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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Conifer man has been arrested in Jefferson County on suspicion of killing a teenage girl in San Francisco more than four decades ago.

San Francisco police say 76-year-old Mark Personette was arrested on Thursday in connection with the 1978 death of Marissa Harvey.

  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette
  • Mark Personette

“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,” Chief of Police Bill Scott said.

The 15-year-old girl from New York was visiting the city when her body was found in a park. Police said detectives used the best available technology at the time and exhausted every lead, but the probe went cold.

In October 2020, they reopened the case and determined Personette to be a suspect using “advanced investigative methods.” Detectives say Personette may be a suspect in other unsolved homicides involving young women.

Personette was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on one count of homicide.

San Francisco police are asking anyone with information in this case to contact Sergeant Alan Levy, Star #4216, of the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide detail at +1 (415) 553-9245 or by email at alan.levy@sfgov.org.