Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree

by Dennis McDougal

Randy Kraft was highly intelligent, politically active, loyal to his friends, committed to his work--and the killer of 67 people--more than any other serial killer known. This book offers a glimpse into the dark mind of a living monster. "To open this book is to open a peephole into hell".--Associated Press. Photographs.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Audiobook, History, Serial Killer, Psychology

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1991

About the author

Dennis McDougal was an American author and newspaper journalist, who has been called "L.A.'s No. 1 muckraker". His book Privileged Son was described as "illuminating reading for anyone interested in 20th-century Los Angeles or modern-day newspapering" by The New York Times. A native of Southern California, he lived near Memphis, Tennessee.

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, very readable story of a serial killer who rather unusually preyed on drunken Marines. They also included another killer who tortured teenegers to death and another team of idiots dumping men's bodies in trashbags by the side of the road. Now, why is it when a man kills other men, the sales promoters for the book act like it's the worst thing that ever happened?

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhausting.

[Tim Edison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randy Kraft picked up male hitchhikers travelling the north/south freeways of California and Oregon. He would drug them and then go to work - torturing, raping, strangling. Randy kept a scorecard of his victims. Randy was "The Scorecard Killer". Randy had notched sixty five victims on his scorecard when he was finally apprehended in 1983. Randy was a professional; a computer programmer. Randy was vicious. Randy was well liked. Randy was active in local politics as a democrat, played cards and was a vegetarian. Randy got off on murder often emasculating his victims, biting them and branding them with an old fashioned automobile cigarette lighter. Randy's games went on for about eleven years until he was caught red handed by the California Highway Patrol with a dead body in the front passenger seat. Randy has been on death row for almost thirty years. Randy lives at San Quentin.

[DancingMarshmallow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall: 2.75 stars?

This was a hard one to rate. On the one hand, I appreciated learning about a case I knew nothing about, hadn’t even heard of before starting this. In the conclusion, the author starts to explore the idea that the reason these crimes are so little known - despite Kraft being one of the most prolific serial killers in American history - is the sexist cultural notion that men can’t or shouldn’t be victims mixed with a bit of homophobia. That’s a really interesting thread, and I wish the author had explored that more.

On the other hand, the book is a bit disorganized. The author included coverage of other similar cases happening at the same time (multiple “Freeway Killers” like William Bonin), which makes sense to demonstrate the context of Kraft’s crimes and the environment in which the cops were working. But it was honestly confusing since the author went chronologically and kept up a little bit of suspense on who had committed which crime. In a book trying to cover the crimes of a man who murdered 70ish victims, tossing any extras in just really dilutes the narratives. It’s hard enough to focus on humanizing the victims where there are just so many: I think adding extras didn’t help with that.

CW: outdated language re: gay men (use of terms like “gay lifestyle” and “the gays”), but the book was written in 1991 and the feeling I got was more of outdated language that deliberately homophobic word choices.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG!!!!! WOW!!!! What can I say?
Disgusting, sick, psychotic, pathetic, inhumane, I could go on and on … but … I loved it!!!

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is simultaneously fascinating and horrifying, especially because of the dual nature of Randy Kraft - his public persona of being a nice, helpful worker, keeping so many fooled and convinced that he was just a normal person, contrasting with the sadistic murderer who relished sexual torture. This book could have turned into a glorification of the serial killer, but the author steered more towards a factual presentation with clinical detail to avoid such a problem. There were a lot of the details of the story which seemed questionable to me, especially pertaining to the feelings, thoughts, and actions of the victims, but it didn't seem to detract from the core factual narrative.
On the negative side, this author is pretty bad when it comes to more descriptive language. The very beginning of the intro has this "...the strands of freeway seem to pump from the heart of Los Angeles like contorted veins that twist and knot and stretch out to Santa Barbara in the north... sutured off at the coastline so that automobiles don't spill into the brooding Pacific Ocean like so much blood." Wow. That is one fucking bad, tortured metaphor. There are several more examples in this book, and most of them are worse than that.
I had another mild quibble with the way he covered the shitty so-called psychic who claimed to help with the investigation. I felt he allowed her to many excuses, and should have focused on the fact that all her claims were entirely useless in solving the case, like every fucking asshole psychic ever.
I liked the fact that he covered the progress, or lack thereof, of the various law enforcement agencies and their attempts to solve the case in great detail, and also covered the fact that for all the work they did, the actual arrest occurred via a traffic stop because Kraft was weaving on the road, and was caught with the dead body of his last victim in the passenger seat.
The final chapters covering the trial were interesting as well, and it is kind of mind boggling just how much money was spent on this abominable shit-fucker. Of course the subject of the death penalty is involved, and as much as I'm against the death penalty in general, sometimes it is a very hard argument not to kill someone like this. If I were on that jury, I would be very hard pressed not to recommend death for this guy, especially the way he exhibited no remorse, and almost seemed gleeful when viewing the pictures of his victims.
This is definitely not a book for everyone, since it contains graphic descriptions of what was done to the victims, but it is also fairly thought provoking.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently watched a documentary called 'The Killing of America' made in the early 1980s about the post-60s increase in carnage and unrest in the United States. Amongst the footage of race riots, political assassinations, and the Vietnam war, there was a segment devoted to serial killers. It was fascinating and horrifying. It got me started on a Wikipedia binge reading page after page about killer after killer, the mental images burned into my brain leading to more than a few sleepless nights. But there was one Wikipedia page that stayed with me - Randy Kraft's.

