As trial for a 1989 cold case involving the rape and stabbing of a woman in her San Mateo home was set to begin Thursday, the man responsible pleaded no contest to attempted murder and aggravated mayhem and now faces 19 years to life in prison, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
John Harris Jr., of Manteca, will be sentenced Oct. 3, and the victim will speak at the sentencing, Wagstaffe said.
Harris Jr. was arrested in February 2021 for the crime after a DNA match revealed him to be the perpetrator, police said. Harris lived in the same neighborhood as the woman in 1989 but was not known to her. He was not a suspect or person of interest at that time. Over the past 32 years, he has lived around the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin County and Arizona. Law enforcement gathered evidence and DNA at the time of the 1989 crime, but could not determine who was responsible at the time despite interviews and investigations.
Harris Jr. entered into an apartment on the 3100 block of Casa de Campo, found a knife in the kitchen, and entered the woman’s bedroom. He used a bandanna to cover his face and raped the woman, strangled her, stabbed her multiple times and slashed her throat, nearly killing her. The woman was able to negotiate and convince the man to leave the apartment.
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