In June a Boulder jury found Diego Olmos Alcalde guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree sexual assault and second-degree kidnapping of CU-Boulder senior Susannah Chase on Dec. 21, 1997. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Chase was walking home from downtown alone when she was beaten across the street from her Spruce Street house, dragged to a car, raped and left in an alley to die. Her murder rocked the community and led to a number of campus safety initiatives symbolized by the logo on the right, including the addition of dozens of emergency phones and expansion of the NightRide/NightWalk organization that pairs students with volunteers to accompany them home after dark.
For years police were unable to link a suspect to Chase’s murder, but DNA recovered from her body was preserved as evidence and finally matched with Alcade’s DNA.
I just recieved my Alumni magazine in the mail. Happy to open and read it as always, the first thing I read was that a murder that took place while I was in attendance at CU has been solved (Susannah Chase 1997). I sat down and read it twice and honestly started to cry. I remember the incident, and want to thank you for letting us know that her murderer had been caught and convicted. I honestly have wondered about it through the years (whenever someone mentions the Benet case I would think “what about that other girl?”). And I’m happy to know that the Boulder police collected and maintained the evidence needed, and then patiently, yet diligently, kept working to solve this case. I am now a forensic anthropolologist teaching at San Diego State University, and I plan on sharing this story with my class next week.
Thank you again,
Arion Mayes
PhD. Anthropology-Class of 2001