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After decades of suspicion, San Jose police confirmed that the murderer of a San Jose high school teacher was a student seen on a knife with the word “teacher” written next to it.
On June 16, 1978, the day after Branham High School was bored in the summer, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office found a student lying on the floor in a corridor near the classroom.
Peterson is said to be one of several teachers who clean classrooms for campus summer holidays.
Images of Diane Peterson. The photo is courtesy of the Peterson family.
(Santa Clara County)
For years, authorities saw Harry “Nicki” Nickerson as a 16-year-old student at the school at the time as someone interested in the case, Santa Clara County prosecutors said in a media statement.
However, the hints and leads they received were not led anywhere, so the case remained unresolved for 47 years.
Until early this year, police said that relatives had revealed that Nickerson had admitted to stab the teacher minutes after it happened, prosecutors said.
“This marks the end of a horrifyingly tragic mystery,” says King Santa Clara County to become king. Atty. Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “If Peterson hadn’t crossed the path with this violent teenager, he would have been elderly today. I wish he had her.”
Nickerson became an interested person in the case when he was arrested for an unrelated crime just days after Peterson was killed, and detectives noticed that his booking photos were surprisingly similar to police sketches of the teacher’s murderer.
The sketch comes from a student witness who heard Peterson scream for help and saw the murderer escape. However, authorities say the same student later denied his statement.
Police were also told by witnesses that they saw “teacher” see Nickerson holding the knife written on it aside. However, under the question, Nickerson denied having no knife at all, and authorities were unable to support the claim.
Years later, prosecutors pointed out a retracted statement by fellow students and another who said he confessed to killing Peterson when Nickerson stood up to him about the drug deal, but neither story could be supported.
Over the years, authorities say Nickerson has built a rap sheet containing convictions for tricking, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He was shot dead in 1984 for an attempted drug robbery and seriously injured, and committed suicide in 1993.
“It’s been almost 50 years since the lives of young teachers were tragically taken away,” said San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph. “The suspect will not endure trial or face the consequences of his actions, but we hope that this resolution will bring a measure of peace to the victim’s loved ones and the community who have carried this loss so long.”
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