A man whose lifeless body was found dumped along a highway in Oregon has been identified after almost five decades — and authorities believe a notorious serial killer dubbed the “Scorecard Killer” is linked to the cold case murder.
Oregon State Police announced Friday that they had identified Larry Eugene Parks as the 30-year-old John Doe found dead on Interstate 5 on July 18, 1980.
An investigation into the grisly discovery was launched at the time, but it went cold until last month, when new evidence led authorities to the veteran’s identity.
In Jan. 2024, a blood sample from Parks, a Vietnam veteran who lost contact with his family a year before his death, led investigators to find potential family members.
Detectives positively identified him using the genetic profile, police said.
“Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the Parks family,” police said.
Randy Kraft, known as the “Scorecard Killer,” is the only person under investigation for the 1980 killing, Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said.
“There’s some evidence that we’re processing to determine that link,” Kennedy said, according to local reports. “We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest.”
Kraft, now 80, has already been convicted of brutalizing and killing 16 men over a decade in Orange County, California. The killer is also a suspect in a whopping 60 other slayings across the West Coast and Michigan, cops said.
“With Parks’ identity confirmed, investigators are now working to bring resolution to the 45-year-old case,” police said.
Kraft was arrested in 1983 after a California Highway Patrol officer conducted a traffic stop on him and found a dead male victim, later identified as Terry Lee Gambrel, in the front seat.
In the trunk was a scorecard list of Kraft’s other 67 potential victims, leading to his nickname.
In 2023, the death of an Iowa teen in 1974 was also linked to Kraft, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department previously said.
Kraft remains incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
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