An Iowa teenager who is believed to be one of the first victims of a notorious California serial killer has been identified after 49 years. The teen, known previously as “John Doe,” has been identified as Michael Ray Schlicht from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California stated that the teen has long been suspected to be a victim of Randy Kraft, also known as the “Scorecard Killer.” Kraft, who is currently serving time at San Quentin State Prison, was convicted of brutally killing 16 men in Orange County during a ten-year spree that ended with his arrest in 1983. Authorities believe that Kraft may have killed others in California, Oregon, and Michigan.
The body of Schlicht was discovered on September 14, 1974, when two individuals were off-roading in Laguna Beach, California. Initially, his death was determined to be accidental due to intoxication from alcohol and diazepam. However, subsequent similar deaths in the area were classified as homicides, leading investigators to revisit Schlicht’s case. Some of these deaths occurred near where Schlicht’s remains were found.
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The investigation into Kraft came to a close when a California Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over for erratic driving. In the passenger seat of his vehicle was a strangled U.S. Marine. Kraft, a former computer programmer, was described by prosecutors as a fetishist who kept dismembered body parts of his victims in his freezer. Despite his conviction, Kraft maintained his innocence, stating, “I have not murdered anyone and I believe a reasonable review of the record will show that.”
In November 2022, investigators from the sheriff’s department submitted tissue samples from John Doe’s case to a private forensic biotechnology company for DNA profiling. By uploading the profile into a genealogy database, they were able to trace it back to a woman in Kansas City, Missouri, who is believed to be the victim’s mother. This breakthrough finally provided closure to the case that had remained unsolved for nearly five decades.
