Colorado police have arrested a suspect in a decades-old murder case. Mark Stanley Personette, now 76, is charged with the 1978 murder of 15-year-old Marissa Harvey in San Francisco.
Personette was detained in a suburb of the city of Denver following a concerted effort by San Francisco police, the FBI and local law enforcement.
Marissa Harvey of New York then went to visit her family in San Francisco during the Easter holidays. She did not return from a visit to Golden State Park. Her body was found a day later in a nearby park. She had been strangled.
According to the San Francisco police, after the murder, all available technological means were used to solve the case. Yet all the clues led to nothing and the case became a cold case.
Breakthrough
That only changed in October last year. Personette came into the picture thanks to “advanced investigative methods”, according to a statement from the police. The methods involved have not been disclosed.
“For more than 40 years, Marissa Harvey’s family members have worked tirelessly to bring the killer to justice,” said a police chief. “We hope this development in the case provides the support and closure they never had.” He thanked forensic experts and other “unsurpassed heroes” for the breakthrough.
Personette may soon also be identified as a suspect in other unsolved murder cases, police say. No information has been released about his criminal past.
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