A 64-year-old man has been convicted of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in California more than four decades after the crime, thanks to DNA found on a discarded cigarette. James Unick was found guilty on Friday, 44 years after Sarah Geer was killed, on what would have been her 57th birthday.
Sarah was walking into town after leaving a friend's house in Cloverdale, California, on the evening of May 23, 1982, when she was dragged down an alley, raped and strangled. Her body was discovered the next morning by a fireman walking home after his shift. The case went cold due to limited forensic science at the time.
In 2003, investigators developed a DNA profile from sperm collected from Sarah's underwear, but it did not match any on police databases. After a private investigator and the FBI became involved in 2021, familial genealogical databases pointed to James Unick as a suspect. FBI agents collected a discarded cigarette he had been smoking, and DNA analysis confirmed a match.
Unick was arrested in July 2024 at his home in Willows, California. During his trial, he claimed he had consensual sex with Sarah and that another man must have killed her, but the jury rejected his account after two hours of deliberations. He will be sentenced to life without parole.
District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said the verdict was a testament to those who never gave up searching for Sarah's killer. Cloverdale Police Chief Chris Parker called it a bittersweet victory for justice, noting that while nothing can undo the pain, the perpetrator will be held accountable.
