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Th* Orange County Register

Sunday, May 10, 1987

FROMC7 mild, timid type voice and he appeared to me to have some gay tendencies," Woodward testified. Although police had no evidence that Crotwell was gay, he had left with a man in a known gay cruising area, Woodward testified. Woodward suspected that Kraft and Crotwell might have gone out on the jetty to have sex the night Crotwell disappeared. Perhaps an inebriated Crotwell had fallen off the pier and drowned, he thought. Woodward asked Kraft to come down to the station later in the day for questioning. As Woodward left Kraft's home, he was unsure whether he had located the person he was looking for. But Kraft had seemed nervous, he noted, so he called to have Kraft followed by police. A few hours later, Kraft showed up at the station and sat down with officers Woodward and Robert Bell in a small, brightly lit interview room. In contrast to his earlier demeanor, he appeared relaxed, Woodward later testified. According to Bell's testimony, Kraft told them he had been at Ripple's Bar on Ocean Boulevard on March 29. He said he had met two men in a nearby parking lot and that they had gone for a drive and had some beer but no drugs. After 20 minutes, the younger of the two passengers wanted to go back, so Kraft took him back to the parking lot and dropped him off, Kraft told the police. According to Bell's testimony, Kraft said he had allowed the other man to drive and they went south on the San Diego (I405) Freeway, exiting at El Toro Road. They got stuck on a dirt road, Kraft said. After trying unsuccessfully to free the car, Kraft told them, he walked to a Bob's Big Boy restaurant about a mile away and enlisted help. He said that when he returned, the other man was gone. Kraft said he didn't remember his name and hadn't seen him

CHAPTER 4

since. Woodward asked Kraft if the police could take photos of his ehicle. He seemed reluctant, but agreed, according to Woodward's testimony. Woodward saw a bottle of Coricidin, a decongestant, and a prescription vial on the floor. Kraft told him he had been sick with the flu and that his doctor had prescribed the medication, Woodward testified. A few days later, Woodward and Bell drove to El Toro and looked for the dirt road. When

they found a spot where a car could have bottomed out, they decided Kraft's story was at least plausible. The Long Beach investigators did not know about the alleged rape of Joseph Fancher, a man who years later would testify that Kraft had given him drugs and assaulted dm. Neither did JRey have any reason to sufoeprKraft in the series of freewfy murders whose similarities Aher investigators would til together years later. Nevertheless, Bell remembers

wanting to file charges against Kraft in connection with Crotwell's death. "We came up with all we could come up with, and we felt that he was possibly involved," Bell said recently. But they lacked some key elements to build a case. They still did not have a body. That October, a realty salesman for a new development in Laguna Hills noticed an odor and found the skeletal remains of a headless and handless human body in a culvert about one

mile from the intersection of El Toro Road and the San Diego Freeway. The man reported the grisly discovery to Orange County authorities, but somehow the news escaped the notice of the Long Beach Police Department. It would be eight years before pathologist Judy Suchey would determine that the body was Crotwell's. The sixth cervical vertebra showed marks from a knife, and at least one of the hands had been cut off before death, Suchey and another pa-

thologist testified. Eventually, the prosecution would allege that Kraft drove to El Toro and killed Crotwell. Afterward, according to the prosecution, Kraft realized he had been seen with the victim, so he cut the victim's head and hands off, left the body in the El Toro culvert and threw the head and hands in the ocean. Michael Ditmar, meanwhile, was left to feel upset and angry about the death of his friend. He said he still thinks about Keith Crotwell all the time.

Now, Chi jiicago ontne double.

fI ^ ^ ^

"YES, THERE IS U H ATTER BREAST CANCER. AND THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT."
- A n n Jillian

O'Hare orMidway
Starting May 20th, Less Fane, More Care AmericaWest jets into O'Hare. Thats twice the reason to fly us to Chicago.
We're making our Chicago service even easier to take. With spacious 757s to O'Hare. This is in addition to our already convenient schedule to Midway. Just pick the time and airport that's most convenient. Then sit back and enjoy service that includes assigned seats, The Wall Street Journal, an international frequent flyer program...our low fares even include the cocktails. And that's just the half of it. On our 757s to and from O'Hare, you can enjoy our new Business Class that's second to none. Where well pamper you with extras from head to toe. Like free headsets for music and movies. Pre-departure beverages. A choice of entrees. Spacious seats. Even slippers. If this sounds like Chicago service you could get comfortable with, call your Travel Agent for reservations or call America West at 800-247-5692. But, we suggest you do it on the double.

A lot of women are so afraid of breast cancer they don't want to hear about it. And that's what frightens me. Because those women won't practice breast self-examination regularly. Those women, particularly those over 35, won't ask their doctor about a mammogram. Yet that's what's required for breast cancer to be detected early. When the cure rate is 90%. And when there's a good chance it won't involve the loss of a breast. But no matter what it involves, take it from someone who's been through it all. Life is just too wonderful to give up on. And, as I found out, you don't have to give up on any of it. Not work, not play, not even romance. Oh, there is one thing, though. You do have to give up being alraid to take care of yourself.

Get a checkup. Life is worth it.

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