California Serial Killer Randy Kraft, known as the ‘Scorecard Killer,’ possibly connected to old Oregon murder, say law enforcement officers

A man was discovered deceased next to the 5 Freeway in Oregon, and after almost 45 years, his identity has been revealed. Authorities have indicated that a well-known California serial killer is the primary individual of concern in this case.

The individual, aged 30, was recognized as Larry Eugene Parks on Friday. Kyle Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Oregon State Police, mentioned that Randy Kraft, also known as the “Scorecard Killer,” is the sole individual being looked into for the 1980 incident.

“There is some information that we are analyzing to establish that connection,” stated Kennedy. “We are highly confident that we are focusing on the right person.”

Kraft, now 80, was convicted in 1989 of brutalizing and killing 16 men over a decade in California and sentenced to death. He remains incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and has denied killing anyone.

On July 18, 1980, police responded to a report of a body now identified as Parks along the 5 Freeway south of Portland near Woodburn. Police opened a homicide investigation at the time and unsuccessfully tried to identify the victim.

Parks, a Vietnam veteran whose family had lost contact with him in 1979, had last been seen in Pensacola, Florida, police said.

Kraft was pulled over in his vehicle on a California freeway in 1983 after a trooper spotted him driving erratically. In the passenger seat of the vehicle was a strangled U.S. Marine. In the trunk of Kraft’s vehicle was a coded list believed to tally 67 victims in California, Oregon and Michigan, according to police.

Prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who kept some of the dismembered parts of his victims in his freezer.

In 2024, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigator reached out to the Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit and offered to help identify the remains using forensic investigative genetic genealogy. A genetic profile was developed from a blood sample and Parks’ identity was confirmed after possible family members submitted DNA profiles for comparison, according to police.

Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the his family, police said.

In 2023, the remains of a teenager believed to have been killed by Kraft in California were also identified using investigative genetic genealogy.