Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : 2 More Victims Covered in Kraft Murder Trial

The prosecution in the Randy Steven Kraft murder trial completed its presentation of evidence Wednesday on two of Kraft’s alleged victims who were last seen in the Buena Park area on Feb. 12, 1983.

Kraft, now 43, is on trial charged with the murders of 16 young men between 1972 and 1983.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown has told jurors he will present evidence related to the 16 murders in reverse order. He began his case on Sept. 26 with evidence related to a 25-year-old Marine, Terry Lee Gambrel, who was found dead in Kraft’s car when he was arrested on May 14, 1983.

This week, Brown moved on to evidence related to the Feb. 12, 1983, deaths of Rodger James De Vaul, 20, and Geoffrey Alan Nelson, 18. Nelson’s body was found on the westbound Euclid Street on-ramp to the Garden Grove Freeway in Garden Grove about 5 a.m. that morning, about four hours after the two young men were last seen. De Vaul’s was found in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County the next day.

Testimony and evidence regarding a fourth of the 16 victims, Eric Herbert Church, 21, is scheduled for today. Church’s body was found in Seal Beach on Jan. 27, 1983.

Brown was ready to begin with the Church evidence Wednesday afternoon. However, Judge Donald A. McCartin called a halt for the day when one of Kraft’s attorney’s, James G. Merwin, became ill.