I had never heard of Randy Kraft until just a few weeks ago. And the entire time I was reading this book, I was wondering why I'd never heard of him. Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, these are all names that crop up time after time but I couldn't understand why Randy Kraft, who is arguably the worst of all these guys, is barely a historical footnote. He killed more people, and in incredibly torturous ways. The epilogue of this book attempts an explanation. Kraft was a gay man, who killed young men (both gay and straight). Men who should supposedly have been able to look after themselves. However this still doesn't explain the notoriety of serial killers like Gacy and Dahmer who were also men who killed men.

'Angel of Darkness' is a well-researched, well-written, non-sensationalised book. My main minor gripe is that McDougal spells several of the victims' names wrong which I found pretty disrespectful.

Severed genitals, tree branches inserted into rectums, eyes burned out with car cigarette lighters, earth and leaves shoved down a man's throat until suffocation. Honestly, whether or not you believe in some form of happy after-life, the young men who met their horrific ends in the presence of Randy Kraft deserved automatic entry after what they went through.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 things I'll never do, prostitution or hitchhiking.

This is a "slight novelization" (according to the author only some of the conversations are fabricated and a few names changed, but the rest is factual) of the crimes and trial of Randy Kraft. Possibly the most prolific serial killer in American history. Kids.... listen to your parents. For this man to succeed at his craft(get it), his victims broke several cardinal rules. Don't hitchhike, don't take pills or booze from strangers, don't go home with someone you don't know...... Basic parental advice that, if ignored, may get you killed. And honestly, all the talk of genitals getting lopped off made me cross my legs once or twice. If ever a guy deserved the death penalty it was Randy Kraft. And pleading "innocent" when you were caught because you had a dead body IN YOUR CAR is probably not gonna fly with any jury. At that point, just go the insanity route and pray. A clear and simple writing style and enough info to give you nightmares without bogging down the read with too much. If'n true crime is your thing I'd say you'll find this book satisfying. Be warned, there are some graphic descriptions and photos. If you don't like the gore side of true crime, you may wiggle a little reading this book. I don't mind, but still wiggled.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true crime work details the (known) crimes of Randy Kraft, about the earliest identified American serial killer and rapist known variously as the Scorecard Killer, the Southern California Strangler, etc. He was one of "the Freeway Killer" monsters conflated with William Bonin and Patrick Kearney.

Kraft, while riding the rising wave of computer work, committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of apparently scores of young men between 1972 and 1983, the majority of whom he killed in California. He was convicted in May 1989 and is still incarcerated on death row at San Quentin. The long, costly trial leading to his imprisonment, as well as much of the lives of his victims are detailed here.,

Kraft became known as the "Scorecard Killer" because upon his arrest as investigators discovered a coded list with sixty-one entries on a scorecard containing cryptic references to his victims, some of which are still unidentified.

