In late 2021, justice was served in an over four-decade-old case. It was the case of a missing and murdered teen in California.
Marissa Harvey was just 15 years old when she traveled from New York to San Francisco to visit family. The circumstances around the visit were tense to begin with, according to The Independent. Marissa was adopted by her family at the age of 3. Just before Christmas 1977, a woman in her 30s visited Marissa and her family at their home in Port Washington, New York. She claimed to be Marissa's biological sister.
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Marissa got to know the woman and asked to visit her over Easter in San Francisco, where she lived. Marissa's parents didn't want her to go, but they didn't want to alienate her from her biological ties, either, and ultimately allowed her to visit.
Marissa was last known to be heading to Golden Gate Park on the March 1978 trip. Her body was found in another San Francisco park the next day. San Francisco police investigated the case but had few leads, and ultimately it went cold.
In October 2020, the case was reopened. The San Francisco Police Department Homicide unit worked in conjunction with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the FBI, and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Colorado to make an arrest. Mark Stanley Personette, 76, was arrested on December 23, 2021.
Personette is believed to be the person who strangled and beat Marissa after she discovered that the horse stable she wanted to ride at in Golden Gate Park was closed that fateful day.
"For more than four decades, Marissa Harvey's family members have been relentless advocates to bring her killer to justice," San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement.
"We hope this development in the case begins to bring a measure of healing and closure they’ve been too long denied." Personette was officially charged with her murder in January 2022.
