45 years ago, a man was found dead beside Interstate 5 in Oregon, and his death became a cold case. Now, decades later, the police have linked the infamous California serial killer “Scorecard Killer” to this case.
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Notorious “Scorecard Killer” Likely Linked To Victim In Decades-Old Cold Case
Oregon State Police identified the victim as 30-year-old Larry Eugene Parks on Friday, according to CBS News. Spokesperson Kyle Kennedy revealed that they are investigating Randy Kraft, the “Scorecard Killer,” as the only suspect from this 1980 murder case.
“There’s some evidence that we’re processing to determine that link,” said Kennedy. “We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest.”
The authorities discovered John Doe on July 18, 1980, and for 45 years it was an unsolved case. It took until January 2024 for a blood sample to confirm Parks’ identity.
They were finally able to create a genetic profile of the murder victim, who was a Vietnam veteran. Parks had lost contact with his family in 1979 and was last seen in Pensacola, Florida.
How This California Serial Killer Was Convicted
On the other hand, Kraft was a notorious serial killer convicted of torturing and murdering 16 men. This happened for over a decade, and in 1989, they finally convicted the man who remains in San Quentin State Prison.
Police caught him after a trooper pulled Kraft over on the freeway in 1983. He was “driving erratically,” and in the passenger seat sat a strangled U.S. Marine. His nickname came from his coded list found in his trunk, which listed around 67 victims.
This is just one more name added to the long list of the now 80-year-old killer’s victims. “With Parks’ identity confirmed, investigators are now working to bring resolution to the 45-year-old case,” the police continued.
This hasn’t been the only cold case murder recently linked to the “Scorecard Killer.” In 2023, the authorities linked Kraft to the death of an Iowa teen in 1974. With modern investigative genetic technology, we can now solve cold cases that weren’t possible to figure out decades ago.