There was a shocking development this weekend in a missing person case that has captivated the South Bay for nearly a decade.
Jeanine Harms went missing July 27, 2001 after a night out at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Campbell. Harms is presumed dead, but her body has never been found. In the subsequent years one of the men she was with that night was arrested, jailed and then released for lack of evidence.
A chance encounter between that man, Maurice Nasmeh, and Harms' brother Wayne Sanchez ended Saturday night in a murder-suicide at a nearby strip mall in San Jose.
San Jose police said Sanchez ran into Nasmeh at a Red Robin on Saratoga Avenue around 9:20 p.m. Saturday night and accused him of murdering his sister.
Sanchez left the restaurant, but later returned - with a gun. Exact timing details were still being investigated by San Jose police.
Police said the two had a second interaction at the Red Robin and then Nasmeh walked out and across the street to a Peet's Coffee. Witnesses said Sanchez followed him into the Peet's where he shot and killed him.
When police arrived at that shooting scene, officers said they heard another gun shot in the parking lot. They soon found Sanchez dead, from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
Sanchez's daughters talked to NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo on Sunday night.
Nicole Sanchez is 20. Her sister Christine is 18. They were children when their Aunt Jeanine went missing.
"We're devastated by the loss of our father. He was a great dad and grandpa," Nicole Sanchez said.
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Nicole said Jeanine's parents, her grandparents are devastated at the loss of another child. She said her dad's death is especially hard on them.
The San Francisco Chronicle broke the news of Nasmeh's death to his lawyer Daniel Jensen. "Are you kidding me?" Jensen asked the paper. Adding that Sanchez, "killed an innocent man. Justice didn't get done here. Instead, we got two more victims, and we still have a killer out there walking free."
