In the winter of 1982, the lives of two young cousins from Michigan were tragically cut short, their deaths becoming a chilling chapter in the story of one of America's most prolific serial killers. Twenty-year-old Christopher Schoenborn, a White male, and his 24-year-old cousin, Dennis Patrick Alt, were hardworking young men with deep roots in their farming communities.
On December 7th, they attended a horticulture show at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, an event that should have been nothing more than a routine industry gathering.
Witnesses later recalled seeing Schoenborn and Alt in the hotel lobby, engaged in conversation with a man named Randy Kraft. This seemingly innocuous encounter would be the last time the cousins were seen alive. Two days later, on December 9, 1982, their frozen bodies were discovered in a stark, open field near a water tank in Plainfield Township. Schoenborn was found partially clothed, and an autopsy would later reveal that both he and his cousin had been strangled. The lack of visible external trauma initially puzzled investigators, but the truth of their final hours would slowly and horrifically come to light.
The investigation into the double homicide took a significant turn when Randy Kraft was arrested in California months later. A search of Kraft's vehicle and home in Long Beach uncovered a trove of disturbing evidence, including personal items belonging to his many victims. Among the grim discoveries were Christopher Schoenborn's tan and maroon ski jacket and black work boots. This physical evidence, combined with witness accounts from the hotel, solidified the link between Kraft and the murders in Michigan. Investigators also found a coded list in Kraft's possession, a 'scorecard' of his victims, on which it is believed Schoenborn and Alt were referenced.
Randy Kraft, who became known as the 'Scorecard Killer,' was ultimately convicted in 1989 for the murders of 16 young men in California and was sentenced to death. While he was never formally tried for the deaths of Christopher Schoenborn and Dennis Alt in Michigan, law enforcement officials are confident that they were among his many victims, a cross-country killing spree that is believed to have claimed as many as 67 lives. The case of the two cousins from Plainfield Township serves as a haunting reminder of the random and devastating reach of a notorious predator.
