DNA on cigarette leads to conviction in California cold case murder

DNA on Cigarette Linked Calif. Man to 1982 Rape and Murder of Girl, 13

A man accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in 1982 has been found guilty by a California jury after DNA from his cigarette linked him to the decades-old cold case, according to prosecutors. James Oliver Unick, of Willows, was convicted of murder on Friday, February 13, with the special circumstance “related to the sexual assault during the commission of the murder” in connection with the death of Sarah Geer, the Sonoma County Distr…

DNA on cigarette leads to conviction in California cold case murder

A Sonoma County jury found 66-year-old James Oliver Unick guilty of the May 1982 murder.

'Coldest Case Ever' Ends In Conviction For Sonoma County Rape and Murder of 13-Year-Old

Familial DNA was used to solve a case that had gone cold for over 40 years in Sonoma County, the case of the 1982 murder of 13-year-old Sarah Geer in Cloverdale.Sarah Ann Geer was killed May 23, 1982. She was reportedly walking home from a friend's house in quiet downtown Cloverdale when she was forcibly dragged down an alley to a secluded location where she was, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, "brutally raped" and "st…