Richard Lawrence Marquette was born December 12th, 1934 in Portland, Oregon. And that's all I got for you lol. For once I am not able to provide you with a background, not much is known about his early life so we are just going to jump right into things.Richard was first arrested in June 1956 on a charge of attempted rape, but his alleged victim dropped the charge. In August of 1957 he was arrested again after he attempted to rob a Portland service station, using a sack full of wrenches as a weapon. He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months, he was released at 12 months due to good behavior.
June 8th, 1961 Portland police received a phone call from a local housewife, she stated that her dog had brought home a paper bag with a human foot inside. Detectives arrived to her home to investigate and while there the dog came back with a hand this time. They conducted a search of the SE Portland neighborhood, several more body parts were found. There was no attempt made to bury them, they were fresh. An autopsy of the remains found that the veins and arteries were completely drained of blood and that it had happened shortly after death. Finger prints confirmed it was the remains of Joan Caudle, she was a 24 year old mom of 2 that was reported missing by her husband.
On June 5th, 1961 Joan Caudle left her home to go shopping for Fathers Day gifts. According to her husband she was not a habitual drinker, but she had been depressed lately because her mother was very ill and it was plausible that she may have stopped by a bar to have a drink or 2. She did not drive, so to get around she would have had to take the bus or a taxi. Police spoke with eyewitnesses that saw her at a nearby tavern, one witness in particular; a local woman who was a habitual barfly and had a string of arrests for public drunkenness and disorder said she'd been there that evening. She was talking with a gentleman by the name of "Marquette" when another woman approached and took his attention instead, she confirmed the woman was Joan Caudle. She stated that the 2 of them left the bar together.
Police were able to track down the mans identity and his residence, a tiny house resembling a shack. It was the home of Richard Marquette. No one was home when they got there. They discovered the neatly chopped up body parts of Joan wrapped in newspaper inside the refrigerator, just like a butcher would. Also found inside were bloodstained lingerie. The only significant missing piece was her head. An arrest warrant was issued and the manhunt began. Oregon Governor Mark Hatfield called the crime "the most heinous in Oregon history" he asked the FBI for help and the agency took the unusual step of expanding their most wanted list to 11 names for the first time ever. The tactic worked as Marquette was arrested in California the next day after being added to the list. He put up no resistance and it was almost like he was relieved about getting arrested.
Marquette claimed that he was in the bar when he saw Joan accompanied by another man, but she recognized him from elementary school and walked over to him. They had a few drinks, went around to several more bars, according to his account, and then came back to his house where his former classmate drank more beer with him and allegedly agreed to sex. When investigators asked what happened next, he claimed that the two had sex, then got into an argument afterward. Marquette stated it was at this point that he strangles Joan to death. Since he had no vehicle to dispose of her remains, he panicked and dragged the corpse into the shower where he dismembered it.
From everything that the investigators found out about Joan they found Marquette's story quite unbelievable, but then again he was the only living witness to the crime. The prosecution asked for him to be charged with rape as well. When Marquette was asked where Joan's head was he lead police to a river bank near Oaks Park in Portland, it was fished out of some rotting timber along the edge of the river. I find this incredibly disturbing as I had spent a ton of time right in that area as a kid/teenager. Marquette was found guilty of first degree murder, but the jury for whatever reason recommended leniency. Marquette was sentenced to life in prison, but get this.... in 1973 he received parole after serving only 11 years!!!! During his stay in prison he was described as "a model prisoner." Big mistake.
April 1975 rolls around and in Marion County, Oregon a fisherman discovered mutilated human remains floating in a shallow swampy area. The corpse was bled dry, savagely mutilated and dismembered before being dumped with little effort to conceal it. Sound familiar?
The remains were identified as 37 year old Betty Wilson, who had a very difficult home life. She had 11 children from the time she got married at the age of 16. They were a very poor family and at one point were lived at the edge of the city dump in an abandoned school bus, with no running water or electricity in North Carolina. Her children were put into foster care. She claimed that her husband was abusive, with her not having her children anymore she took the opportunity to escape from her husband. While stowed away in the trunk of her sisters car one day she was set to begin a new life far away from him, her and her sister lived in Salem, Oregon together. Her last known whereabouts were at a crowded nightclub.
The first obvious suspect was of course the abusive husband she ran away from, but he was ruled out after quickly verifying a solid alibi. Due to the nature of the murder, Marquette became the prime suspect. Detectives began their stakeout of his home and soon obtained a search warrant, they searched the place inside and out. They were able to find small, but crucial pieces of physical evidence that tied Marquette to Betty's murder. Just 55 hours after her remains were found Marquette was arrested for murder. It was like Deja Vu, Marquette stated to police that he brought Betty back to his house and after they began to have sex she then refused, so he strangled and dismembered her. He knew there was no way out of this, so he confessed to her murder. While confessing to the murder of Betty he also confessed to another murder in 1974, he said he picked a woman up from a bar and lured her back to his home where he choked her to death, mutilated and dismembered her corpse. He led detectives to 2 shallow graves where he dumped the bulk of the remains, but the head was never located. There was also no evidence to determine who the victim was and to this day she remains a Jane Doe.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Criminal psychiatrists working with Marquette came to the conclusion that he was a perfectly normal, socially adjusted individual. It was only when women turned him down, the rejection set off a murderous rage within him. Yet he's completely normal. He has been incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary since June 1975.
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Resources:
https://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/marquette-richard.htm
https://expo.oregonlive.com/news/g66l-2019/02/c86a2784723172/richard-marquette-case-shocked-oregonians-after-butcher-slayer-scored-parole-killed-again.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Laurence_Marquette
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