There are also clear, strong suggestions here that there is a missing accomplice, possibly still alive.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although very well written, this book is a hard read due to the excessive detail and the clinical way the crimes are broken down. The story alternates between discussing the crime, sharing tidbits of Kraft's childhood, depicting his day to day life and detailing the lives of the victims. While extremely interesting albeit slightly disturbing, this book pacts so much information into it, it sometimes feels like your brain goes into data overload. I would recommend this only to the avid true crime reader, for as intriguing as Kraft and his crimes were, this detail oriented book takes time and dedication to get through.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Randy Kraft was a serial killer and rapist who was active from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. The media and law enforcement often like to name killers, and Kraft had a couple. He was known as the Freeway Killer, as his victims were found along the freeway. The name that most people know him by is The Scorecard Killer, as police found a card with coded entries of his victims. He employed a method of rape, torture, and murder...which this book outlines in pretty grim detail. They are certain that he killed sixteen men and boys, but the number is believed to be much higher. (There were sixty plus entries on his scorecard.) He is currently still alive, incarcerated on Death Row at San Quentin prison, awaiting execution.

I got this book on Audible, and had just over three hours left on it. I finished this up this morning while I was doing some laundry and chores. I first learned of Randy Kraft through The Last Podcast On The Left, and this book was referenced on the reading list for sources. I thought the book was well written, and the research that went into it was expansive. The book detailed more than the podcast did, so I learned a great deal about the crimes and the killer. I am sure the physical book probably includes pictures, but I had to Google what this guy looked like.....and I was really shocked. He did not look anything like what I imagined. It's also wild to think about him being as old as my Grandfather now. If you are into that podcast or true crime in general, this was a pretty good book.

[Shawna Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chilling and disturbing, this book covers the murders of Randy Kraft, Orange County, CA's Freeway Killer. The author tries to walk us through Mr. Kraft's life through the 1960's, up until his capture in the 1980's. While in-depth, the author wanders between cases and in time- with as many murders as he is suspected to have committed (65 people, but its estimated to be much higher), the wandering back and forth between victims gets confusing. For a man who appeared mild and kind, reading of the horrors he committed upon his victims will leave you reeling, as the rape, torture, killing and disposal of his young male victims (the bodies that were found anyway) are told in graphic detail. With each new victim I found myself whispering, "you poor boy" to pretty much each fresh body I was introduced to, and fairly nauseas multiple times.

If you are squeamish DO NOT read this book.

I took two stars off, for the wandering timeline, and I am thankful I have reached the end. Trust me, I won't pick it up again, as i'm not about to subject myself to the ick factor again. The delusion of this killer insisting he was/is innocent, (especially discovering how he was finally caught), is just appalling. It shouldn't have surprised me to find he's still sitting on death row, more than 30 years after being convicted for 16 of the murders, but it is chilling, knowing such barbaric evil is still out there in the world.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horrific, compelling, enlightening, 5 stars

This 1991 book describes horrific crimes committed by someone never known by his family, friends or employers to be violent and yet he committed these and more over many years. It's a compelling read, I needed to keep coming back to it. And it's enlightening as to how gay life was seen by society, law enforcement and other gay men during that time.

It's almost hard to believe that I'm giving it 5 stars, but the reality of the content can't be a factor. I'm interested in serial killers, real and fiction, and somehow managed not to know until recently about Randy Kraft, who killed from the late 1960s to 1983 in several states from Michigan to West Coast. He is gay and many, but not all, of his victims were gay. He picked many of them up hitchhiking and/or looking for alcohol or drugs, which he readily supplied. He may be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. Still alive and sitting on Death Row at San Quentin.

It's a compelling read, but not for anyone unable to handle descriptions of extreme violence. I listened to the well-narrated audiobook along with reading the book, which contains black and white photos of some of the victims as they were found.

I'm strongly against the death penalty, but Kraft's lack of confession or willingness to talk over the decades to experts who are trying to understand how he became this violent murderer, seriously strain my conviction here.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of its time, I mean, it's as old as I am. So there is quite a bit of language that sensationalizes the murders and there is a bit of emphasis on "the numbers" of various killers. Randy was not some genius, he was just lucky to live at a time without internet, cameras, DNA and such. That's it.
I was also annoyed at a chapter dedicated to a psychic - I don't care about her platitudes and BS. She is presented as totally legit and as someone who solved three murders when in faaaaaaact.... the case is shaky at best and she pretty much ended up wasting everyone's time in Kraft's case. Ugh. I was also very upset at the end, as the final victim maybe could have lived had the officers bothered to do CPR on him, but that's not the fault of the book.
But, in spite of all that, this book did not make me feel dirty like other true crime. The author definitely took the time to find out about the victims and I liked the little bits about victim blaming and the true tragedy of what happened. Sure, some of these young folks had their issues, but no one deserves what happened to them. The author also has a very strong message about "the right victims" to attract attention. Serial killers targeting women were front page. Those targeting men, not so much, as men are seen as having failed at protecting themselves. Men are not supposed to be victims. Indeed, in spite of his horrific murders, barely anyone talks about Kraft.
Also, the PoS is still alive and now I'm mad again.

