Man Held in Killing of 14-Year-Old Riverside Girl

Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a man in connection with the March 24 murder of a 14-year-old Riverside girl and the rape of her 13-year-old girlfriend.

Joseph William Hart, 33, was arrested in his Sunnymead home Thursday and booked into Riverside County Jail on suspicion of murder, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County sheriff said. He was held without bail.

The spokeswoman would not elaborate on the information that led deputies to Hart, and Sgt. Bob Dotts, supervisor of the sheriff’s crimes-against-persons unit, declined to comment.

The March 24 rape and killing shocked the quiet community of La Sierra, a hilly, residential section of Riverside where Diane Harper, 14, and her 13-year-old girlfriend lived.

The girls apparently got into the attacker’s car voluntarily, but investigators said they did not believe the pair had been hitchhiking.

Based on the surviving victim’s statements, deputies also said the girls were with the man for quite a while before he took them to a remote area between Moreno Valley and Redlands, stopping along the way at least once to buy some beer.

In the remote, hilly area, Harper was taken from the car and killed by a blow to the head. The assailant returned to the car, took the other girl to the same glen, and raped her. Afterward, he drove her to Moreno Valley and released her on a street corner.