Overview
- Jurors found Personette guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of 15-year-old Marissa Rolf Harvey, who disappeared on March 27, 1978 after going to Golden Gate Park.
- Harvey’s body was discovered the next day in Sutro Heights Park, and an autopsy determined she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
- Investigative genetic genealogy identified Personette in 2021, prompting FBI surveillance that collected his DNA from discarded personal hygiene items in a Walmart parking lot near Denver.
- A subsequent test matched Personette’s DNA to Harvey’s sweater, jeans, and a piece of dried gum, and a search found 1970s San Francisco maps and 1979 California plates despite his denial he had been in the city.
- A woman testified that Personette raped her in New Jersey in 1979, and he now awaits a Dec. 17 sentencing, facing seven years to life in prison while remaining in custody.