| Mary Elizabeth Quigley | |
|---|---|
 Summer 1977 |
|
| Born | Mary Elizabeth Quigley February 28, 1960 Tucson Arizona |
| Died | September 10, 1977 Santa Clara, California |
| Nationality | American |
Mary Elizabeth Quigley (February 28, 1960 - September 10, 1977) was an American murder victim that was a cold case for nearly 30 years. It was finally solved by DNA database matching.[1] Quigley was a senior at Santa Clara High School. She was attending a beer party and left the party house late in the evening of Friday, September 9. Her body was found the next day approximately 300 yards away hanging from a cyclone fence in Washington Park, now War Memorial Park in Santa Clara, CA. She had been raped and strangled. The killer, Richard Archibeque was discovered by a DNA database match from samples he was required to submit because of a conviction for a later rape in 1979 of another teenage girl. At the time of Quigley's murder DNA technology was not sufficiently advanced for identifying suspects.
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On the night of Friday, September 9, 1977, Quigley, a student at Santa Clara High School, attended a back to school beer party at a house near the corner of Monroe and Market Streets in Santa Clara, CA. An acquaintance had given her a ride to the party on the back of his motorcycle and had promised to offer her a ride home. He left the party and did not return until after Quigley had left. Witnesses last saw Quigley leaving the party arount 11:45 PM alone and on foot, headed toward the house of a friend who lived nearby.
In the early daylight hours of September 10, a groundskeeper noticed at a distance an object up against a fence that separated some apartments from a Santa Clara High School athletic field. The object was more or less 100 yards from the path that Quigley likely would have taken through War Memorial Park. It wasn't until around noon of the same day that the groundskeeper investigated further and discovered that the "object" was the body of Mary Quigley.
Mary's body was unclothed. Her panties were found inside out dangling from one ankle. Her outer pants were about 30 feet away. Debris on the body strongly suggested that she had been stripped in the area where the pants were found. She had been dragged to the fence and hanged by the neck on the fence with an item of her upper clothing. Quigley had suffocated as the weight of her own body slowly dropping to the ground had tightened the ligature about her neck and tied to the fence.
No immediate suspect was identified and the murder became a cold case for nearly 30 years. Quigley's friends and classmates kept up the pressure on law enforcement throughout the years, keeping the case alive. In 2005, Detective Sergeant Kazem resubmitted evidence from the Quigley homicide investigation to the Santa Clara County Crime Laboratory for DNA analysis. On December 27, 2006, the Crime Lab informed Sergeant Kazem that a computer database search of DNA profiles of known offenders identified a Santa Clara resident Richard Armand Archibeque, age 47 (DOB 01/26/59), and a fellow classmate of Quigley's, as the suspect. Later that day, Archibeque was arrested by detectives for the murder of Mary Ann Quigley. Archibeque, a classmate of Quigley was, two years later, convicted of a very similar rape and an attempted rape in the same town.
Archibeque was convicted of first degree murder in San Jose, CA on March 2, 2009. He is scheduled for sentencing on March 27, 2009, under 1977 guidelines and could receive 7 years to life. The defense claimed that Archibeque could have had consensual sex with Quigley, but none of Archibeque's semen was found in her underwear, which undermined this defense theory. The immediate crime scene remains pretty much unchanged to this day. A hole cut from the fence by the police where her sash was tied remained until recently, until the entire fence panel was removed and a small plaque placed there.
Quigley's friends and classmates have lobbied the City of Santa Clara for a memorial bench and plaque to be placed in her honor at War Memorial Playground, and to rename the park Mary Quigley Memorial Playground.
  | Mary Quigley tribute page. - Personal Page of Mary Quigley |
| | "Santa Clara handyman found guilty three decades after killing classmate" ''San Jose Mercury News'' March 2, 2009 - Santa Clara handyman found guilty three decades after killing classmate - San Jose Mercury News |
| | Page relating Mary Quigley's story. - Personal Page of Mary Quigley |
| | War Memorial Park - War Memorial Playground |
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