The Freeway Killer

The Brutal Killer

The most brutal serial killer I have ever read about is Randy Steven Kraft. He is one of the most sadistic and cruel serial killers, and is among the most prolific. Kraft is suspected in at least 67 killings in California, Oregon and Michigan over a twelve year span between 1971 and 1983. He primarily targeted gay men (from bars) and hitchhikers, driving vast distances in his spare time to pick up his young victims. Many of the men he killed were physically larger than himself (many of them U.S. Marines); he resorted to drugging many of them with diazepam dissolved in alcohol.

Once he had them in a position where he could control them, he began to ply his gruesome trade. It is evident from Kraft’s behaviors that he was out to destroy his victims for his own perverse gratification. Many of his victims were burned with cigarette lighters on the genitals and other sensitive areas of the body. Others had objects (i.e. tree branches, socks, toothpicks, pens, etc.) jammed into their rectums or urethras. Those less fortunate where emasculated while still alive. In one case, he cut the eyelids off of one of his victims in order to force his victim to watch the torture. In other instances he chewed the penis of his victim. He seemed to derive particular pleasure from sexually mutilating his victims prior to killing him.

Brutality

In one of the nastiest instances, Kraft drove one of his victims to a remote canyon, where he bound him to a tree. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as being asphyxiation caused by leaves and earth found lodged deep into the youth's trachea. The autopsy also revealed that the boy had been sodomized and emasculated, with his severed genitals then inserted into his rectum along with burned material and leaves. Prior to being emasculated, the victim had a cocktail swizzel-stick inserted into his urethra all the way to his bladder. The youth's chest, scrotum, nose and cheeks had all been burned with an automobile cigarette lighter, with his eyes being destroyed by the same object. In addition, his legs bore numerous incisions which had been inflicted with a broken bottle. Forensic experts were able to deduce that he had been alive throughout much of the ordeal. This is an actual crime scene photo of the victim:

Capture

Kraft was eventually captured in May 1983 during a routine traffic stop. He was intoxicated at the time of the incident and was spotted swerving on the highway by a police patrol. In his car, officers found a dead Marine named Terry Lee Gambrel slumped over in the passenger seat. It was in his car that police found numerous photographs of his victims and a scorecard containing references to a total of 67 victims. So far investigators have identified 45 of the victims listed on the scorecard; 22 remain unidentified. It is believed that the true number of victims could potentially be higher, and that the scorecard only contained references to his more notable killings.

At his trial he demonstrated many classic traits of psychopathy; he showed no signs of having any guilt or remorse for his actions and had a markedly grandiose demeanor throughout. Though he had been caught red handed with a body in his passenger seat, he continued to deny responsibility for his actions. Kraft showed no empathy for his victims, and smiled as details of his crimes were read in court. Its suspected that he derived pleasure from reliving the events as they were being described. It is evident from the scorecard and the pictures found in his possession that Kraft was a fantasist who very much enjoyed reliving the murders.

Ultimately, Kraft was convicted of 16 of the 67+ murders he is suspected in. Prior to his capture, Kraft worked as a computer programmer and had an IQ measured at 129 (near the 98th percentile) as an adult. He had been bright and scholarly in school and was considered one of the most likely to succeed by his class. He held a degree in Economic, served in the Airforce (before coming out as gay) and -like other serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy- was politically active and maintained a facade of normalcy.

Still Alive

As of 2019, Kraft is still alive on California’s death row; it is likely that he replays his crimes over and over in his head for inner satisfaction. He denies killing anyone to this day and has given no interviews and divulged no details of any of the acts he committed. He was always a master bridge player (with few if any losses), and is known to have played bridge another intelligent sexual psychopath named Lawrence S. Bittaker, pictured below with his former accomplice Roy L. Norris:

Kraft’s former prison buddy Lawrence Bittaker is nearly his equal in terms of his sadism, and deserves brief mention here as well. Bittaker was a sexual psychopath with an IQ of 138 who enjoyed luring young girls into his van with his accomplice Roy Norris where he would strangle them with coat hangers after raping them and recording their screams as he rammed ice-picks into their ears. Bittaker and Norris are sometimes referred to as the “Toolbox Killers.” They killed a total of five young girls in a five month killing spree in 1979.

Source: Quora