Marissa Harvey was 15 years old and visiting her sister in San Francisco for Easter. On March 27, 1978, she went horseback riding in Golden Gate Park and never returned.
The next day, some surfers found her body in the brush at Sutro Heights Park, the overlook above Ocean Beach. An earring was on the ground, along with a leaf stained with her blood. According to the SF Chronicle, she had been beaten and strangled with a ligature, and the autopsy revealed a sexual assault. A piece of dried chewing gum was stuck to her back. In the early 2000s, DNA testing detected a male profile on her clothing and on the gum, but with no matches, the case went cold again.
In 2020, the cold case unit reopened it. Using advanced DNA analysis and investigative genetic genealogy, detectives tracked down Mark Personette, a man from Colorado. He had denied ever being in San Francisco, but at his home they found maps of the city from the 70s and California license plates with 1979 registration stickers. A new analysis confirmed his DNA on the sweater, the jeans, and the chewing gum.
At the trial, another woman testified that he raped her in 1979, when she was 16. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in November 2025 and has now, at 80 years old, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole in seven years. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said that after almost five decades, he is being held accountable.