The Aporia · Killer’s DNA was hiding in a piece of gum stuck to his teenage victim for years

Killer’s DNA was hiding in a piece of gum stuck to his teenage victim for years

Read the original at New York Post ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Wu, T. (2026, September 30). Killer’s DNA was hiding in a piece of gum stuck to his teenage victim for years. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/30/us-news/1978-bay-area-cold-case-solved-using-dna-in-gum-stuck-to-teen-victim/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Mark Stanley Personette, 80, from Colorado was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Marissa Rolf Harvey, a 15-year-old girl who disappeared on March 27, 1978. The breakthrough came after investigators reopened the cold case using advanced DNA testing and genealogical analysis, which identified his DNA from gum stuck to Harvey’s sweater. Personette was arrested in Denver when FBI agents matched his discarded trash with DNA samples found at various crime scenes. He is also accused of raping another 16-year-old girl in New Jersey in 1979.

Written by AI on 2026-09-30, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Mark Stanley Personette, aged 80 from Colorado, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Marissa Rolf Harvey, who disappeared while visiting San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in March 1978. Harvey was a 15-year-old girl from New York City on Easter break with her sister. Her body was found the next day nearby at Sutro Heights Park, where she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Personette's arrest came nearly 43 years later when police reopened the cold case in October 2020 using DNA evidence that included a piece of gum stuck to Harvey’s back since her death. In December 2021, advanced forensic techniques involving investigative genealogy led to his identification and subsequent arrest in Denver. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins stated that while justice cannot bring Marissa back, it should provide some closure for her family after nearly five decades of waiting.

Personette's sentencing occurred on a Wednesday with prosecutors suggesting there may be other unsolved cases involving him across the country. Harvey’s disappearance and murder had remained cold until new technologies allowed investigators to finally link DNA evidence from 1978 to Mark Stanley Personette in 2021.

Written for “Cold Case Solved By Gum DNA” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Titus Wu

80 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 Housing advocate Toby Muresianu joked: “Finally, a politician with the courage to say ‘Maybe in my backyard?’

2026-10-31 · assertive framing · Xavier Becerra roasted for bizarre deflection on California housing debate: ‘Maybe in my backyard?’

🔮 Soares is currently the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a Berkeley nonprofit known for promoting “AI doomerism,” which is the belief that developing superintelligent AI will likely result in human extinction.

2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Ex-Google engineer quits saving for retirement over chilling AI apocalypse prediction

🔮 Dem frontrunner Xavier Becerra leaned into his identity when asked what changes he would bring as California governor — but the exchange quickly grew awkward after he was asked to clarify his origin story.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Xavier Becerra’s ‘immigrant’ story thrust back into spotlight in embarrassing interview slip

🔮 “Piers, I will keep private conversations between myself and the president confidential,” she said.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Katie Zacharia spars with Piers Morgan over her private chats with President Trump

🔮 Newsom’s political team said he will “pre-deploy” attorneys specialized in election law to monitor vote counting at county election offices in key congressional districts across the state.

2026-10-29 · mixed framing · Gavin Newsom deploys legal army to battleground districts as voting war hits fever pitch

🔮 “Californians deserve a project they can trust, and the governor will continue to insist on that from everybody working on it,” Kawa said.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · California High Speed Rail authority names new interim CEO after former chief’s abrupt resignation

🔮 Abdennabi ultimately received the plates in May 2024, but she alleged that they were recalled in October 2025 after multiple drivers in cars behind her vehicle filed complaints to the DMV.

2026-10-28 · mixed framing · California woman sues after DMV yanks ‘antisemitic’ vanity plate — claims pro-Palestine views were silenced

🔮 “They will vote for Becerra and hope for the best.”

2026-10-28 · assertive framing · Astonishing poll shows California candidate breaking away with just days to go

🔮 The conclusions may have some timely necessity given a historically strong El Niño may churn out stronger-than-usual waves and tides that could cause more erosion.

2026-10-27 · assertive framing · Northern California’s picturesque coastline vanishing at a truly startling rate: study

🔮 I felt like I could have lost my life.”

2026-10-23 · assertive framing · Deranged LA road-rage driver smashes woman’s car with crowbar, beats and bites her in savage attack caught on video

Also by Titus Wu

Xavier Becerra roasted for bizarre deflection on California housing debate: ‘Maybe in my backyard?’

2026-10-31 · New York Post

Court rejects DOJ effort to block 20,000 California votes

2026-10-30 · New York Post

Ex-Google engineer quits saving for retirement over chilling AI apocalypse prediction

2026-10-30 · New York Post

Xavier Becerra’s ‘immigrant’ story thrust back into spotlight in embarrassing interview slip

2026-10-29 · New York Post

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 80 articles by Titus Wu →

Narrative

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

The murderer of a 15-year-old girl in a 1978 cold case has finally been sentenced to life in prison — thanks to a piece of gum stuck to the victim’s back for more than 22 years. asserted

murderer → sentence → years

Mark Stanley Personette, 80, of Colorado was convicted late last year for murdering Marissa Rolf Harvey, who disappeared on March 27, 1978, after going to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for an afternoon of horseback riding. asserted

who → convict → riding

“After almost 50 years, Mr. Personette is finally being held accountable for his heinous crimes against Marissa and will spend the rest of his life in prison,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a Wednesday statement. asserted

Jenkins → hold → statement

“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,” Jenkins said. asserted

Jenkins → bring → that

Harvey, who was from New York City, was visiting her sister in the Bay Area for Easter. asserted

who → visit → Easter

But she never returned home from her trip to Golden Gate Park. asserted

she → return → Park

Instead, her body was found nearby in Sutro Heights Park by surfers walking by. asserted

body → find → surfers

She was sexually assaulted and strangled, police said. asserted

police → assault → ?

Personette was busted after investigators reopened the cold case in October 2020, according to San Francisco police, using advanced DNA testing and investigative genealogy. uncertain

investigators → bust → testing

Testing revealed a male DNA profile on Harvey’s sweater and jeans, plus a piece of dried gum stuck to her back. asserted

Testing → reveal → back

FBI investigators then found Personette in Denver discarding trash in a Walmart parking lot over 15 miles from his house. asserted

Personette → find → house

The trash revealed matching DNA. asserted

trash → reveal → DNA

Warrants revealed he was separating his personal hygiene items from his other trash, Jenkins said. asserted

Jenkins → reveal → trash

There were also a map of San Francisco in the house plus a set of California license plates, though the suspect denied he had been in the West Coast city. asserted

he → be → city

During the trial, another victim testified that in 1979, Personette raped her in a wooded area of New Jersey when she was 16 years old. asserted

she → testify → Jersey

Prosecutors in charge of the case praised the conclusion of a decades-long saga for justice. asserted

Prosecutors → praise → justice

“This sentence reflects the extraordinary cruelty of Mark Personette’s conduct and the harm he caused,” said Assistant District Attorney Heather Trevisan. asserted

Trevisan → reflect → conduct

“He will spend the rest of his life facing the consequence of taking hers.” asserted

He → spend → hers

Killer’s DNA was hiding in a piece of gum stuck to his teenage victim for years

Quick Summary

AI analysis

Story

Compared with similar articles

Signals How these are calculated →

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Publisher

Who wrote this

Topics

Subjects

Narrative

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)