California Kraft’s famous serial killer has been identified as the suspect in the murder of a man almost 45 years ago, police said Friday.
Larry Eugene Parks, 30, was found dead throughout Interestal 5 on the morning of July 18, 1980 in Oregon, according to Oregon State Police. An investigation was opened on his death, but Parks remained a John Doe until last month, after a researcher at the Sheriff’s department in Orange County, California, offered to help him identify him using the Forensic Genealogy in 2024.
Kraft, who remains jailed at the San Quentín Rehabilitation Center, was convicted of brutizing and killing 16 men during a series of nuances in the decline in Orange County, California, which ended with his arrest. It is also suspected that the convicted murderer commits more than 60 murders on the west coast and Michigan, police said.
To identify parks as another potential victim, a genetic profile was created using a sample of their blood, which helped researchers find and contact possible family members. They presented DNA, which led to their identification. Parks was a veteran from Vietnam and had lost contact with his family a year before his death.
“Until its identification last month, the circumstances of their disappearance were unknown to the parks’ family,” police said.
Police believe that Kraft, who was arrested in Orange County, California, in 1983, is responsible for the death of Parks. The evidence of the murder, together with the murder of another man who was also found in I-5 the day before Parks, was transferred to the Orange County District Prosecutor’s Office to be used in the Court, but remained in the county until 2024, when the investigator set out to identify the 30-year-old, according to the police.
“With the identity of Parks confirmed, the investigators are now working to bring resolution to the case of 45 years,” police said.
In 2023, an Iowa teenager who is believed to be one of Kraft’s first victims was also identified by genealogy.
