Nearly five decades of uncertainty have come to a haunting resolution as a teen believed to be the first slaying victim of California’s notorious "Scorecard Killer" got his name back, thanks to the dogged efforts of investigators and the cutting-edge sleuthing of genetic technology. Authorities have identified the body of Michael Ray Schlicht, a Cedar Rapids native who was just 17 when he met his untimely death.
His remains were found all the way back on September 14, 1974, near a road northeast of Laguna Beach. He was initially believed to have succumbed to a combination of alcohol and diazepam intoxication. The Orange County Sheriff's Department tip-toed through the decades with 'John Doe' as the only moniker to cling on to since Schlicht's identity was a mystery, as reported by Des Moines Register.
Detectives weren't ready to let the case cold; following the fatalities of other young men in Southern California under eerily similar circumstances, they began suspecting a darker narrative had unfolded. Randy Steven Kraft, the savage plyer of this grim plot, known infamously as the “Scorecard Killer,” was collared in 1983, but not before the trail of victims grew, some of whom remain draping questions in the fabric of unsolved cases, as noted by NBC Los Angeles.
It wasn't until the tenacious pairing of investigators Bob Taft and Lauren Felix applied innovative genetic genealogy that shadows began to retreat from this morose tale. “Unfortunately, genealogy wasn't a thing at the time," Taft revealed in an moment of reflection, adding, "... I remembered looking at the file (and) there were no investigative leads." This bleeding-edge investigatory tool, emerging in 2018, enabled the identification of John Doe's possible grandparents in October 2023, opening the path that would lead to Michael Ray Schlicht's posthumous homecoming.
The breakthrough came not a moment too soon for a family trapped in an eternal wait. "His mom told us she prayed every day for that day to come. For her to have that resolution was an incredible moment,” an investigator shared in an emotional testament to the resilience of hope, as caught by the Des Moines Register. Now, with Schlicht’s identity reclaimed, his family can finally seek a semblance of closure as they arrange to mark his grave with a proper headstone.
While Kraft continues to serve his sentence at San Quentin State Prison, the fate of him facing charges for Schlicht’s death remains in the hands of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. In the meantime, if the public has any additional details, they are urged to come forward, reaching out to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS or via their website, to aid the ongoing investigation.