[C Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the e-book version of this. Since Richard Ramirez was hunting victims in Southern California during my teen years I took an interest in serial killers. During this time, guys like Randy Kraft, Richard Bonin, and Patrick Kearney were also taking victims in the same region. But for some reason, they didn't make the same media splash as Ramirez.
Dennis McDougal's book leaves nothing to the imagination of the carnage Randy Kraft left behind before getting caught. This book is not for the squeamish. I had to put the book down on a few occasions just to let the waves of nausea pass before continuing on. I will not add details or spoils because I don't want my review flagged for disturbing content.
One thing I learned on my own of Mr. Kraft's victims is that many are military, and their cases are handled (or ignored) by NCIS. Many John Does in the Southern California case files could be his victims, or those of Bonin and Kearney. Maybe through the wonders of DNA testing, these Does can be matched to his claim of 60+ victims.
I do highly recommend this book because there is so much stigma to shining the spotlight on Mr. Kraft's crime spree during the 70's and 80's. Or maybe he just has a good attorney representing him while he awaits the death penalty.

[ErikaShmerika Wine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just once I’d like to read a true crime book where the subject of homosexuality doesn’t feel like a justification or explanation for the atrocities. This one was rough. Not only are the tortuous acts committed against the victims described in detail, but it’s done in a way that feels like the author is saying, ‘See?! See what these perverts do!’ The narrative is only somewhat linear with frequent divergences to explore other killers and elucidate the general public opinion at the time. There’s no real sense of compassion for the victims and nothing for the reader to really hold on to as far as an understanding of the events. It’s your basic ‘A gay man murdered a bunch of gay men and here’s what he did to them oh and also everyone was really grossed out by alternative lifestyles’ retelling of the crimes. I guess if you like your true crime in journalistic format, that’s alright, but I like a bit of a deeper dive. Also, about halfway through I was dismayed to realize I was only halfway through. There’s a lot of filler that feels like the repetition of a concept three ways counts as good writing.

[Caesar Ruell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that gives a very thorough account of Randy Kraft's life and crimes.
Another reviewer mentioned that it can be a bit clinical in the details, but Kraft killed so many people, that sometimes the descriptions have to just be informative out of necessity. If the emotions and fallout for each victim and their families were included too, the book would be significantly longer.
Randy Kraft isn't anywhere near as well-known as the likes of Bundy and Dahmer, there's probably a few reasons why that's the case, but probably one of them is that Kraft has never admitted guilt, and therefore has never helped authorities locate any bodies etc. This is the opposite of some other serial killers who expressed remorse and gave interviews describing what they did. Yet Kraft is arguably the most brutal of them all. Such a shame he never tried do anything remotely decent after his murders, to at least provide some closure to those affected by his rampage.
Morbid curiosity makes me think, however, that an interview with him would still have been extremely interesting.

[John Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was your average true crime serial killer book. The trial part gets tedious with its repetition of the murders especially because there were so many victims. Covers a gay serial killer named Randy Craft who killed in Southern California in the 70s and 80s. His victims tended to be a lot of young military guys, most were hitchhiking. He fed them pills and beer, strangled them with a ligature and raped them, castrated them, burnt them with his car cigarette lighter and who knows what else. The bodies were dumped along freeways. On business trips to Oregon and Michigan he also killed several young men. Meanwhile Kraft was leading a middle class life as a computer programmer. He owned a house and lived with his partner for years. They went on trips and hosted bridge parties. He led quite the double life. This story was gruesome and atrocious. I now have had my fill of true crime serial killer books---maybe for a long while. I was on a binge and went through about ten of them.

[Kristofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book intrigued me because after listening to the podcast "My Favorite Murder" where the Los Angeles freeway killers were discussed, it triggered a memory that my Uncle used to be friends with Randy Kraft back in the 70's when he was committing these heinous crimes. My uncle owned a flower shop and nearby was a candy store owned by Randy's partner at the time Jeff Seelig.

The book was very good and pretty well-written. It was an interesting take back to read things like gay men being "roommates" rather than "partners" or "boyfriends". I am certainly glad I didn't have to live in a time like that. The book did seem to drag on a bit during parts, mostly the trial part of the book - but I guess that helped induce the truth behind the fact that the trial really did drag on, over a year, and cost the state of California 10 million dollars.

