Detectives in San Jose have announced that they have solved a cold-case murder that occurred in 1978. The body of a high school teacher was discovered stabbed to death in the hallway of the school with a knife that was branded with the words “Teacher Dear.”
Branham High School was the location of the violent incident that took place on June 16, 1978. It was one day after the school year had ended for the summer and teachers were dismantling their classrooms in preparation for the break.
The student who found Diane Peterson lying on the ground close to her classroom and suffering from a single stab wound to the chest, according to the detectives, was another student.
A suspect in the gruesome murder was a young man named Harry “Nicky” Nickerson, who was only 16 years old at the time. The composite sketch of the suspect that was based on eyewitness testimonies appeared to be quite similar to a photograph of Nickerson that was taken in 1978, four days after the murder victim was killed.
According to the testimony of one of those witnesses, Nickerson admitted to the murder, and the witness also stated that he had seen Nickerson carrying a knife that with the words “Teacher Dear” written on it.
“At that time, the police were unable to provide any evidence to support the claim,” officials from the District Attorney’s Office of Santa Clara County stated in a press release.
Then, in 1983, members of the family of a student at Branham College told detectives that their son had claimed to have witnessed the murder and named Nickerson as the person who committed the crime. However, the student later denied asserting that he had made such a claim as well.
One year later, in 1984, yet another witness said to the cops that Nickerson had implicated himself in the murder of the instructor and that he had done it because Peterson had caught him in the middle of a heroin deal.
After over forty years had passed, the crime lab of the district attorney’s office carried out comprehensive DNA testing on the case. However, they were never able to identify the person responsible for the crime until a member of the family came forward in the year 2025.
According to the officials, “the relative admitted to police that Nickerson came to their home minutes after the killing and confessed to having stabbed Peterson.” Nickerson told the family that he had shot Peterson.
Nickerson’s life after the murder consisted of a string of encounters with law authorities from that point on.
According to the release, he was taken into custody and subsequently found guilty of the charges of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and first-degree armed robbery. Although he survived the incident, he was wounded in the head during an attempt to rob a drug store in 1984. He was in critical condition.
Following that, in 1993, he allegedly shot himself in the head, resulting in his own death, according to the authorities.
“This brings an end to a terrible and tragic mystery,” the speaker said. It is possible that Ms. Peterson would have reached the age of senior citizen today if she had not come into contact with this aggressive adolescent. According to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, “I wish she was.” Despite the fact that the perpetrator of this murder is not living to face justice, I am relieved that we have been able to solve this case. I really wish that he was.”
