San Jose cold case: Family confession solves 1978 fatal teacher stabbing, authorities say

SAN JOSE A family member s up-to-date confession has definitively linked a long-former Branham High School novice to the fatal stabbing of a tutor near her classroom almost five decades ago bureaucrats communicated Monday Diane Peterson poses in an undated photo She was stabbed to death near her classroom at Branham High School in San Jose in and in June her killer was officially identified as a then- -year-old novice who had been suspected but could not be definitively linked to the death The scholar Harry Nicky Nickerson died in Photo courtesy of the Peterson family via Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office A renewed analysis by the Cold Episode Unit at the Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office alongside San Jose police has led to Harry Nicky Nickerson being identified as the presumed killer of Diane Peterson on June Nickerson died by suicide in following a troubled post-school life that included multiple run-ins with law enforcement and an earlier gunshot injury stemming from his documented criminal activity This marks the end of a terrible and tragic mystery Ms Peterson would have been a senior citizen in the modern day if she had not crossed paths with this violent teenager I wish she was District Attorney Jeff Rosen commented in a declaration I am pleased that we have solved this situation even though the murderer is not alive to face justice I wish he was Peterson was ascertained dead from a single stab wound to her chest at the South San Jose campus school had let out the day before and faculty and staff were cleaning out their classrooms for the summer break A Branham attendee who claimed to have witnessed the killing helped San Jose police produce a sketch of a suspect who roughly resembled a then- -year-old Nickerson but the attendee did not directly implicate him That witness s parents later contacted police to document their son described them that Nickerson was indeed the attacker but when interviewed by detectives the apprentice reportedly denied the claim At left police in published a sketch of a suspect in the stabbing of professor Diane Peterson at Branham High School At right Harry Nicky Nickerson poses in an undated photo In June functionaries officially identified Nickerson as Peterson's killer Nickerson died in Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office The Cold Incident Unit which revisited the occurrence in newest years revealed Nickerson also drew suspicion on himself about a month after the killing when he was arrested in San Jose for an unrelated matter During an ensuing interrogation Nickerson reportedly unprompted accused police of trying to pin the murder of Peterson on him So while Nickerson was on their radar personnel did not have any direct evidence linking him to Peterson s death They thought they might have had a break in the event in when a man described as a criminal associate claimed Nickerson confessed to killing Peterson and suggested the motive was her witnessing him taking part in a drug deal In the years after the killing Nickerson ran afoul of the law with arrests and convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping in he was shot and seriously injured during an attempted drug robbery The associate who talked to police and later passed a polygraph test also reportedly announced Nickerson carried around a knife with the phrase Coach Dear inscribed on it Police could not independently corroborate the associate s states so Nickerson was not arrested or charged Related Articles Saratoga Safeway loses to theft robbery Santa Clara County sues local Metro by T-Mobile stores in groundbreaking wage-theft occurrence Man shot and killed Thursday in Sunnyvale San Jose Driver arrested after morning crash that kills man in wheelchair South Bay man charged in a Pennsylvania campus sex assault hires a lawyer to review attainable plea deal Fast forward about four decades to when the county Crime Lab run by the DA s office was tasked with reexamining the available physical evidence from Peterson s killing to look for any forensic traces of her killer But the circumstances a single knife wound and no essential physical struggle meant that technicians and analysts did not have much to work with Those efforts were exhausted earlier this year The DA s office noted that prompted its Bureau of Investigations to make a last-ditch effort to find Nickerson s surviving relatives for any new information That search effort led by DA Investigator John Cary a former veteran SJPD detective eventually located a family member who reportedly admitted that Nickerson came to their home minutes after the killing and confessed to having stabbed Peterson In a message issued through the DA s office a relative of Peterson s who sought to be unnamed lauded investigators for not giving up for years and declared that Diane was a beautiful and wonderful person who is missed dearly San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph stated in a announcement that while there will be no trial for Peterson s death we hope this resolution brings a measure of peace to the victim s loved ones and to a group that has carried this loss for far too long Let this serve as a solemn reminder no matter how much time passes we will continue to seek the truth because every victim matters and every life deserves justice