Killer sentenced for 80s murder of San Jose woman

After 23 years, the whodunnit murder case of San Jose’s Kristi Harris is finally closed. Yesterday, a Santa Clara County judge sentenced her neighbor Charles Grant to 31 years to life for fatally stabbing the hairdresser in her apartment.

Grant murdered the 21-year-old Harris after breaking into her apartment in hopes of finding something to steal to support his drug habit. The now 52-year-old had always been high on the list of suspects, but the recent match of his DNA found in material under Harris’ fingernails provided the proverbial nail in his coffin.

Among the tearful testimonies from friends and family, Harris’ best friend from 5th grade told Judge David A. Cena:

[Grant] took  away my sense of security and in its place left terror.