Mark Stanley Personette gets life for 1978 San Francisco murder
After more than four decades, Mark Stanley Personette has been given a life sentence for the 1978 murder of 15-year-old Marissa Rolf Harvey in San Francisco.
The case went unsolved until 2020, when advanced DNA testing reopened the investigation and pointed straight to Personette.
Gum DNA match aided conviction
Investigators matched DNA from a piece of gum found on Harvey's body to Personette.
A map of San Francisco was found in his home, along with a set of California license plates.
Testimony from another woman he attacked in 1979 helped convict him.
As San Francisco's district attorney put it, "While nothing can bring Marissa back to her family, today's sentence hopefully leaves her family with a sense that justice was done for all that they have endured."
The case highlights just how powerful new DNA technology can be in solving even decades-old crimes.