Richard Marquette

Background

Richard Marquette, also known as Dick Marquette, was a convicted murderer from Portland, Oregon. Richard Laurence (Lawrence) Marquette was born on December 12, 1934 in Portland, Oregon.

Other details

Marquette killed three women. He drained their blood, mutilated and dismembered their bodies, and scattered their remains. He was described as a serial killer who killed three women, drained their blood, mutilated and dismembered their bodies and scattered their remains. He became the first person ever to be added as an eleventh name on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List, in connection with the 1961 murder of Joan Caudle. Marquette was incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary since June 1975.

During the events surrounding Betty Wilson, criminal psychiatrists working with Marquette came to the conclusion that he was a perfectly normal, socially adjusted individual unless women turned him down. The sting of rejection, they concluded, set off a murderous rage.

The offence

Murder of Joan Caudle

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 on June 29, the first time that the list had been expanded to include eleven names. The step was warranted, the FBI decided, based on Marquette's demonstrated tendency toward violence and the threat he posed to women.

Marquette claimed that 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.

Marquette led authorities to the missing remains on July 2.

The prosecution found his story questionable and asked for him to be charged with rape as well since they did not believe he and Caudle had consensual sex. Marquette was found guilty of first-degree murder in December, sentenced to a term of life imprisonment, and his parting words to the court were a heartfelt "Thank God." The jury recommended leniency, and Marquette was sentenced to life in prison.

Murder of Betty Wilson

In April 1975, a fisherman discovered mutilated human remains floating in a shallow slough in Marion County, Oregon. The body had been bled dry, savagely mutilated, and dismembered before being dumped with only a minimal effort at concealment.

Investigators determined the remains were those of 37-year-old Betty Wilson, a North Carolina native. Wilson had led a hard life of poverty and had 11 children since marrying at the age of 16. She and her children lived for a time in an abandoned school bus at the edge of the city dump with no electricity or running water. Wilson claimed that her husband was abusive. With all of her children in foster care, Wilson stowed away in the trunk of her sister's car to begin a new life far away from North Carolina and had been living with her in Salem. Wilson had last been seen alive at a crowded nightclub.

Wilson's husband was the initial and obvious suspect, but it was verified that he had been working in North Carolina at the time and could not possibly be responsible for a murder that happened on the other side of the country. Marquette thus became the prime suspect.

Detectives began a stakeout of Marquette's home and obtained a search warrant. They searched both inside and outside the mobile home where Marquette was living and uncovered physical evidence tied Marquette to the murder of Betty Wilson.

Fifty-five hours after the first remains were found, Marquette was arrested for murder. Marquette pleaded guilty to the Wilson murder. His story was similar to the one he used earlier; he brought Wilson back to her house, she agreed to sex, but then refused, after which he strangled and dismembered her.

He was sentenced in May to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.

Third murder (identity unknown)

While confessing to the murder of Betty Wilson, Marquette also confessed to another murder in the same style in 1974. He picked up a woman at a bar, convinced her to come to his home, and proceeded to choke her to death and mutilate and dismember her corpse.

Marquette led detectives to two shallow graves where he had disposed of the bulk of the remains, but the head was never located and there was no evidence that could aid investigators in determining who the victim was. Marquette said that he didn't know her name and since he never heard anything more about it, he figured that nobody missed her. Her identity remains unknown.

Investigation

Oregon Governor Mark Hatfield appealed to the FBI for help, and the agency took the unusual step of expanding their most wanted list to eleven names, the first time it had ever done so. The tactic worked, and Marquette was arrested in California the day after being added to the list.

In connection with the 1961 case, the FBI decided to act based on Marquette's demonstrated tendency toward violence and the threat he posed to women.

Arrest

On June 30, one day after the release of Marquette's wanted flyers, the manager of an employment agency in Santa Maria, California recognized him in mug shots. Agents of the FBI were notified, and they surprised Marquette at work, repairing furniture for resale in a thrift shop. Marquette offered no resistance.

"I knew the FBI would get me sooner or later," Marquette told his captors.

Trial

Marquette was convicted of first-degree murder in December and sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for the Joan Caudle murder. His parting words to the court were a heartfelt "Thank God."

Sentencing

In December 1961, Marquette was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for first-degree murder of Joan Caudle.

He was paroled after only twelve years.

In May 1975, Marquette was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of Betty Wilson.

Appeals

Parole history included being paroled 1975 after the 1961 life sentence.

Outcome

Marquette was paroled in 1975 after serving twelve years for the first-degree murder of Joan Caudle.

In April 1975, after his parole, Marquette dissected Betty Wilson in Salem, Oregon, and was arrested once again.

His second murder conviction earned him another sentence of life imprisonment, with theoretical eligibility for parole in one account, and life imprisonment with no possibility of parole in another account.