In 1978, after the killer's relative guilty plea, the cold murder case of the California teacher was resolved
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Officials confirmed that a cold case in 1978 in which a California high school teacher was stabbed to death was resolved nearly fifty years later.
Diane Peterson was found dead on June 16, 1978 on the hallway floor near the San Jose High School classroom, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. The murder occurred the day after the summer break when the teacher returned to campus to clean the classroom, the district attorney said.
The San Jose Police Department can now confirm that Harry “Nick” Nixon stabbed Peterson when he was 16, after a family relative witness stood up earlier this year. Nixon admitted to the murder to family members and was believed to have carried a knife that read “Mr. Dear, Teacher.”
“When we hit the brick wall, we reached the end with forensic evidence, depending on the work of the old-school police, our detectives interviewed people and tried to get answers from people. We finally got the answers we wanted,” Deputy District Attorney Rob Rob Baker said in a press conference on Monday, June 2.
Diane Peterson was stabbed and found dead on June 16, 1978 at Branham High School in San Jose, California.
The District Attorney’s Office said a family member of the victim thanked investigators for continuing to search for answers, adding: “Diane is a beautiful and great person who was deeply missed.”
What's wrong with Harry Nixon?
Nixon suffered self-inflicted gunshot wounds in 1993, according to the District Attorney's Office. Nixon was never convicted of Peterson's death, but he was one of the main suspects.
The District Attorney’s Office said the 1978 teen booking photos appeared to be very similar to the shared composite sketch witness account.
“He denied being involved. He said he didn't have a knife and the case was basically cold,” Baker said.
In 1983, a student family at the school claimed they saw Nixon kill Peterson, but the student later denied it, according to a denied by the district attorney. The following year, a witness told police they saw Nixon conduct a drug deal involving the teenager’s murder.
Nixon was arrested and convicted on various charges after Peterson's death, the District Attorney's Office said. In 1984, he was shot and seriously injured during a robbery, but no charge was filed in this case.
Why did witnesses stand up?
Baker confirmed in USA Today that the identity of the family relative was not shared because he had not stood up for decades because of fear of revenge from Nixon or his family.
Baker told USA Today that after all the exhausted clues of investigation, including massive forensic DNA analysis, homicide detectives reached out to relatives who revealed that they had kept secrets for nearly 50 years. ” According to the detective, this is a relative's emotional moment. ”
Baker said the witness was not suspected of killing Peterson in any capacity, nor helped Nixon escape arrest, so he could not file a criminal charge.
“This marks the end of a terrible and tragic mystery,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release. “If Ms. Peterson hadn't crossed the road with this violent teenager. I hope she was.
This article originally appeared in USA Today: 47 years later, the cold murder case of a California teacher has been resolved
