The Bizarre Murder of Arlis Perry SOLVED

In episode 10, I covered the Bizarre Murder of Arlis Perry.  I'd recommend going back and listening to that episode for more extensive details, but to summarize shortly:

In 1974, Arlis was nineteen years old and living with her then husband Bruce Perry in a dorm designated for married couples on the campus of Standford University in California. 

On October 12th, 1974, Arlis planned to make a stop at a mailbox to send some letters out.  The postal box was a short walk across the campus from the dorm, and Bruce decided to tag along with her, being that it was late.  The couple left the dorm at approximately 11:30pm.

Somewhere during their walk, the two had an argument and Arlis told Bruce to head back to the dorm and she was going to stop at the Stanford Memorial Church.  The two parted ways at approximately 11:50pm.

Security guard Steve Crawford spotted Arlis entering the church just before midnight.  Two witnesses who left the church shortly after Arlis arrived reported seeing an unidentified man entering as they exited.

When Crawford went to make his final check before locking the church up for the night, he called out to anyone who may be inside that it was time to close.  According to him, no one answered and when he walked the interior he saw no one present.  He then locked the church up as per his nightly routine.

Arlis never returned home that night, and Bruce called the police.  Officers did approach the church, but finding it locked, assumed Arlis had run into trouble on the way there.  It wouldn't be until security guard Crawford unlocked the church again at 5:45am that the terrible truth was known.

Arlis was lying on the ground, partially undressed.  She had been sexually assaulted by two altar candles and appeared to have been posed.  She was deceased when discovered, an icepick was still lodged in her skull with the handle protruding from just behind her left ear.  While Arlis had been sexually assaulted using the candles, it did not appear as though her killer had forced himself on her, though semen was found on a pillow next to her body and a palm print was later lifted from a candle. 

It was a grisly assault and murder which shocked the locals and sent cries of satanic rituals and black magic careening over the campus.  For the past 44 years this case has baffled investigators.  The brutality and savagery of the attack seemed to suggest, in the words of the time, a sexual psychopath, though police could never quite pin anyone.  They had suspects including security guard Steve Crawford, The Son of Sam, members of a satanic group known as the Process Church, but not enough evidence to link any directly.

UPDATE

As of today, Thursday, June 26th, 2018, there has been breaking news regarding Arlis Perry's murder and the identification of the prime suspect.

According to Sheriff Laurie Smith of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, cold case detectives led by Detective Sgt Rick Alanis had been working on Arlis' case.  According to investigators, they had been looking at the case for some time and recently launched a re-testing of the original DNA evidence.  This time, their testing resulted in a strong enough link to a suspect that they were able to obtain a warrant.

They had reached out to the suspect in recent weeks, hoping to get him to have a discussion but all signs seem to indicated that he was evasive in arranging a meeting.  Today, officers from the Sheriff's Department arrived at the Del Coronado Apartments, located on Camden Avenue in San Jose to execute their warrant. 

According to Sgt. Enrique Garcia, Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at approximately 9:04am.  They spoke to the occupant of the apartment through the door, identifying themselves as Sheriff’s Deputies.  They then opened the door and entered the apartment, at which time they noted that the occupant was holding a handgun.  Deputies immediately backed up, exiting the apartment and moments later, they heard a single gunshot.  Upon re-entering they found the suspect deceased of a self inflicted gunshot wound.  Sheriff Smith stated "He appears to have taken his own life." 

The San Jose Police Department took control of the scene and the Sheriff's Department is treating it as an officer involved shooting as the suicide occurred while official Sheriff's Department procedure was conducted.

While authorities have not yet officially confirmed the suspects identity, multiple news outlets are reporting that the apartment building's manager, Leticia Gonzales, identified the decedent as Steve Blake Crawford, the security guard who initially reported finding Arlis' body back in 1974.

Ruby Francisco, a neighbor of the decedent, reported that he was a gray haired man who appeard to have been in his 70's.  When building manager Leticia Gonzales was asked about Crawford, she stated "He's a good guy, never had any problems.  He kept to himself.  All of us are shocked that this happened."  She further described him as a well dressed man who wore a cowboy hat and carried a cane.  Crawford was reported to have moved into the studio apartment in 1993. 

Over the years, Crawford was on the radar of investigators, though they never had enough information to label him as an official suspect.  There does appear to be some confusion as, it was reported previously that Crawford had been tested against the evidence but no link had been made.  Whether or not this was due to technology at the time, or an error, is unknown at this time and is pending an official statement from the Sheriff's department.

Of the suspect, Sheriff Smith stated "He had been a suspect in the case for many years, but we didn't have the evidence until now."  When Smith was asked about the investigation, she responded “We have a cold case homicide unit and they have been working this case actively since 1974.  There’s been a lot of increases in technology for DNA, and we were able to get more information that led us to believe that this was the suspect.  That’s why we were able to do the search warrant today.”

Crawford faced legal trouble just one year before moving into the apartment in which he ended his life today while being addressed by Sheriff’s Deputies.  He had been arrested in 1992 under suspicion of having stolen nearly 300 rare books and pieces of art from Stanford University where worked as a security guard.