Vincent Cruz Mestas, a 23-year-old Hispanic male, was found murdered in San Bernardino County, California, in late December 1973. His body was discovered at the bottom of a ravine in a mountainous area, a grim and isolated location that suggested a deliberate attempt to conceal the crime. The circumstances surrounding his death were brutal, and investigators later connected his murder to a series of killings attributed to a notorious serial killer operating in Southern California during the
1970s and early 1980s.
Vincent Cruz Mestas is believed to have been one of the many victims of Randy Steven Kraft, a serial killer also known by monikers such as the "Scorecard Killer," the "Southern California Strangler," and the "Freeway Killer." Kraft targeted young males, often between the ages of 13 and 35, many of whom were in the military. Vincent Cruz Mestas, a Hispanic male aged 23, fit the profile of Kraft’s suspected victims. Although Kraft was never formally tried for Mestas’s murder, investigators have linked the case to him based on circumstantial evidence and patterns consistent with Kraft’s known modus operandi.
Randy Kraft was ultimately convicted of 16 murders and sentenced to death, though authorities believe he may have been responsible for as many as 67 killings. Kraft kept a disturbing coded list of his victims, which included cryptic references believed to correspond to specific individuals. Vincent Cruz Mestas’s name appears among those suspected to be referenced in Kraft’s notes, further strengthening the belief that he was one of Kraft’s victims. Despite the lack of a formal confession or trial for Mestas’s case, law enforcement considers Kraft the prime suspect in his death.
No other suspects have been publicly identified in connection with the murder of Vincent Cruz Mestas. The case remains one of many attributed to Kraft that were never prosecuted, largely due to the overwhelming number of victims and Kraft’s existing death sentence. Vincent Cruz Mestas, a 23-year-old Hispanic male, is remembered as one of the young lives tragically cut short by a killer whose crimes spanned years and left a lasting impact on Southern California.
