After 49 years, California investigators have linked a notorious serial killer to the 1974 death of a teen boy.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, investigators say 17-year-old Michael Ray Schlicht was likely one of the first victims of the notorious “Scorecard Killer,” Randy Steven Kraft.
CBS News reports that Kraft is currently behind bars at California’s San Quentin State Prison for murdering at least 16 men over decades. Police captured Kraft in 1983 and by 1989, he was convicted and sentenced to life.
Schlicht was named “John Doe” for decades and eventually, after officials failed to identify him, was placed in an unmarked grave in El Toro Memorial Park.
Now, according to investigators, an identification has been made, thanks to testing by Othram, a forensic biotechnology company based out of Texas. The company identified the victim using familial DNA. Schlicht’s mother then submitted a DNA sample, which helped positively identify him.
Investigators determined that Schlicht passed away from alcohol and diazepam, but they later noticed that several other victims found in the area had died the same way. The subsequent deaths were classified as homicides, prompting detectives to investigate Schlicht’s death further.
“These deaths were classified as homicides,” Orange County SD wrote. “Over the years, multiple young men were found deceased throughout Orange County and Southern California, including several within a few miles of where John Doe’s remains were discovered.”
Detectives added that when Kraft was arrested, police found beer bottles and an open prescription bottle of Lorazepam in the front passenger seat of his vehicle. Police also found a “coded list” inside Kraft’s trunk, which they believe to be murder victims.
“In the trunk of Kraft’s vehicle was a coded list believed to be upwards of 67 victims of Kraft’s,” the sheriff’s office added.
Family members said that Schlicht was originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They currently working on obtaining a headstone for him.
Anyone with additional information about the case is urged to contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS or submit a tip online at crimestoppers.org.
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[Feature Photo: Randy Kraft listens in a courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif., Aug. 11, 1989, as a jury recommends he should die in the gas chamber for his two-decade spree of sexual violence and mutilation that left at least 16 young men and boys dead. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)]
