CA CA - Alan Soper, 22, Sacramento, 7 June 1974

[Tower]

I just contacted them via Facebook messenger, hopefully they will correct it. Not only offensive but extremely sloppy research.

Obviously this website is dormant or owned by horribly sloppy researchers as you said. Alan Soper’s photo is still misrepresented as a serial killer. I’m deeply offended anyone coming across it would think this poor, missing man’s handsome face is a serial killer. If I were family, I would contact a lawyer and send a cease and desist letter to have the site taken down.

 

[Tower]

Obviously this website is dormant or owned by horribly sloppy researchers as you said. Alan Soper’s photo is still misrepresented as a serial killer. I’m deeply offended anyone coming across it would think this poor, missing man’s handsome face is a serial killer. If I were family, I would contact a lawyer and send a cease and desist letter to have the site taken down.

I have filed an abuse complaint with the domain owner, Go Daddy. I could not find any additional public contact information by looking up the “whois” for randykraft.com, but it does say the domain expires 3/2022, so hopefully the owner does not renew the domain in 2 months and it goes away forever.

I hope no family or friends ever sees it. I get a weird feeling it was done deliberately to taunt, but maybe the researchers were just that lazy and not trying to be cruel.

Either way, it needs to go. Jmo

 

[glamourkitty1922]

JULY 26, 2017BY CRIMESQUID
The Disappearance of Alan Soper


A 43 Year Old Mystery

Alan Wayne Soper disappeared sometime after June 7, 1974. His family still has no answers as to what happened to him.
Alan graduated from Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and decided to hitch rides with truckers to California. He was never seen again. He advertised on bulletin boards that he would work for truckers for free rides. One such posting was found west of Oklahoma City, along Interstate 40. His family last heard from him by phone, when he told them he was in Sacramento.
Some of his clothing and his wallet was found three years later in Needles, California.
In 2016, a body was exhumed in Kansas in connection with Cecil Henry Floyd, a serial killer who was sent to prison in 2017 for killing eleven people. There was reporting that the unidentified person could possibly be Soper, but I haven’t found any confirmation and he’s still listed in NAMUS as missing.

There is also Randy Steven Kraft, a serial killer who often offered his victims a ride or alcohol, mostly in California. He was active in southern California during the same time period that Alan Soper went missing and is known to have killed at least 67 men before he was imprisoned at San Quentin on death row.
Randy Steven Kraft kept a “scorecard” (he was basically evil beyond belief, I can’t continue writing without saying that) of his victims using nicknames or aliases. There are three unaccounted for victims on his list between 1973 and November 1974: Marine Down (probably not Soper, as he was not a Marine, but who knows how cryptic his scorecard was), Van Driveway and 2 IN 1 MV TO PL. There is also 2 IN 1 HITCH, still unidentified, and since Soper was a hitchhiker, is also a possibility.
Unfortunately, the clothes and wallet belonging to Soper that were found in Needles were lost, and no DNA testing was ever done on them. That must be so infuriating to the family, I can’t even imagine.
There are also other truck driver serial killers who committed crimes in the California area. William Bonin had just been released from Prison in June 1974, though his first recorded murder was 1979.
The FBI has been focusing on long haul truck drivers in a number of unsolved murders and disappearances for the last decade, including the formation of a database called the Highway Serial Killers Initiative.
It may be correct to suspect a long haul truck driver in Alan Soper’s disappearance because, not only was he known to be travelling with truckers, but his belongings and work postings were both found along Interstate 40. If he made it to Sacramento, that would mean his killer, had he picked him up along Interstate 40, would have backtracked back along the same route. I.e., if that was the driver’s steady route, it would make sense that his belongings would be dumped in Needles, perhaps even at a later date.
Is Alan Soper Still Alive?
There is always the possibility that Alan Soper is still alive. I found this while looking around for information on Alan Soper:

This is from 1975, from the Santa Cruz Sentinel. There are other Alan Sopers currently living in California, so it is unknown if this is Alan Wayne Soper.
I have seen no indication that Alan Soper left Tulsa to start a new life. As far as anyone knew, he was interested in travelling just for the summer.
No Conclusions
Unfortunately, there are no current suspects in Alan Soper’s disappearance, though it is still an open case and from what I can tell, still be actively investigated. I truly hope his family will get answers soon.
The Disappearance of Alan Soper

There was no DNA testing available in the 1970s and it seems that the police building burned down sometime in the 80s in Needles from what I see in my Needles CA history groups.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Obviously this website is dormant or owned by horribly sloppy researchers as you said. Alan Soper’s photo is still misrepresented as a serial killer. I’m deeply offended anyone coming across it would think this poor, missing man’s handsome face is a serial killer. If I were family, I would contact a lawyer and send a cease and desist letter to have the site taken down.

I hope his family and friends don't come across that site! They even have pictures of the real monster and he has a totally different shaped face. Just shoddy research.

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Alan’s birthday.

 

[theshadow45]

Alan has been missing for 48 years today.

 

[Savemecastiel]

Bumping

 

[theshadow45]

Today is Alan’s birthday.

 

[Alleykins]

Happy birthday, Alan.

 

[Pennysmom1]

May 25, 2009 - archived article from Tulsa World

https://archive.ph/bKvt5

<<At least two of the missing people, including Alan Soper, who disappeared in 1974, were last known to be traveling with truck drivers.

Soper, 22, graduated from Oklahoma State University and had planned to travel during the summer by working for truck drivers. When he last called his family on June 7, 1974, he said he was in Sacramento, Calif. His wallet and clothing were found near Needles, Calif., in 1977, but he has never been found.

Soper's parents, Juene and Robert Soper, knew within weeks after he left that something was wrong because he didn't call them again, as he had said he would.

"A mother does not give up thinking that your child might be alive," Juene Soper said. "I was determined to learn what happened."
While searching for their son, the Sopers found a note from him that was posted on the bulletin board of a truck stop along Interstate 40 west of Oklahoma City. The note indicated that Soper was seeking a job with a truck driver so he could travel cross-country.

The trail eventually turned cold, and his belongings that were found in California were thrown away before DNA testing became available.
"We just want him found so we could give him a Christian burial," his mother said.>>

TPD Unsolved Crimes

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Alan’s birthday.