John Harris Jr., the man suspected of a decades-old cold case involving a brutal 1989 rape, stabbing and attempted murder, pleaded no contest to attempted murder and aggravated mayhem as trial was getting underway, according to San Mateo police.
The action took place as jury selection was set to begin on Sept. 4. Harris now faces 19 years to life in prison and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 3, when the victim is expected to provide a statement, according to police.
At approximately 4:15 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, 1989, Harris broke into an occupied apartment in the 3100 block of Casa De Campo. While the victim was asleep in her bedroom, he got a knife from the kitchen and violently attacked her. He climbed into bed with the victim and put a knife to her throat. Using a bandanna to cover his face, he raped her, strangled her, stabbed her multiple times on her upper body, and slit her throat nearly missing the external jugular vein. She fought back and convinced him to leave the apartment. The victim was then able to call 911, according to police.
Over the next three decades, advances in DNA technology allowed investigators to revisit and resubmit evidence from the crime scene and, in December 2020, a DNA match was identified, according to police.
On Feb. 24, 2021, detectives from the San Mateo Police Department, in partnership with investigators from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, arrested John Harris Jr. in Manteca, California, for attempted murder. He was booked into San Mateo County Main Jail, where bail was set at $500,000, according to police.
Investigators determined that Harris lived in the same neighborhood as the victim at the time of the assault but was not known to her. In the years that followed, he is believed to have lived throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin County and Arizona, according to police.
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