The murder of Arlis Perry is one of the more disturbing murders I’ve come across. Consider this your content warning.
The Discovery
“Hey, we’ve got a stiff here”, said Stephen Crawford to the 911 operator. It was around 5:40am on October 12, 1974. Crawford, a Stanford University security guard, had unlocked the doors to Stanford Memorial Church (located on the main quad on Stanford University’s campus) and stumbled upon a horrific sight. A young woman lie dead within one of the pews near the Church’s alter. As written by Steve Huff for Inside Hook, “The scene was gruesome and bizarre. She lay near the altar, nude below the waist. Someone had driven an ice pick into her skull. An altar candle lay between her breasts and another jutted out of her vagina.” The only identifier the killer left at the scene was his semen and a partial palm print.
The gruesome and violent nature of the crime led some investigators to believe that there was a satanic element to the crime. According to Aja Romano at Vox, “A number of factors contributed to the increased interest in, and fear of, the occult during the late 1960s and 1970s. The Manson cult’s operation in the late ‘60s culminated in a string of mass murders in the summer of 1969 that shocked the nation and put organized ritualistic killing on the brain.”
But before police could investigate any suspect or cult seriously, they had to know the identity of the woman who had been so viciously murdered.
Arlis Perry and the Night of the Murder
Her name was Arlis Perry and she was a 19-year old newlywed who had recently moved to
California with her husband, Bruce. Arlis and Bruce were high school sweethearts. Arlis’ mother remembers her youngest daughter as a cheerleader who baked for her fellow cheerleaders and the basketball players for whom she cheered.
On October 11th 1974, newlyweds Bruce and Arlis Perry were enjoying a late-night stroll on Stanford University’s campus. Maybe “enjoy” is too strong of a word. The two began fighting over tire pressure and Arlis left Bruce at around 11:30pm. According to Bruce, Arlis told him she was going to go to Stanford Memorial Church to pray. Now, if you think this is a gross over-reaction to an argument over tire pressure, I can say that when I was nineteen, I had walked away from my beau for less. Arlis was young, newly married, and recently moved far away from home (and all that was familiar to her)—she was probably feeling a lot of different emotions and needed some time alone with her thoughts. Let’s not be judgmental.
Bruce returned home without Alris no doubt expecting she’d be back after she prayed and cooled off a bit. But one hour passed. Then another. And before he knew it, it was 3:30am and Arlis had still not returned home. Bruce called the police to report Arlis missing. Bruce told the police that Arlis was headed to Stanford Memorial Church, but when police arrived at the church, they found the doors were locked and they were unable to search inside.
Just over two hours later, Stephen Crawford found Arlis inside the church. When the authorities questioned Crawford, he told them that he had locked the church doors earlier that night (October 12th 1974) and he hadn’t seen Arlis. Bruce was of course looked at as a suspect, but he was quickly cleared. But Crawford? Maybe it was the way he reported the horrific crime, “Hey, we’ve got a stiff here”, or maybe it was because he was the one who could lock up the church to conceal a crime, or maybe it was because that Crawford was (most likely) in the area at the time of the crime, but Crawford never fell off of the investigators’ suspect list. But a hunch isn’t a valid reason for an arrest, and Crawford was never charged.
A Forty-four Year Wait
Bruce Perry eventually remarried. He moved to Texas where he became a child trauma expert. Arlis’ family moved on best they could and they continued to pray that one day they would know the identity of the person who killed their youngest daughter. Arlis’ father passed away in March 2018, three months before his daughter’s killer would be identified.
In 1993, Crawford had moved into studio apartment in San Jose. He was quiet and well-mannered tenet. He was known for wearing a cowboy hat and walked with the assistance of a cane. His neighbors and his landlord viewed Crawford as a nice and quiet man with a penchant for bronze Western statues. His neighbors did not know that those bronze statues were the property of the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. Crawford had stolen a number of artifacts and books from Stanford in the 70s and was arrested for the thefts in 1992.
It took 44 years for the science to develop that would identify Arlis’ killer. On June 28th, 2018, authorities traveled to the Del Coronado Apartment Complex and descended upon the small studio apartment belonging to Crawford. They had with them, a search warrant for Crawford’s home. The hunch investigators held onto for decades was finally able to move into the realm of real evidence. But as police moved closer, Crawford sat down on his bed, put a gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. When faced with prospect of finally meeting with justice for his crime, Crawford opted for death instead.
As reported by Robert Salonga and Julia P. Sulek at The Mercury News, “’It’s been frustrating through the years that we could never get enough evidence to charge the suspect,’ said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, who had started her career with the department shortly before Perry’s death. ‘It’s difficult for her family and it’s difficult for our department, but we finally have closure on this case.’”
While Crawford may not have been brought to justice, his acts guarantee he won’t hurt anyone else. This guarantee comes 44 years too late for Arlis’ family and friends. Many ponder as to whether or not Alris was Crawford’s only victim. Based on the brutality of the crime, I don’t think so, and neither do authorities. As reported by Steve Huff at Inside Hook, “Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith is open to the possibility Crawford had more victims. Palo Alto Online reports police found serial killer literature in his home and Smith said her department assembled ‘a chart of unsolved homicides and we’re looking at when he was living in this area.’”
I doubt this will be the last time we hear about the crimes of Stephen Blake Crawford.
Sources
https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained Author: Aja Romano
https://www.insidehook.com/article/crime/44-years-dna-solved-satanic-murder-arlis-perry-victim Author: Steve Huff
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/28/sheriff-suspect-in-infamous-1974-stanford-chapel-murder-shoots-self-as-detectives-close-in/ Authors: Robert Salonga and Julia Prodis Sulek