Closure in La Mesa Cold-Case Murder: Jury Convicts Jernigan in Fatal Stabbing

Deliberating for less than a day, jurors in El Cajon Superior Court on Wednesday convicted Marc Exter Jernigan of killing La Mesa’s June George on Aug. 8, 1986.

Jernigan, 44, was found guilty of first-degree murder for stabbing his ex-girlfriend's mother. He faces 26 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 11 in El Cajon.

Witnesses testified that the 47-year-old victim disapproved of the defendant dating her then-18-year-old daughter, Kathie Keller Dalby.

Dalby said she and Jernigan were boyfriend-girlfriend in high school and broke up about two weeks before her mother was killed.

“It's a mixture between happiness, closure and just it being over ...  it taking so long and justice being served,'' Dalby said after the verdicts. “We had such a wonderful team working for that, and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn't for them.”

Dalby said she didn’t always believe that Jernigan killed her mother.

“He was my high school boyfriend and we spent a lot of time together,” she said. “There were some controlling issues, but nothing that I would have ever thought would have led to this. And after I found out what the DNA was, I didn’t want it to be him and I still didn’t want to believe it until this day.

“But I’m glad they came to the verdict that they did.”

Dalby found her mother’s body in the kitchen of her home in the 8800 block of Mariposa Street. The victim had been stabbed 78 times.

At the time, Dalby described Jernigan as “All-American” and “perfect” and said she could not imagine him killing her mother, said Deputy District Attorney Jill Schall.

Jernigan was arrested in February 2006 after La Mesa police reopened the case and tests matched his DNA to blood found on a bathroom towel at the crime scene, according to the prosecutor.

The defendant’s blood was also found on a bedspread and a plastic photograph holder from George’s wallet, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Christopher Plourd told the jury that Jernigan's DNA was found in the victim’s home because he was over there having sex with the victim’s daughter all the time.

Plourd said problems existed with the evidence, alleging DNA samples were contaminated and mixed up.

City News Service contributed to this report.