After nearly 45 years, the body of a man found dead alongside Interstate 5 in Oregon has been identified, and police have named a California serial killer as the only person of interest in the case.
Larry Eugene Parks was 30 years old when his body was discovered in 1980, and his family was unaware of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance until his identification last month, according to police.
According to Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy, Randy Kraft, also known as the “Scorecard Killer,” is the only person being investigated for the 1980 killing.
“There’s some evidence that we’re processing to determine that link,” Kennedy told reporters. “We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest.”
Kraft, now 80, was sentenced to death in 1989 after being found guilty of brutalizing and murdering 16 men in California over a decade. He is still incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and has denied killing anyone.
On July 18, 1980, police responded to a report of a body, later identified as Parks, along I-5 south of Portland near Woodburn. Police launched a homicide investigation at the time and attempted unsuccessfully to identify the victim.
Parks, a Vietnam veteran whose family lost contact with him in 1979, was last seen in Pensacola, Florida, police said.
In 2024, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigator contacted the Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit and offered to assist with the identification of the remains through forensic investigative genetic genealogy. A genetic profile was created from a blood sample, and Parks’ identity was confirmed after possible family members provided DNA profiles for comparison, according to police.
In 2023, the remains of a teenager believed to have been killed by Kraft in California were identified through investigative genetic genealogy.
Kraft was pulled over in his car on a California freeway in 1983 after a trooper noticed him driving erratic. The vehicle’s passenger seat contained a strangled US Marine. According to police, a coded list in the trunk of Kraft’s vehicle included 67 victims from California, Oregon, and Michigan.
Prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who stored some of his victims’ dismembered remains in his freezer.
