Edward Daniel Moore, a 20-year-old White male Marine from Louisville, Kentucky, was tragically murdered on December 24, 1972. At the time, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Moore was last seen leaving his barracks on Christmas Eve. His body was discovered around 1:45 a.m. on December 26, 1972, near the Seventh Street off-ramp from the 405 Freeway in Seal Beach, Orange County. The circumstances of his death were particularly brutal: he had been strangled and bludgeoned, with bite marks on his genitals and one of his own socks inserted into his rectum.
Moore's murder was later linked to Randy Steven Kraft, an American serial killer known as the 'Scorecard Killer.' Kraft was active between 1972 and 1983, during which he committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of sixteen young men, primarily in California. Investigators discovered a coded list in Kraft's vehicle at the time of his arrest, which they believed documented his victims. The entry 'EDM' was interpreted as a reference to Edward Daniel Moore.
In May 1989, Kraft was convicted of sixteen counts of murder, including that of Edward Daniel Moore, and was sentenced to death. He is currently incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California.
