A 64-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in California, more than four decades after the crime, thanks to DNA evidence from a discarded cigarette butt.
Sarah Geer was last seen leaving a friend's home in Cloverdale on 23 May 1982. She was approached by James Unick, who dragged her down an alley, raped and strangled her with her own shorts. Her body was found the next morning, but limited forensic technology at the time meant the case went cold.
In 2003, investigators developed a DNA profile from sperm found on Geer's underwear, but it did not match any in law enforcement databases. The case was reopened in 2021, and the FBI used familial genealogical databases to narrow the source of the DNA to one of four brothers, including Unick.
After surveillance, FBI agents collected a cigarette butt discarded by Unick, which confirmed his DNA matched the profile. He was arrested in July 2024. During his trial, Unick claimed the encounter was consensual and that another man must have killed Geer, but the jury convicted him after two hours of deliberation.
District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said: 'This guilty verdict is a testament to everyone who never gave up searching for Sarah's killer. While 44 years is too long to wait, justice has finally been served.' Unick was convicted on what would have been Geer's 57th birthday.
