6 ms·

More facts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Steven_Kraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Steven_Kraft

revelation 13y ago
He is still alive. Maybe theres a reunion in the future, death row should be safer than a motel.
InclinedPlane 13y ago
Interesting reading. Some things to think about related to the experiences of the author. At the time of coming into contact with Randy Kraft he had already killed at least 20 people, and during that year had committed at least 5 separate murders. Pretty sobering to think about. Also, reading these details I can't help but be extremely critical of the criminal justice system's failures in regards to the case. There were so many opportunities to catch Kraft in the earlier days of his "exploits" that were wasted by either poor police work or poor judgment of the district attorney.
Pxtl 13y ago
Jesus, it just goes on and on and on... and in the end, there's no heroic manhunt, no great victory. He was caught driving drunk with a corpse in the passenger seat, so used to murder that he'd gotten lazy about it. You can't help but feel outrage that nobody stopped him... that the public wasn't sufficiently warned that any of these boys, these kids could have known there was a serial-killer stalking them.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- __david__ 13y ago
  Yeah, I've lived in this area my whole life and I'd never heard of Randy Kraft. Granted I was a kid during the time so perhaps I just had been kept in the dark (though I was keenly aware of the Night Stalker as a kid). So I just asked my dad and he'd never heard of him either. Crazy that something that large was happening under our noses and nobody knew...
- girvo 13y ago
  I suppose a case could be made that the lack of media frenzy and nickname had something to do with society's approach to homosexuality and the "targets" being masculinity defined.
- pudakai 13y ago
  When you dig into it, nobody really knows how many victims there were. His cryptic tally sheet seemed to indicate 67 or so, but some investigators believe he may have killed 100 or more. For instance, when they caught him, the front passenger seat of his car was apparently bloodsoaked, but was never matched to any known/suspected victim. A fair amount of evidence suggests that he had at least a part-time accomplice as well. All sorts of unknowns, as he still maintains complete innocence to this day. He had been killing people in Oregon, on business trips up there and the folks up there theorized that something like this was happening and had been working credit card gas purchase, car rental, and airline ticket info and from what I read, right around the time he got arrested in Ca. his name was coming to the top in Oregon.
- JabavuAdams 13y ago
  Reading about Jeffrey Dahmer left me similarly shaken. One of his victims -- Konerak Sinthasomphone -- managed to escape out onto the street and contact some women who called the police. When the police officers (John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish) arrived, Dahmer managed to convince the them that it was a gay lovers' quarrel and the officers let Dahmer take Sinthasomphone home again. Can you imagine the horror of escaping torment and certain death, only to be handed right back to your tormenter by the police?
  - tempestn 13y ago
    Holy shit. This victim, who 31 year old Dahmer claimed was his lover, was also 14 years old at the time, and the police returned him (naked and bleeding) despite his protests. (Sinthasomphone was disoriented at the time, having been drugged, but apparently still did protest.) At least the officer was fired: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak
    - kevindication 13y ago
      He was reinstated apparently upon appeal.
      - tempestn 13y ago
        Wow. Missed that part.
      - ekianjo 13y ago
        How is that even possible after such misconduct? Words fail me. Don't they even feel ashamed of appealing ?
      - allochthon 13y ago
        That's distressing.
    - Pxtl 13y ago
      > having been drugged ... reading the other wikipedia article, Dahmer had also performed an experiment on him that would've also impared his cognition pretty severely. I'm not going to write the details since it was NSFL, but I'm surprised people didn't notice it.
unimpressive 13y ago
"By adolescence, Kraft had taken a keen interest in politics, becoming a staunch Republican[12] with aspirations to become a U.S. senator. Shortly after his enrollment at Westminster High School, he and two close friends founded a Westminster World Affairs Club. At Westminster High School, Kraft was again regarded as a pleasant, bright student who regularly achieved A grades." That's not disturbing at all.
- jacobwcarlson 13y ago
  Are you disturbed that he was a Republican? Because if you'd read the very next section of the Wikipedia article you'd have seen that it said: "Shortly after his enrollment as a freshman at Claremont Men's College, Kraft enrolled in the Claremont Reserve Officers Training Corps[16] and he regularly attended demonstrations in favor of the Vietnam War and — in 1964 — for the election of conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. Kraft later declared these actions were merely a mimic of his parents' political views and not his own, describing his second year at Claremont as being when he abandoned "last gasp" of conservative ideology.[16] The same year, Kraft entered his first known homosexual relationship."
  - unimpressive 13y ago
    >Are you disturbed that he was a Republican? Not in the slightest. If that paragraph had said "democrat", but every other word was the same, I'd have pointed it out. I'm disturbed that in an alternate universe we could be reading about Kraft's reelection campaign.
    - ekianjo 13y ago
      I'm also disturbed that this police officer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak) could even continue doing his job and be elected as a public official after handing back a victim to his would-be murderer. And still asking for appeal and getting his job back after his termination.
      - 13y ago

He is still alive. Maybe theres a reunion in the future, death row should be safer than a motel.

