CA CA - David Levine, 20, Stabbed More than a Dozen Times, Stanford University, 11 Sept 1973

[PastTense]

"It was well after midnight when David Levine, a junior at Stanford, left his job in a physics lab and walked home alone across the mostly deserted campus early on the morning of Sept. 11, 1973.

He was outside Meyer Undergraduate Library when someone set upon him, in what police described at the time as a “swift and vicious attack.” The assailant stabbed Levine more than a dozen times, delivering many of the blows to his back after he had fallen the ground. The 20-year-old never had a chance to fight back.

Nearly 46 years later, Levine’s killing is the lone enduring mystery in a string of four brutal murders of young people on and around the Stanford campus in 1973 and 1974...

No motive has ever been determined for the killing — Levine’s wallet was still in his back pocket, a watch still on his wrist when a jogger found him dead on the pavement around 3 a.m., according to this news organization’s coverage at the time. And no one could think of anyone who would want to hurt the physics major who loved to talk politics in his dorm and so impressed Stanford researchers that they hired him for a lab position reserved for the top undergraduates."
Stanford cold case: Will DNA solve murder of David Levine?

 

[Kell1]

So its not tied into any of the other homicides on campus at the time ?

 

[Fede]

One of the murders is the Arlis Perry one that was solved. She was killed by the guy who later told that he had found her body. The other 2 I think are Marie Perlov´s murder and Janet Ann Taylor´s. Their killer was serial murderer John Arthur Getreu.

Here is an article from the time of the murders: The Stanford Daily 14 October 1974 — The Stanford Daily

Here it says "But police have never ruled out a theory propounded by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto that the murder was the work of a cult called the Death Angels that was also supposedly responsible for the so-called Zebra street killings in San Francisco"

 

[Richard]

Here is an article on Arlis Perry Murder suspect Steve Crawford...

Suspect in 1974 Stanford murder case contemplated suicide before

By David Louie
Friday, June 29, 2018

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- New details are coming out in the 1974 cold case that led detectives to a San Jose apartment on Thursday. Their prime suspect, Steve Crawford, shot and killed himself during that encounter. We're learning Crawford had suicide on his mind for some time.

Detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office discovered two intriguing items inside suspect Steve Crawford's San Jose studio apartment - the jacket cover from the book "The Ultimate Evil," which detailed the brutal murder of 19-year-old Arlis Perry, and a 2-year-old suicide note, believed to have been written after he had been interviewed by a sheriff's detective.

Crawford used a large revolver to shoot him self in the head Thursday morning as he was lying in bed. He had stalled detectives at the door trying to serve him with a warrant by saying he needed to get dressed...

LINK:
Suspect in 1974 Stanford murder case contemplated suicide before

 

[meanmaryjean]

What is curious to me is that that someone discovered him while 'jogging at 3am' during a time when there were no classes- so only a small number of people would even BE on he campus.

 

[Richard]

What is curious to me is that that someone discovered him while 'jogging at 3am' during a time when there were no classes- so only a small number of people would even BE on he campus.

Good point. Steve Crawford, most likely suspect in the murder of Arlis Perry was a security guard who first reported "finding" her body in the Stanford Chapel.

Who was the person who reported finding David Levine's body? What was his story about jogging at 3 AM?

 

[meanmaryjean]

And 1973 (I was a college freshman) was long before the 24/7 shopping, ATMs, etc we have today which might reasonably explain being out and about at that hour. Even TV stations went off the air at midnight. So jogging at 3am is suspicious in and of itself in my book.

 

[Deleted member 96356]

Guns were the weapon of choice for the so-called Death Angels, but their first attack used a machete so I guess a knife attack isn't completely out of the question. But given Levine's political discussions and his appointment to a highly coveted research position, I wonder if the motive in his case might be more personal.

But I don't think it's suspicious on the face of it if there was a 3 a.m. jogger on the Stanford campus. Stanford has a top medical school with attached research hospital. Those doctors, students, residents and interns are up at all hours depending on their rotations. Not to mention the general mayhem of college life (irregular sleeping and eating habits), plus students who have part time jobs on nights and weekends.