All in all great book. Wish I could talk to more people from that 1970's and 1980's Southern Los Angeles/Long Beach area.

[Nadezda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Äänikirjana kuunnellessa kirja oli alkuun sekava. Kun sitten pääsi kärryille henkilötarinasta toiseen polveilevasta rytmistä alkoi mielenkiinto herätä. Mielenkiintoista oli myös se, että murhaajaa jahdatessaan poliisi löysi ensin yhden ja sitten toisen Kraftin kanssa samantyyppisiä murhia tehneen sarjamurhaajan. Vasta kolmannella kerralla kiinni Randy Kraft. Kraftin murhat olivat vastenmielisiä ja raakoja, arvoitukseksi jääkin miten tavallista keskiluokkaista elämää elänyt mukava avoimesti homoseksuaalinen mies on näihin vihaa täynnä oleviin tekoihin syyllistynyt. Kraftin itsensä mukaan ei mitenkään.

[Bonnie Kernene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about a complicated serial killer, Randy Kraft. I read this book years ago, but decided to give it another read, and I am glad I did. It is very detailed, but not really graphic. Just gives the details necessary to understand what happened. Randy Kraft was killing young me at the same time other serial killers were out there in California. The author also talked about some of the other killers and gave the differences. I am glad because it was so interesting! I loved the way the book is written and it was well-written. I really had a hard time tearing myself away from it. I will read more of his books. This one is excellent and I highly recommend it!

[Jane Doe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very beefy, it has a lot of good information on Kraft’s life from start to finish.

I also found it important that they included information on both Kearney and Bonin who had existed in this time frame and had held the same name.

The only negative I have on this book which is not the fault of the book, is the age. Since this book was written in the early 90s, DNA testing has advanced. This has made it possible for us to better understand many of the victims Kraft has been tied to much later.

[Teresa Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I've read a lot of books about different serial killers but oddly enough I had never heard of this...creature. What a sick, twisted, evil monster!
The book gives a lot of details about the murders he committed and even for a person that thought they had read the worst a "human" could do to his fellow man most of this was hard to take! now I have to go Google him and see if he still breathes.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

McDougal's prose is sometimes laughably overblown, but he's good at engaging the reader. Randy Kraft is an evil mofo, and probably the biggest downfall of this book is that there's little in the way of insight into his psyche. Because Kraft continues to deny his crimes, there's nothing we can glean from him. The closest we get to any sort of motivation/explanation is that he was dropped on his head as an infant. Despite this, it's a good read, though definitely not for the squeamish. 4/5

[Hillary Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
Angel of Darkness paints a frightening portrait of a part of American society rarely glimpsed. A very well written case about the infamous serial killer, Randy Kraft who left a gruesome trail of multilated bodies - 67 victims to be exact.
Still took me a little while to finish this book; I found the chronological order of the events were slightly hard to follow and some of the details were somewhat unnecessary so it sort of transferred your mind from one place to another at times.
What I appreciated from the book and Mr. Dougal’s writing style is the comprehensive depiction of Kraft’s victims - who they were, bits and pieces of their lives before the monster so called Randy Kraft took it all away. A lot of times in true crimes, the focus has always been on the perpetrators, and the victims, at the end are statistics. But Mr. Dougal actually spent pages to help readers connect with these people and in some cases, understood what really led them to fall into Kraft’s evil trap.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ughh! I have long and a strident "anti-death penalty" proponent, listening to the actions described here makes me shake my head in disbelief that anyone could actually do that, and in question of whether I actually stand on the right side of the death penalty debate…
Shiver!
(Yeah, I'm still anti-deathpenalty, but I can see where those on the other side are coming from…)

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and meticulous insight into serial killer Randy Kraft. Randy Kraft is interesting because he doesn't seem to have trauma that would explain his need to kill. Nearly all evidence was circumstantial making the trial difficult but this book lays out his life and crime in detail.

One personal problem i always have though is that when a book like hits the "trial" phase i doze off.

[Corey Ledin-Bristol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stuff of nightmares. This book is not for the squeamish.

[Janice Root · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interminable Detail

The author spent excessive amounts of time describing useless detail. The book could have been much more concise. Not recommended.

[Eevee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well woven documentation of a gruesome string of serial murders and the trial of the convicted killer, Randy Kraft. A murderinos ideal publication.