Police Say Man Tied to 14 Slayings
Long Beach Computer Consultant Is Charged With 1 Death
By Roxanne Arnold and Jerry Hicks
Orange County authorities said Thursday they have evidence that links 38-year-old Long Beach computer consultant Randy Steven Kraft to the strangulation deaths of 14 men in three states since September 1979. Some of the killings authorities said may have had “homosexual overtones” They would not elaborate. Sheriff Brad Gates said investigators are also looking at Kraft as a possible suspect in an undetermined number of additional deaths in Orange County dating back to 1972. “We have evidence which links him (Kraft) with 14 deaths in Southern California, Oregon and Michigan.” Gates said, “We have made our information available to authorities from the other jurisdictions which are interested”
Arrested Saturday
The 14 slayings were of young men many of them in their 20s or teens who may have been hitchhiking. Kraft has been in custody since Saturday when police pulled him over on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo and discovered a passenger in his car was near death. The 25-year-old Marine Terry Lee Gambrel who died later of strangulation is one of the 14 victims. Murder charges were filed Tuesday against Kraft in the Gambrel death, but he has not yet been arraigned. Kraft’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday. Gates said he will ask the district attorney’s office at that time to file additional murder charges in the death of 19-year-old Wayne Loggins of Montclair whose body was discovered near Bake Parkway and Trabuco Road in south Orange County in 1980. Meanwhile investigators from Oregon and Michigan have been in Orange County since Sunday conferring with sheriff’s deputies and local police. Oregon authorities said Kraft is a “definite suspect” in six slayings there.
A Michigan State Police captain said, “We’re looking at him for two here.” Kraft has reportedly declined to talk to any of the authorities about the cases. Kraft and Jeff Alan Seelig 25, have been roommates for several years living in a quiet working-class neighborhood two blocks from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach. Kraft who is self-employed purchased the neatly kept Spanish-style home in 1974. Seelig has been questioned by police and his attorney said he has been cooperative. After Kraft’s arrest on Saturday more than a dozen investigators armed with a search warrant combed through the house and Kraft’s 1979 car.
The evidence they found Gates said was enough to link him to at least some of the murders. Gates did not elaborate. One neighbor who watched as investigators went through the house said “We thought it was drug oriented. They (the police) said We can’t tell you about it now, but you’ll know about it by Monday. You’ll be hearing about it for a long, long time! ” The earliest of the Southern California murders in which Kraft is a suspect according to Gates involved a 19-year-old Florida youth Gregory Jolley whose body was found alongside California 330 in the San Bernardino Mountains in September 1979. After the body of Wayne Loggins was found in 1980 there were no killings in which Kraft is a suspect until last Jan 27.
Eric Church, 21 of Hartford Connecticut, was found on the 7th Street ramp of the 605 Freeway in Seal Beach. Like the others he had been strangled. Then on Feb 12 the nude body of Geoffrey Nelson 18 of Buena Park was dumped on the Euclid Avenue on-ramp to the Garden Grove Freeway. The following day Rodger DeVaul Jr 20 also of Buena Park was found by hikers alongside a road in the Mt Baldy area in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County. Investigators said Nelson and DeVaul knew each other. The latest victim was Gambrel who had been stationed at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Michigan authorities said they are looking at Kraft as a suspect in the murders of Dennis Patrick Alt 24 and Christopher A Schoenborn 20, two cousins who disappeared last Dec 7 while attending a horticultural show in Grand Rapids. Their bodies were found two days later under a water tower in an isolated rural area. Both had been strangled.
Similarities Cited
Michigan State Police Capt. James Porter said Thursday that Kraft became a suspect in the two slayings after investigators learned of the “similarities with the homicides in Garden Grove.” Porter said investigators believe Kraft may have been in Michigan during the time two cousins were killed. “He was a computer programmer” Porter said. “He traveled all over the country” All six Oregon victims were also strangled. The killings spanned more than two years. Michael S O’Fallon 17 of Golden Colorado was found along Interstate 5 in Marion County July 17, 1980, and the body of an unidentified victim was found a short distance away the following day. In April 1981 the body of Michael D Cluck 18 of Kent Washington was found just outside Eugene.
Two Found in Same Area
Nineteen months later on Nov 24, 1982, the body of Brian Whitcher 26 of Portland was found near busy Interstate 5 in Clackamas County. Two weeks later Lance Trenton Taggs 19 of Hawaii was discovered in the same area. The last Oregon case involved Anthony Silveria 29 of Eagle Point, Oregon who was found on Dec 18, 1982, less than four miles from where Taggs and Whitcher were found. Kraft’s only criminal record in Southern California involves two arrests for lewd conduct one in Huntington Beach in 1966 and the second in Long Beach in 1975. The Huntington Beach case was dismissed but Kraft served five days in jail and paid a $125 fine in connection with the Long Beach incident.
“Really Nice Mellow Guy”
Neighbors who lived near Kraft on the quiet Long Beach Street described him as a “really nice mellow guy, a guy who took care of his garden every day.” “It’s a shock” said Charles Wilson who said he would frequently exchange small talk with his neighbor across the street. He said Kraft was “very nice.” At Westminster High School where Kraft was 1963 honors graduate administrators described him as a bright student. Active in debating and other activities. Kraft also was one of the top players on the varsity tennis team. Former Westminster High tennis coach Harlo LeBard said his one-time student was “likable quiet and unassuming. He probably was the least aggressive student who ever played for me” said LeBard.