Interesting reading. Some things to think about related to the experiences of the author. At the time of coming into contact with Randy Kraft he had already killed at least 20 people, and during that year had committed at least 5 separate murders. Pretty sobering to think about. Also, reading these details I can't help but be extremely critical of the criminal justice system's failures in regards to the case. There were so many opportunities to catch Kraft in the earlier days of his "exploits" that were wasted by either poor police work or poor judgment of the district attorney.

Pxtl 13y ago

Jesus, it just goes on and on and on... and in the end, there's no heroic manhunt, no great victory. He was caught driving drunk with a corpse in the passenger seat, so used to murder that he'd gotten lazy about it. You can't help but feel outrage that nobody stopped him... that the public wasn't sufficiently warned that any of these boys, these kids could have known there was a serial-killer stalking them.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
__david__ 13y ago
Yeah, I've lived in this area my whole life and I'd never heard of Randy Kraft. Granted I was a kid during the time so perhaps I just had been kept in the dark (though I was keenly aware of the Night Stalker as a kid). So I just asked my dad and he'd never heard of him either. Crazy that something that large was happening under our noses and nobody knew...
girvo 13y ago
I suppose a case could be made that the lack of media frenzy and nickname had something to do with society's approach to homosexuality and the "targets" being masculinity defined.
pudakai 13y ago
When you dig into it, nobody really knows how many victims there were. His cryptic tally sheet seemed to indicate 67 or so, but some investigators believe he may have killed 100 or more. For instance, when they caught him, the front passenger seat of his car was apparently bloodsoaked, but was never matched to any known/suspected victim. A fair amount of evidence suggests that he had at least a part-time accomplice as well. All sorts of unknowns, as he still maintains complete innocence to this day. He had been killing people in Oregon, on business trips up there and the folks up there theorized that something like this was happening and had been working credit card gas purchase, car rental, and airline ticket info and from what I read, right around the time he got arrested in Ca. his name was coming to the top in Oregon.
JabavuAdams 13y ago
Reading about Jeffrey Dahmer left me similarly shaken. One of his victims -- Konerak Sinthasomphone -- managed to escape out onto the street and contact some women who called the police. When the police officers (John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish) arrived, Dahmer managed to convince the them that it was a gay lovers' quarrel and the officers let Dahmer take Sinthasomphone home again. Can you imagine the horror of escaping torment and certain death, only to be handed right back to your tormenter by the police?
- tempestn 13y ago
  Holy shit. This victim, who 31 year old Dahmer claimed was his lover, was also 14 years old at the time, and the police returned him (naked and bleeding) despite his protests. (Sinthasomphone was disoriented at the time, having been drugged, but apparently still did protest.) At least the officer was fired: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak
  - kevindication 13y ago
    He was reinstated apparently upon appeal.
    - tempestn 13y ago
      Wow. Missed that part.
    - ekianjo 13y ago
      How is that even possible after such misconduct? Words fail me. Don't they even feel ashamed of appealing ?
    - allochthon 13y ago
      That's distressing.
  - Pxtl 13y ago
    > having been drugged ... reading the other wikipedia article, Dahmer had also performed an experiment on him that would've also impared his cognition pretty severely. I'm not going to write the details since it was NSFL, but I'm surprised people didn't notice it.

unimpressive 13y ago

"By adolescence, Kraft had taken a keen interest in politics, becoming a staunch Republican[12] with aspirations to become a U.S. senator. Shortly after his enrollment at Westminster High School, he and two close friends founded a Westminster World Affairs Club. At Westminster High School, Kraft was again regarded as a pleasant, bright student who regularly achieved A grades." That's not disturbing at all.

jacobwcarlson 13y ago
Are you disturbed that he was a Republican? Because if you'd read the very next section of the Wikipedia article you'd have seen that it said: "Shortly after his enrollment as a freshman at Claremont Men's College, Kraft enrolled in the Claremont Reserve Officers Training Corps[16] and he regularly attended demonstrations in favor of the Vietnam War and — in 1964 — for the election of conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. Kraft later declared these actions were merely a mimic of his parents' political views and not his own, describing his second year at Claremont as being when he abandoned "last gasp" of conservative ideology.[16] The same year, Kraft entered his first known homosexual relationship."
- unimpressive 13y ago
  >Are you disturbed that he was a Republican? Not in the slightest. If that paragraph had said "democrat", but every other word was the same, I'd have pointed it out. I'm disturbed that in an alternate universe we could be reading about Kraft's reelection campaign.
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    I'm also disturbed that this police officer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Balcerzak) could even continue doing his job and be elected as a public official after handing back a victim to his would-be murderer. And still asking for appeal and getting his job back after his termination.
    - 13y ago