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Iowa Teen Identified as Victim of Notorious California Serial Killer After 49 Years

An adolescent from Iowa believed to be one of the earliest victims of a notorious California serial killer has finally been identified after almost five decades. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California revealed on Tuesday that the long unidentified teenager, previously known as “John Doe,” has now been identified as Michael Ray Schlicht from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The teen’s identification sheds light on a case that has remained a mystery for years, linking him to Randy Kraft, also known as the “Scorecard Killer,” who is currently serving a prison sentence at San Quentin State Prison. Kraft was convicted in 1989 for the brutalization and murder of 16 men during a series of slayings that spanned over a decade in Orange County, California. Authorities suspect that Kraft may have been involved in other killings in California, Oregon, and Michigan.

The body of the teen, now identified as Schlicht, was discovered on September 14, 1974, when two individuals were off-roading on a fire road in the northeastern part of Laguna Beach, California, according to a news release by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Initially, the 17-year-old’s death was attributed to accidental causes related to alcohol and diazepam intoxication. However, subsequent similar deaths in the area prompted investigators to reclassify them as homicides. Several of these deaths occurred within close proximity to where Schlicht’s remains were found.

The string of killings finally came to an end when a California Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Kraft for erratic driving, observing him weaving and driving on the shoulder of the freeway. In the passenger seat, the officer discovered a U.S. Marine who had been strangled.

Prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who stored dismembered body parts of his victims in his freezer. Despite overwhelming evidence, Kraft maintained his innocence and proclaimed in front of the judge during his conviction, “I have not murdered anyone, and I believe a reasonable review of the record will show that.”

After years of being identified as “John Doe,” Schlicht’s case gained renewed attention in November 2022. Investigators from the sheriff’s department submitted tissue samples to a private forensic biotechnology company in order to develop a DNA profile. Using this profile, investigators were able to upload the information into a genealogy database to construct a family tree.

This breakthrough eventually led the investigators to Kansas City, Missouri, where they obtained a DNA sample from a woman believed to be the victim’s mother. The comparison of the DNA samples confirmed the identity of the long-unidentified teen, providing closure to his family after 49 years of uncertainty.