SAN FRANCISCO (WCBS 880) — Police in California on Sunday announced an arrest in connection with the death of a New York teenager who went missing in San Francisco in 1978.
Mark Stanley Personette, 76, of Colorado, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of homicide in the death of 15-year-old Marissa Rolf Harvey, whose body was found in a California park in March 1978, according to reports.
“For more than four decades, Marissa Harvey’s family members have been relentless advocates to bring her killer to justice, and we hope this development in the case begins to bring a measure of healing and closure they’ve been too long denied,” San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement.
According to reports, Harvey was visiting family in the city and went to visit Golden Gate Park on March 27. She never returned from the trip, and her body was discovered one day later at Sutro Heights Park, just north of Golden Gate Park.
A suspect was never found, and the case went unsolved for four decades.
Authorities said they were able to reopen the case in October 2020 using advanced investigative methods employed by the department's forensic sciences division, according to the New York Post.
San Francisco police have told other law enforcement agencies to review sexual assault-related homicides involving young women to see if Personette may be linked to those as well.
Anyone with information or leads in the case is asked to call Sgt. Alan Levy, Star #4216, of the San Francisco Police Department's homicide detail at (415) 553-9245 or by email at alan.levy@sfgov.org.
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