Arlis Perry, 19, was discovered near the altar of Stanford Memorial Church after going there to pray late one night

Arlis Perry, Stephen Blake Crawford
Credit: Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office (2)

Content warning: The following article contains disturbing descriptions of sexual violence.

More than four decades after a 19-year-old newlywed was found brutally slain inside Stanford University’s Memorial Church, investigators said DNA evidence finally identified the man they believe killed her — though he died by suicide as deputies arrived at his home to arrest him.

Arlis Perry, 19, the wife of a Stanford University sophomore, had moved to California from Bismarck, N.D., just weeks earlier after marrying her high school sweetheart. She had recently begun working at the Palo Alto law firm Spaeth, Blase, Valentine and Klein, according to the Stanford Daily.

Witnesses later told investigators they saw Perry inside the church shortly before closing time. The building remained open late to students and visitors, and security guards were responsible for locking it at night, the outlet reported.

Hours later, in the early morning of Oct. 13, Perry’s body was found near the altar in the church’s east transept when the night watchman opened the building around 5:45 a.m., per the outlet.

Stanford Memorial Church
Credit: Clem Albers/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty

Investigators determined Perry had been killed by a blow to the back of the head from an ice pick that was still lodged in her head when her body was discovered. She was found nude from the waist down and had been sexually assaulted with a candlestick, while another candlestick had been pushed up her blouse, according to the Stanford Daily, citing contemporaneous coverage from the day after the killing.

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The brutality of the crime quickly drew attention. The Rev. Robert Hammerton Kelley, then dean of Stanford’s Memorial Church, described the scene as “ritualistic and satanic,” according to an Associated Press report published at the time.

Investigators collected several pieces of evidence at the scene, including semen found on a kneeling pillow near Perry’s body and a palm print left on one of the candles, the Stanford Daily reported. But forensic DNA testing did not yet exist, and the evidence did not identify a suspect during the initial investigation.

Credit: Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group via Getty

The case remained unsolved for decades until investigators reexamined preserved evidence using modern forensic techniques. In 2018, authorities said DNA recovered from Perry’s clothing matched Stephen Blake Crawford — a former Palo Alto police officer and the Stanford security guard who reported finding Perry’s body — according to ABC News.

Crawford had years earlier been arrested in an unrelated case involving stolen items from Stanford, including a human skull and a blank diploma.

When deputies arrived at Crawford’s San Jose apartment with a search warrant, they made verbal contact with him through the closed door before entering and seeing him holding a handgun, ABC News reported. Deputies backed away, and moments later heard a gunshot. When they reentered, Crawford was found with what authorities said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the outlet reported.

Arlis Perry’s sister, Karen Barnes, later said that when the family finally learned of the development decades later, their first reaction was simple: “After all these years, it’s about time.”