Last Ride Page 1
Last Ride Page 1
Last Ride Page 1
T Y
SUNDAY
MAY
10,
1987
$1.00
RIDE
PART QNE Q F THE RADY K R A R STORY For some, perhaps, it w a s the road itself. With its promise of friends and loved ones, excitement and adventure somewhere down the road, they would step out on the roadside carrying a few humble possessions and try to hitch a ride. Instead of their dreams, they found death. Prosecutors believe Randy Steven Kraft, 42, is responsible for the deaths of 16 men in Orange County and have linked him to the homicides of 21 others. Four years ago this week, two California Highway Patrol officers spotted his Toyota weaving off the road onto the shoulder of Interstate 5 near Mission Viejo. But instead of a routine drunkendriving arrest, the patrol officers left the scene with a man in the back seat of their patrol car who would be charged with 16 murders in Orange County and indicted in connection with two homicides in Michigan and three in Oregon. In court, Kraft would be linked formally to 37 murders and suspected of a s many as 64 the largest murder case in Orange County history. Four years after his arrest, Kraft has not yet come to trial. Millions of taxpayer dollars already have been spent by prosecutors and K r a f t ' s fense lawyers, and the costs will have s o a r e a b y " the end of what could prove to be the longest criminal trial in U.S. history. In a three-part series starting today in Close-up on CI, Register staff writer Patrick J. Kiger traces the paths of Randy Kraft and the young men alleged to be his victims. For the victims, the journey has ended, but for the defendant, lawyers, investigators and families of the victims, the seemingly endless road goes on.
sert that the president did not specify how that was to be done. And he will tell the special committees investigating the Iran-contra affair that neither he nor Reagan directed the National Security Council to break the law. It was unclear how the president intended to have his administration maintain support for the -contras while remaining within the law. But the White House did get a legal opinion from the President's Intelligence Oversight Board that
than he has admitted. Although McFarlane has spoken in public more often than any of the other leading characters in the Iran-contra affair, he mostly has talked about the American arms sales to Iran, not the covert program tojaid the rebels. Congressional investigators say he will face tough questions this week about his own role in the contra program. Reagan has maintained that North was operating beyond his authority. In a broadcast address last March, for example, Reagan said he was "angry" about "activities undertaken without my knowledge," including "secret bank acPlease see IVICFARLANE/A2
, ,By Patrick J. KigerThe Register hat lurd these 37 young men to their deaths?
had special meaning because the city is celebrating the lOOfh anniversary of its founding. Bands, floats, rides, jugglers and Renaissance music were only pari of the entertainment at Saturday's festivities.
AiwotaMPraw
Poles living in the United States among the 172 aboard the low-cost The unmaking of Gary Hart is * one of the most startling stories,of Please see CRA.SH/A10
WASHINGTON What killed Gary Hart's candidacy? Was it "the system," as he said in his speech Friday withdrawing -from fhe presidential contest? Q 0 i h s it Gary Hart himself^
U.S. polities: A man who has devoted at least four years of his life to the pursuit of the presidency is undone by a dalliance, chaste or not. with a 29-year-old model and actress. But. for those who lyiew him, there seemed to be almost an inevitability about it. For it was Gary Hart whose remarks and activities fed the depiction of him as a "womanizer." And
this was not a new image problem. In 1984, when Hart first ran for president, some journalists examined his love life. Although no detailed article ever appeared, Walter Mondale's campaign learned that these reports might appear in print if Mondale selectedLHart as his vice presidential candidate." There also was tlie complex, conPlease s^e HART/A12
The radar used by controllers at Los Angeles International Airport has broken down at the rate of nearly once a day in the first seven months after a passenger jet crashed Aug. 31 in Cerritos, according to documents obtained by the Register. The breakdowns have plunged the system into unscheduled outages that have lasted as long as six hours. During the outages, controllers have been forced to switch BSINIESS
from one trouble-plagued radar system to another. Not all the breakdowns result in unplanned outages. Many of them simply create distractions for the controller and technicians have to later take the system out of service for repairs. The radar is composed of two aging radar systems used by controllers at Los Angeles Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON. One system is called the Airport Surveillance Radar No. 4, or ASR-4, and was installed in 1964. Please see RADAR/A3
By Cheryl Downey
Lupe Sanchez sighed heavily at the question. Was it worth spending two weeks trapped in a borrowed recreational vehicle with two small children and her mother for the privilege of buying a S180,000 home in Rancho Santa Margarita? "I surp hope so," replied Sanchez, 29, as she sat in the stuffy interior of the small RV. "The community out here looks like it's going to be so nice the lake and
everything. I think it'll be a nice place to raise my kids." Sanchez and her husband, Fernando, own a home in Santa Ana but want to trade up to a new house in the fledgling community of Rancho Santa Margarita. For two weeks, she camped near the Fieldstone Co. sales office to guarantee that they would get the hou.se and lot they wanted in the Cantobrio development. And on April 25, th Sanchez family plunked down a S2,500 deposit for their dream three-bedroom house Please see NEW H0IME$/A4
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Bl6 BONANZA
A Laguna Niguel fashion designer is artxjng those profiting from the boom in clothes for full-sized w o m e n LI
LITTLE SEOUL
Residents near the Little Seoul area of Garden Grove are moving toward better relations with businesses there B1
LAKERS 3-0
The Los Angeles Lakers defeat Golden State 133-108 to take a 3-0 lead in playoffs. Seattle beats Houston. 117-102 01
THAILAND
Thailand is a land of paradoxes It profits off Its King and I image, but bans the film as an affront to the royal family H1
BEATTVS BACK
Is Warren Beattys first movie in five years. Ishtar. a cinema coup or a $40 million comedy of errors'' G1
Hazy sunshine
Highs 63-93 . lows 55-62 . Details B6