Murder Under God's Eye

The murder of Arlis Perry inside Stanford Memorial Church flummoxed detectives for nearly 44 years. Then the case ended with a bang.

Early on the morning of Oct. 13, 1974, a security guard found the body of 19-year-old Arlis Perry underneath a pew inside the historic church at the heart of Stanford's campus. The deeply religious wife of a Stanford sophomore, Arlis had gone to pray in the sanctuary late the night before. She was strangled, with an ice pick thrust into her brain, her body laid out in ritual fashion. Detectives pursued name-brand killers like Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz. But the answer was closer to home.

"A fascinating chronology of a diabolical crime'' - retired Stanford police captain Raoul K. Niemeyer