A man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a teenage girl in San Francisco more than 40 years ago as police suggest he may be a suspect in other unsolved homicides.
Mark Stanley Personette, 76, was arrested in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday in connection to the death of Marissa Harvey in 1978, police confirmed on Sunday.
The 15-year-old girl, from New York, had failed to return from a day trip to Golden Gate Park while she visited her family in San Francisco.
Her body was found the next day in nearby Sutro Heights Park. She had been sexually assaulted and died of strangulation, SFGate reported.
More than 40 years later, Personette has been booked for investigation of homocide in relation to the teenager's death.
Mark Stanley Personette (pictured), 76, was arrested in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday in connection to the death of Marissa Harvey in 1978
The 15-year-old girl, from New York, failed to return from a day trip to Golden Gate Park while she visited her family in San Francisco. Her body was found in a nearby park the next day
His arrest came after a joint operation by San Francisco police, the FBI and the Jefferson County Sheriff's office, authorities announced on Sunday.
Speaking about the initial investigation, the San Francisco Police Department said investigators used the best available technology available at the time and exhausted every lead, but the case went cold.
In October last year, police reopened the investigation and determined Personette to be a suspect using 'advanced investigative methods', a police statement said. It did not specify the methods used.
San Francisco police released booking photographs of Personette taken over several decades, including a 1979 arrest in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Police urged law enforcement agencies across the nation to review any unsolved sexual assault-related homicides involving young women to determine if there is a connection to Personette.
Police Chief Bill Scott said: '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.'
Police released booking photos of Personette, including a 1979 arrest (pictured), as they urged law enforcement to review unsolved homocides for a link to Personette
Marissa, who was adopted, went to San Francisco in March 1978 after discovering that she had an older biological sister, who she shared a mother with, according to media reports.
At the time, her mother Marguerite Schultz told Newsday: 'We didn't really want her to, but we felt it would be unfair if we didn't let her go.'
Marissa reportedly flew alone to San Francisco during the Easter holidays and spent the weekend with her sister, before asking if she could go horseback riding.
Her sister's friend dropped her at the Golden Gate Park Stables but, unbeknownst to them, the stables were shut.
When Marissa failed to return later that day, her sister reported her missing and her body was found the next day.
In 1978, her mother Marguerite Schultz said: 'Marissa was a very special, very different, little girl.'
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