As Cops Close In, Suspect In 1974 “Satanic” Church Murder Of Arlis Perry Kills Himself

SAN JOSE, CA — As police officers entered with a search warrant, the man suspected in the 1974 murder of a woman in a Stanford University campus church reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday in front of them.

Steve Blake Crawford, 72, had been a security guard at the university on October 13, 1974, the night when Arlis Perry, 19, was murdered and violated inside the Stanford Memorial Church. Crawford, in fact, claimed he had locked the church up himself hours earlier.

Perry’s severely beaten body was discovered naked from the waist down with her legs spread open. The young wife of a premed student at Stanford had been sexually assaulted with one candlestick, while another was carefully placed between her breasts. An icepick also stuck straight out from the back of Perry’s skull.

For decades, investigators had looked at Steve Crawford as a person of interest in the case. Finally, this year, DNA testing connected Crawford to a semen-stained pillow left at the crime scene.

Last week, detectives and deputies showed up to execute a search warrant on Crawford’s studio apartment. As officers knocked, Crawford reportedly asked for a minute to get dressed.

Thinking he might be trying to escape, police used a key supplied by the building owner to enter the residence, where they say they saw Crawford sitting on a bed, holding a firearm.

Taking defensive positions in the small space, the officers were unable to prevent Crawford from shooting himself. Body cameras reportedly captured the incident on video.

The Ultimate Evil book cover [Amazon]

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Investigators going through Crawford’s personal belongings discovered a rambling suicide note written in 2016, and a jacket from the book The Ultimate Evil by investigative journalist Maury Terry.

The Ultimate Evil is a true crime classic about the occult underpinnings that the author says connects high-profile crimes such as the Manson Family murders, the Son of Sam slayings and, yes, the unsolved killing and desecration of Arlis Perry.

Watch Now: Have You Heard The Sensational Satanic Conspiracy Theory About The Son Of Sam?

Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters that police now consider the case of Arlis Perry’s murder closed and that they aren’t looking for anyone else.

Nonetheless, detectives are continuing to investigate Crawford. As Smith put it:

“During this time [1974], there were a lot of serial killers in this area. We have a chart of unsolved homicides and we’re looking at when he was living in this area. In homicides, even in cold cases, we have a warehouse of evidence. We keep the evidence for life, even when there’s a conviction.”

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Read more:
People
KABC
Palo Alto Online

Main photos: Steve Crawford, Arlis Perry [Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office]

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