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MARQUETTE Richard Lawrence

1935

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1961

1975

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Verdict/Urteil:

A native Oregonian, from Portland, Marquette logged his first arrest in June 1956, on a charge of attempted rape. His victim failed to press the charge, and so her 21-year-old assailant was released. A few months later, he was held a second time, for disorderly conduct. In August 1957, Marquette tried to rob a Portland service station, clubbing the attendant with a sack full of wrenches. His guilty plea earned Richard eighteen months in jail, but he was turned out after twelve - for good behavior - and returned at once to Portland. On June 5, 1961, a Portland housewife, Joan Rae Caudle, was reported missing by her husband when she failed to come home after shopping. Three days later, parts of a dismembered woman's body were discovered, scattered over several vacant lots around the southeast side of Portland. Fingerprints identified Joan Caudle as the victim on June 14. Eyewitnesses had seen the murdered woman in a tavern on the night she disappeared; she had been killing time with Dick Marquette, a regular, and they had left the bar together. A murder charge was filed against Marquette on June 19, and one day later he was named a federal fugitive , on charges of unlawful flight. His name was added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list June 29 - the first time that the list had been expanded to include eleven names. The extraordinary step was warranted, the FBI decided, based on Marquette's demonstrated tendency toward violence and the threat he posed to women. On June 30, one day after the release of Marquette's WANTED flyers, the manager of an employment agency in Santa Maria, California, recognized his newest client in the mug shots. Agents of the FBI were notified, and they surprised Marquette at work, repairing furniture for resale in a thrift shop. Seemingly relieved, the killer offered no resistance. "I knew the FBI would get me sooner or later," he told his captors. According to Marquette, his victim had been picked up in a bar, and they had argued after having sex. He strangled her and then, impulsively, cut up her body to facilitate disposal. On July 2, Marquette led authorities to the missing remains. Convicted of first-degree murder in December, sentenced to a term of life imprisonment, his parting words to the court were a heartfelt "Thank God." Paroled after only twelve years, Marquette slaughtered another female victim soon after his release, but escaped detection in that case. In April 1975, he dissected Betty Wilson in Salem, Oregon, and was arrested once again. In the absence of capital punishment , Marquette's second murder conviction earned him another sentence of life imprisonment, with theoretical eligibility for parole.