Richard Laurence Marquette

Richard Laurence Marquette who was also named Dick Marquette is known for killing three women.  He drained them of their blood, mutilated and dismembered their bodies.  He scattered their remains after to discard the evidence.

Richard Laurence Marquette, born in the 12th of December, 1934 in Portland, Oregon, was first arrested on the charge of rape but his victim chose not to pursue the case.  He was then involved into petty crimes and was ordered to spend 8 months inside the jail.

On the 8th of June, 1961 the police received a report from a local citizen regarding a human foot inside a paper bag that their dog took home.  The dog apparently left and returned this time with a hand.  Upon further inspection on the area, they were able to uncover several other body parts.

After a thorough investigation, authorities were able to connect the missing body to Joan Caudle (23). Joan Caudle was reported missing by her husband.  A testimony of the witness states that Joan Caudle left the bar with a strange man.  Caudle was not a drinker but she had been having some problems lately because of the health condition of her Mom, so her husband said that it is possible that she may have stopped at a bar.

The investigation led the authority to a man named Dick Marquette.  Although Richard Laurence Marquette has already left the area, they were able to find remains of Caudle inside his refrigerator wrapped like any other meat.  Her head was later discovered in the edge of the river.  Marquette was arrested in California on the day that he was added into the Most Wanted List.  He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.  But he only served 11 years since he received a parole for being a “model prisoner.”

In April of 1975, a fisherman found human remains in a slough in Oregon.  The remains were once again bled to dry, mutilated and dismembered.  Authorities identified the remains as Betty Wilson (37), a mother of 11 children.  Wilson’s husband was the initial suspect but his husband was working at North Carolina when the incident happened so it is highly impossible for him to commit the crime.  The investigation then turned to Richard Laurence Marquette.

After the authorities were able to produce a search warrant, they were overwhelmed by the evidence found in Richard Laurence Marquette’s home.  Marquette confessed to the crime.  But there is more to it; as he was confessing about Betty Wilson’s murder, Marquette admitted to another crime that happened in 1974 about a girl he picked up in a bar.  The identity of that person remains unknown.