Judge Denies Dismissal of 4 Counts in Kraft Case

The judge in the Randy Steven Kraft murder trial refused a defense request Tuesday to dismiss charges involving four victims.

The attorneys argued that evidence which was inadvertently destroyed made it impossible for them to defend their client properly against those counts.

“How valuable would this evidence be, I don’t know,” Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin said, but “I don’t feel dismissal is proper. “

Some physical evidence was lost in two cases because the bodies were in the open air for days before they were found. Those two involved the deaths of Edward Daniel Moore, 20, a Marine from Camp Pendleton, whose body was found in 1972 at a freeway interchange in Seal Beach, and Keith Arthur Klingbeil, 23, of Everett, Wash., whose body was found in 1978 on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo.

Lost Rope and Trash Bag

In a third case, law enforcement officials lost evidence involving the death of Robert Wyatt Loggins, 19, a Marine from Tustin, who was found tied and stuffed in a green plastic trash bag in 1980. Police lost the rope and the trash bag.

In the fourth case, the evidence was actually the head of Keith Daven Crotwell, 19, of Long Beach, found near a jetty in Long Beach in 1975. The family had it cremated.

According to an autopsy report, vertebrae connected to the head had tool marks that corresponded to marks on the top of the spinal column of a headless body later found near El Toro. The prosecution argued that the marks proved that the head belonged to the body. Defense attorneys have argued that since the head is missing, they cannot determine that.

Kraft, 43, is accused of 16 Orange County slayings. Officers who arrested him in May 14, 1983, found a dead Marine strapped in the seat of his car.

The trial is being held in Santa Ana Superior Court.