/1149umca.html

Quoting this old post of tatertot because I didn't realize until lately (when going through my notes once again), that this UID was found hanging from a tree. So, it makes you think it's a suicide - and as was mentioned, harakiri IS suicide, albeit a ritualistic one and not usually done that way.

It may, however, be taking the phrase ”thinking outside the box” a bit too far, if we try to make a connection to Kraft being involved here. He did (apparently) have a thing for strangulation, but the elaborate staging of a suicide doesn’t fit his usual MO at all. But I still thought I'd throw this in the thread, because it was sort of a light bulb moment for me .

 

[Milyandel]

I forgot to add in my previous post that at the moment I’m trying to list for you the UIDs not previously mentioned in this thread. I thought at first of just sending a list of all possible Kraft victims, the ones already brought up and these ”new” ones, but it would have made such a long post, and I wasn’t sure of the usefulness of it. Not that I’m sure of the usefulness of my current method of listing UIDs with little or no information about the case - it seems impossible, at times, to ever be able to connect these people to Kraft or to any missing person for that matter, since there are so many that go unreported - and they can be from almost anywhere too, if they were for example hitchhiking youths dreaming of good fortunes in California.

But, in order to go on and not to despair:

1598UMCA, found on January 15th, 1977 in a ravine in Agoura, Los Angeles County. He had only socks and a shirt on.

HC1432, found on June 27th, 1977 in Los Angeles riverbed. Very little information available, so there’s nothing particular to connect him to Kraft, but nothing against it either.

NamUs UP #4440, found on July 7th, 1977 in Los Angeles County. Even less information in this case, so the ”nothing for, nothing against” applies here too. I haven’t looked NamUs through yet, but this caught my eye when I was searching more information about the next one on the list

HC1882, found on July 10th, 1977 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. Again, no more information available.

 

[Milyandel]

HC864, found on March 25th, 1978 ”in front of a home at the 3700 block of East Hammel Street in East L.A.” Sounds to me like he was dumped there. Without clothing or jewelry too, according to the case information.

HC541, found on June 27th, 1978 in an orange grove in Irvine, Orange County. I was wondering a bit about the wording ”tie around neck”. Somehow it doesn’t sound like he was wearing it, when compared to the list of his (other) clothing, so maybe he was strangled with it?

HC1864, found on March 28th, 1979 and May 22th, 1979 - his head and body had been separated. The body was found first, in Mount Baldy Village and the head in May in Claremont. Kraft had dismembered some of his victims, some of them in 1979, like 76 John Doe and Gregory Jolley (LAKES MC).

 

[Milyandel]

HC1299, found on September 15th, 1979 in the desert in San Bernardino County.

HC795, skull only, found on November 24th , 1979, at Angeles Crest Highway. The skull had been on the location less than a year. Gregory Jolley’s body, mentioned in my post above, was found without head and legs (according to the scorecard article) in September 1979. Maybe the investigators checked promptly if the skull could have been his since they had been able to connect the head and body of Hot Case 1864 only some months earlier, and that’s that. Internet searches aren’t much of a help since all this happened so long ago, and finding a photo of Gregory is very likely impossible. (At least with my resources - all sorts of search databases in the U.S. that require a payment or even registration are unfortunately out of my reach.)

HC1880, found on February 23rd, 1980 in Los Angeles County. The information is yet again minimal, and on top of that he is estimated to have died 1 ½ years earlier.

 

[Ambercat]

I've finally combed through Doenetwork's unidentified males in California from 1971 to 1983 - and oh boy, there are lots of them! I came up with almost 60 UID's that I thought might be worth looking into more closely.

I know what you mean, on NamUs, I searched for unidentified males in California between December 24, 1972 and May 13, 1983 and there are a lot. There are also a lot of young men in the US who went missing between these dates.

HC1281, found on October 4th, 1975 in Mecca, Riverside County. It’s again a bit problematic considering the effort (rope and iron weight), but the victim didn’t have shoes, jewelry or identification on him.

I’m not sure about this one. IMHO, this person sounds like someone who the killer(s) didn’t want to be found (maybe because if they are identified, it will lead to the murder(s) identity. There was another unidentified man in Riverside County who I thought might have been a victim of Randy Kraft, but I could see arguments for and against this idea.
http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase1283.html
http://www.riversidesheriff.org/coroner/unidentified/1980-4518.asp
https://identifyus.org/cases/7201
LE is planning to exhume him so that they can get a DNA sample. They suspect that he might be Donald Cary Ewalt.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138148

HC1432, found on June 27th, 1977 in Los Angeles riverbed. Very little information available, so there’s nothing particular to connect him to Kraft, but nothing against it either.

I would like to know more about this person. He sounds vaguely like he could be Paul Fuchs (the height, weight, and hair color are close and, according to NamUs, he could have died in 1976 or 1977. The unidentified person is estimated to be a few years older than Paul, though. Paul Fuchs disappeared from Long Beach in December 1976).

HC1864, found on March 28th, 1979 and May 22th, 1979 - his head and body had been separated. The body was found first, in Mount Baldy Village and the head in May in Claremont. Kraft had dismembered some of his victims, some of them in 1979, like 76 John Doe and Gregory Jolley (LAKES MC).

This is interesting and a real possibility. Keith Crotwell was decapitated and his head and body were found in two different places. Randy Kraft graduated from Claremont College and this sounds like the same area where he dumped Rodger JamesDeVaul Jr’s body in 1983. I noticed on NamUs that there is an alarming number of skulls without bodies found.

 

[Milyandel]

I’m not sure about this one. IMHO, this person sounds like someone who the killer(s) didn’t want to be found (maybe because if they are identified, it will lead to the murder(s) identity.

Thank you, very good insight and a valid point! I was skeptical about this one myself, and some other cases too on my list - mostly the desert and/or buried ones. But I wasn't smart enough for see it from that point of view - I was suspicious only about the effort of hiding/burying a body, which didn't seem to be of importance to Kraft. But I told myself he still might have done so occasionally, maybe if he was with someone who insisted on more "caution", or something like that.