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

ANAHEIM, Calif. — After nearly five decades, the identity of an Iowa teenager, previously known as “John Doe,” has finally been revealed. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California announced on Tuesday that the teen has been identified as Michael Ray Schlicht from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Michael Ray Schlicht is believed to be one of the earliest victims of Randy Kraft, a notorious serial killer known as the “Scorecard Killer.” This revelation sheds light on the dark history of Kraft’s brutal and relentless killing spree that terrorized Orange County for over a decade before his arrest in 1983.

Randy Kraft, currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, was convicted in 1989 for the murder of 16 men. However, authorities suspect that Kraft may have been responsible for even more killings in California, Oregon, and Michigan.

The body of Michael Ray Schlicht was discovered on September 14, 1974, when two individuals were off-roading on a fire road northeast of Laguna Beach, California, according to an official statement released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Initially, the death of the 17-year-old was ruled as accidental, resulting from alcohol and diazepam intoxication.

However, as investigators delved further into similar deaths that occurred in the following years, they began to suspect foul play. Some of these deaths took place in close proximity to where Schlicht’s remains were found, raising further suspicions.

It was the arrest of Randy Kraft that finally put an end to this reign of terror. A California Highway Patrol trooper pulled Kraft over after noticing his erratic driving, and to their horror, discovered a strangled U.S. Marine in the passenger seat of his vehicle.

During his trial, prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who had kept dismembered body parts of his victims in his freezer. Despite overwhelming evidence, Kraft maintained his innocence and stated to the judge, “I have not murdered anyone and I believe a reasonable review of the record will show that.”

In November 2022, the case of John Doe took a significant turn when investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department submitted tissue samples to a private forensic biotechnology company for DNA analysis. By utilizing genealogy databases and constructing a family tree, investigators were able to trace the victim’s lineage to Kansas City, Missouri, where they obtained a DNA sample from a woman believed to be the victim’s mother.