San Jose, California (KON) – Nearly 50 years after a young teacher was found, stabbed to death inside a high school in San Jose on the first day of the summer vacation, the COLD Case defined publicly for the first time on Monday.
Santa Clara County Lawyer’s Office said that Nikki Nikkurcon, Branham Secondary School, was stabbed to death by a 16 -year -old boy, on June 16, 1978. Investigators said that Nickenson had a knife with words, “teacher dear”, he wrote on it.
One day after the end of the academic year 1977-1978, the teachers of the Branham Secondary School were cleaning their classroom for the summer. A student found Peterson dumped on the ground near the semester with a stab wound in her chest.
Investigators broke the cold case after meeting with a member of the Nikrson family this year, according to the DA office. Minutes after the killing, Nikrson went to his home and admitted to stabbing the teacher, and a family member confessed to the police.
“Only this year, the investigators learned that he confessed to killing for a family member. Nickenson committed suicide in 1993,” he wrote.
Nikrson was not a student at the Branham High School, the region’s lawyer, Rob Baker, told Kron4. Although the investigators had never had a firm motivation, the investigators at that time established that Diane had unintentionally boycotted a drug deal on the campus the next day for the school to abandon the summer. ”
Provincial lawyer Jeff Rosen said: “This represents the end of a terrible and tragic puzzle. Mrs. Peterson was a great citizen today if she had not exceeded paths with this violent teenager. I wish it were.
Baker said that Nickenson was arrested four days after the killing of an unrelated accident. “He automatically accused the police of trying to” fix “the killing on him, denied the killing of Diane, and denied having a knife,” Baker told Kron4.
Prosecutors said that the police took a group of 16 -year -old boy in June 1978, and they carried a strong similarity with a compound based on eyewitnesses about high school attack.
In 1983, the student of the Branham Secondary School alerted the police that their son claimed that he saw Peterson’s violent death and identified Nikrson as the responsible person. The student, however, later denied this statement. In 1984, the last police witness told Nikrson to confess to the killing of Peterson, but the police were unable to confirm the claim.
After high school, Nikrson continued to commit more crimes, including kidnapping and assault with a fatal weapon and armed theft.
“He was shot and seriously injured in 1984 while trying to commit a drug robbery. Given the circumstances, no charges were charged. He died in 1993 due to a gunshot wound in his depths.”
Between 2023 and 2024, the DA crime laboratory performed wide DNA in the case in an attempt to determine the Peterson killer. Unlike other cold cases by South Bay, forensic investigators have not been able to make the DNA match. Instead, the break from a member of the Nikrson family came forward to the police.
“Nearly five decades have passed since a young teacher has been tragicly taken,” said Paul Joseph police chief said. “Although the suspect will never be tried or faced the consequences of his actions, we hope that this decision will bring a degree of peace to the loved ones of the victim and the society that has achieved this loss for a very long time. Regardless of the amount of time it passes, we will continue to search for the truth. Every victim is important, and every life that deserves justice.”
The Cold Cases Unit was established in DA in 2011 and more than 30 cold cases of cold cases have been resolved since 1969. Peterson case is the fourth issue of the cold case that DA office resolved in 2025.
A family member at the teacher said: “Diane was a beautiful and wonderful person lost.”