A body discovered nearly 45 years ago along Interstate 5 in Oregon has finally been identified, and authorities are now investigating a California serial killer as a person of interest in the case.
The remains, found in 1980, have been confirmed to belong to Larry Eugene Parks, who was 30 years old at the time of his death. For decades, his family was unaware of his disappearance, and the circumstances surrounding his death remained a mystery. However, recent developments have led to Randy Kraft, the notorious “Scorecard Killer”, being named as the sole person of interest in the case.
Identification of the Victim and the Investigation
The body of Larry Parks was discovered on July 18, 1980, alongside Interstate 5, south of Portland, near Woodburn, Oregon. Despite an initial homicide investigation, authorities were unable to identify the victim at the time.
Parks, a Vietnam War veteran, had last been seen in Pensacola, Florida, in 1979, and his family had lost contact with him after that. It wasn’t until 2024 that an investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department reached out to the Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit, offering help to identify the remains using forensic investigative genetic genealogy. The process involved developing a genetic profile from a blood sample, and after comparing it to DNA submitted by potential family members, Parks’ identity was confirmed.
Randy Kraft: The “Scorecard Killer”
Randy Kraft, now 80 years old, is the only person of interest in the case. Known as the “Scorecard Killer”, Kraft was convicted in 1989 for the brutal murders of 16 men over the course of a decade in California. He was sentenced to death and remains incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, though he has denied any involvement in the killings.
There is evidence linking Kraft to Parks’ death, but authorities are still processing the information to confirm the connection. Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy stated, “We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest,” referring to Kraft.
The “Scorecard Killer” and His Disturbing Crimes
Kraft’s crimes spanned multiple states, including California, Oregon, and Michigan. He was arrested in 1983 after being pulled over for driving erratically on a California freeway. Inside his vehicle, a U.S. Marine had been strangled and was in the passenger seat, and the trunk contained a coded list believed to tally 67 victims, some of whom were in the states where Kraft is suspected of committing other murders.
Investigators also discovered that Kraft, a former computer programmer, was a fetishist who kept dismembered body parts of his victims in his freezer. His gruesome acts were meticulously documented in what became known as his “scorecard”—a list of victims that authorities have used to link him to other murders across various states.
A Cold Case Solved Through Genetic Genealogy
The use of forensic investigative genetic genealogy has become a crucial tool in solving cold cases, and in this instance, it helped identify Larry Eugene Parks and may soon help close another chapter in the investigation into Randy Kraft’s horrific crimes.
In 2023, a teenager’s remains believed to have been killed by Kraft in California were also identified using this technique, bringing more attention to the chilling nature of Kraft’s crimes and the ongoing efforts to identify his victims.
Continuing Investigation
As the investigation into Larry Parks’ death continues, authorities are hopeful that the breakthrough in genetic genealogy will lead to additional answers and potentially more victims being identified. Randy Kraft remains a central figure in the case, and police are working to determine the full extent of his involvement in the murders.
