Colorado man convicted of murder in teen’s death in 1978 in San Francisco
A San Francisco jury has convicted Colorado man of first-degree murder in the death of a teenage girl nearly years after she was killed Mark Stanley Personette was convicted this month of murdering Marissa Harvey in San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins disclosed At long last justice has been delivered and Mr Personette is being held accountable for this horrific crime Jenkins declared in a report I would like to thank the survivor and the victim s family for never losing hope and remaining steadfast in their commitment to seeing justice done Personette is facing seven years to life in prison His sentencing is scheduled for Dec Personnel arrested Personette in Colorado in in relation to Harvey s death during a joint operation by San Francisco Police the FBI and the Jefferson County Sheriff s office Harvey who was was visiting her sister in San Francisco when she was killed The teenager went to Golden Gate Park to ride a horse on March and never returned according to the news release Surfers founder Harvey s body the next day in the underbrush at the city s Sutro Heights Park The teenager was strangled with a ligature causing her death and an autopsy revealed Harvey had been sexually assaulted according to the district attorney s office The situation went cold until San Francisco police reopened the analysis in Related Articles Convicted killer linked to cold matter murder of Donna Wayne Aurora police say Denver cold-case killing remains unsolved nearly years later Texas Rangers look to Colorado for tips in inspection of -year-old cold episode murder Suspect in Boulder murder to be prosecuted again after first conviction tossed in wake of CBI outrage Man charged in Denver sexual assault cold development gets years in prison Bureaucrats discovered male DNA on Harvey s sweater jeans and a piece of dried gum stuck to her back in the early s but it wasn t until that investigators used genealogy to identify Personette as a expected suspect according to the news release Personnel were able to match Personette s DNA to that discovered on Harvey by using trash personal hygiene items that he dumped in a Walmart parking lot in Denver more than miles from his house the district attorney s office declared adding that Personette separated personal hygiene items from his other trash Investigators also detected Personette had maps of San Francisco from the s and a set of California license plates with a registration sticker despite his assertions that he had not been in the city according to the news release After nearly half a century this verdict brought long-overdue justice for -year-old Marissa Harvey commented Assistant District Attorney Katherine Wells in a comment Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day
