SAN JOSE, Calif. (TCN) — Investigators recently identified a suspect in the death of a teacher who was found stabbed to death in a school hallway near her classroom almost five decades ago.
According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, on June 16, 1978, a student found Diane Peterson on the floor at Branham High School with a stab wound to her chest. Officials determined the stabbing had occurred on the first day of summer break while teachers were cleaning their classrooms.
A student reportedly told his family that he witnessed Harry Nickerson, who was 16 at the time, killing Peterson, but he later denied making the statement. According to the district attorney’s office, in 1984, someone also said Nickerson “implicated himself in the killing, which he said was in response to discovering Nickerson in the act of a drug deal.”…