DNA on cigarette leads to man’s conviction in teen’s rape and murder 44 years after crime

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (Gray News) - A man was convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl 44 years after committing the crime.

James Oliver Unick, 66, was convicted of the 1982 murder of 13-year-old Sarah Geer in California.

“While 44 years is too long to wait, justice has finally been served, both to Sarah’s loved ones as well as her community,” District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said.

On May 23, 1982, Sarah left a friend’s home in Cloverdale, California, to walk downtown. During her walk, Unick forcibly dragged her down an alley to a secluded area where he raped and strangled her to death, according to prosecutors.

Sarah’s body was found the next morning by a firefighter walking home after his shift.

Sarah’s death was investigated by the Cloverdale Police Department, but the case went cold for several decades.

The first breakthrough in the investigation came in 2003 when a criminalist with the California Department of Justice developed a DNA profile based on sperm collected from Sarah’s underwear, but investigators could not match the DNA to anyone in law enforcement databases.

A private investigator was hired in 2021 by the Cloverdale Police Department.

With assistance from the FBI, investigators used familial genealogical databases to match the DNA profile to one of four brothers.

FBI agents began surveilling Unick and collected a discarded cigarette he had been smoking. A DNA analysis of the cigarette confirmed Unick’s DNA matched the 2003 profile and matched DNA collected from numerous articles of clothing Sarah was wearing at the time of her death.

Unick was arrested at his home in Willows, California, in July 2024.

Unick is set to be sentenced on April 23. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.