Officials: Suspect in infamous Stanford chapel murder killed himself as officers closed in

Undated photo of Stephen Blake Crawford, who committed suicide earlier today when the sheriff's department was at his door to serve a search warrant. He is the suspect in killing of Arlis Perry at Stanford Memorial Church in 1974. Photo provided by Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department less Undated photo of Stephen Blake Crawford, who committed suicide earlier today when the sheriff's department was at his door to serve a search warrant. He is the suspect in killing of Arlis Perry at Stanford ... more Photo: Santa Clara County Sheriff�s Department Photo: Santa Clara County Sheriff�s Department Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Officials: Suspect in infamous Stanford chapel murder killed himself as officers closed in 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

One of the Bay Area's most infamous and haunting cold cases may finally be on the brink of being solved.

Law enforcement officials say a suspect in connection with the 1974 Stanford chapel murder of Arlis Perry killed himself Thursday as deputies arrived to serve a warrant. Sources told The Chronicle the man was identified as Stephen Blake Crawford, 72.

Crawford was the campus security guard who found Perry's body in the chapel 44 years ago.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office deputies heard a gunshot after they knocked on the door of the suspect's apartment on Camden Avenue in San Jose. He was found dead.

Much like the recent Golden State Killer case, the murder of 19-year-old Perry found new leads thanks to DNA testing. The DNA evidence was recently re-tested, linking Crawford to the infamous crime scene, according to law enforcement.

On the night of Oct. 12, 1974, Perry had a fight with her 19-year-old husband Bruce. She left home to pray and meditate in Stanford Memorial Church, which was often open past midnight for students.

Investigators initially believed Perry was unwittingly locked in the church with her assailant that night. When Crawford arrived the next morning to open up the church, he told police he found her body underneath a large cross. She had been violated with an altar candle, strangled and ultimately killed by a single stab wound that penetrated her brain.

According to a 1974 Stanford Daily article, Crawford was first summoned to the scene at 3 a.m., when Perry's husband reported her missing to police. He suspected she might be still at the church and, according to police reports, Crawford was dispatched to check. He told police all doors were locked; when he returned to open the church at 5:45 a.m., he claimed he found one door ajar and Perry's body inside.

In 1992, Crawford was arrested on suspicion of stealing almost 300 rare books and art objects from the university. A Stanford Daily story says he worked as a campus security guard during the 1970s and had "keys to many buildings." The stolen items were reportedly filched from the Hoover Institution, Department of Anthropology and professors' private offices.

Suspects in Perry's mysterious death ranged from occultists to Ted Bundy, who was briefly considered upon his arrest in 1975. The religious symbolism immediately gave rise to theories that Perry had been killed as part of a Satanic ritual.

“It has no cult-like overtones — it just happened to occur in a church,” Santa Clara County undersheriff Tom Rosa told the Chronicle on the day of Perry’s funeral.

The funeral was held in the church where she was murdered, and Rev. Robert Hamerton-Kelly delivered his eulogy some 40 feet from where her body was found. In front of packed pews, filled with Stanford students and Perry’s family, he declared Perry was “now part of us … [filling] the church with her glorious presence.”

“We must not blame God,” he said. “His control over us is not direct. There was inhuman violence over a perverted, corrupted sexuality. Only as we face it will we be able to transform it.”