| Sources |
- [S1191] McQuiston, Robert Charles, 58-211.
- [S2873] Montana Standard, Thad Kelling; Family remains hopeful as police revisit case, plan DNA testing; 17 April 2005.
Family remains hopeful as police revisit case, plan DNA testing
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Discussion Family remains hopeful as police revisit case, plan DNA testing
By Thad Kelling of The Montana Standard - 04/17/2005 Mtstandard.com | Posted: Saturday, April 16, 2005 11:00 pm | (0) Comments
Forty years ago this month, Marjorie McQuiston, 51, and daughter Nancy McQuiston, 26, were slain in their Butte home and their bodies dumped nearby.
Who did it and why remains a mystery.
But relatives still have reason to hope. Butte police are revisiting the evidence and may request witnesses. Family members are especially anxious to see what modern science might uncover.
"With all the new technology, I think we have all seen the cold cases that have been solved on Court TV and all of these places," said Barbara Clark, 63, one of Marjorie's three surviving children. "The whole family is very encouraged to see this happen." One scientific advancement that could help investigators is DNA testing. Developed as a criminal investigation tool in the early 1990s, it might help identify a suspect.
"We would like to tell the family that we have done everything we can with the technology we have today to solve this and bring it to a close," said Captain of Detectives Doug Conway.
No one has ever been charged for killing Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston. But when and how the murder took place is generally agreed upon, according to newspaper reports. They indicate the following: Investigators determined the women were murdered late on Friday, April 9, 1965, after analyzing partially digested food in their stomachs. The suspected weapon was Nancy's .22-caliber automatic pistol found in their home.
At the time, Marjorie was divorced and not working. Nancy, an X-ray technician at St. James Hospital, had recently restored her last name following an annulment.
Possibly a strong man, who knew the women, beat and shot them in their home at 945 17th St. on Butte's North Side. Evidence shows the attacker attempted to clean the house — including cutting out a 3-foot by 4-foot piece of blood-soaked carpet.
The women were placed in Nancy's 1960 Ford Comet — probably one in the trunk and one in the back seat, judging by blood stains. They were driven less than one mile west of their home and dumped on a barren hill near Big Butte. The car was later pushed into a nearby gully about 15 feet deep.
Days passed before the women were reported missing. A manhunt ensued involving volunteers combing fields, dogs tracking scents and an aerial search. The bodies were found on Wednesday, April 14, 1965.
An intense investigation followed. People who knew the victims and could be located were questioned, autopsies found no evidence of sexual assault, the FBI reviewed the physical evidence and a coroner's inquest ended inconclusively.
"Butte has had other slayings which have gone into the records cloaked in mystery, apparently forever," the Standard-Post reported six months after the murders. "None was quite like these in brutality, in boldness, in impact upon the community." Family members are still seeking closure to the brutal deaths. Complete closure would only come if the murder is solved and a suspect convicted, they said. But the passage of time has helped them recover.
"It was really difficult, but we all had families and we felt like we had to go on," Clark said.
None of the McQuiston sisters was living in Butte at the time of the murders, although all four were born in Butte. Clark now lives in Trenton, Texas. Other surviving sisters live in Rochester, Minn., and Spokane.
The sisters still talk about the murders, despite decades lapsing since their mother and sister were buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery. Recently, they have talked about what modern science might reveal. They also worry about breaking the news to their grandchildren.
"I don't know that they are aware of too much," Clark said. "It is not something that we discuss in front of them in detail." Clark awaits results from the police review and tests by the Montana State Crime Lab. But she knows better than to expect all her questions to be answered. And she is content knowing police continue working the case.
"It has been 40 years, and for me personally, I've already come to the conclusion and am OK with the fact that if it isn't meant for us to know, then we won't," Clark said. "But there is an ultimate judge, and the person will be punished." Reporter Thad Kelling may be reached via e-mail at thad.kelling@lee.net or by phone at 496-5511.
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1938 - 1965 (26 years)
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