James Unick Convicted in 1982 Sarah Geer Rape-Murder After Cigarette DNA

James Oliver Unick, 66, of Willows was convicted by a Sonoma County jury on Feb. 13, 2026, for the 1982 rape and murder of 13-year-old Sarah Ann Geer. Jurors found a sexual-assault special circumstance true, making Unick eligible for life in prison without the possibility of parole; sentencing is scheduled for April 23, 2026.

Prosecutors told the jury that Sarah left a friend’s home in Cloverdale on the evening of May 23, 1982, and was accosted near an alley off a residential street. According to trial evidence, Unick forcibly dragged her to a secluded area adjacent to an apartment building and behind a fence, raped her, and strangled her with her own shorts. Sarah’s body was discovered the next morning by a firefighter walking home after his shift.

Investigators reopened the cold case after forensic advances. A criminalist with the California Department of Justice developed a DNA profile from sperm collected from Sarah’s underwear in 2003, but that profile produced no matches in law-enforcement databases at the time. Cloverdale Police Department officials and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office described the homicide as having been limited by the forensic science of the day.

The case moved forward between 2021 and 2024 through a combination of private investigation, familial genetic genealogy, and FBI assistance. Cloverdale police hired a private investigator in 2021. Investigators used familial genealogical databases, with FBI help, to link the 2003 DNA profile to one of four brothers and ultimately to James Oliver Unick. In July 2024, FBI agents conducting surveillance collected a discarded cigarette butt Unick had smoked; laboratory testing showed the cigarette DNA matched the 2003 profile. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Unick’s DNA matched DNA found on numerous items of Sarah’s clothing.

Unick was arrested at his home in Willows in July 2024 and was held on multiple counts including murder, rape, and kidnapping. At arrest, reporting indicates Unick denied knowing Sarah and said he had no recollection of May 23, 1982. His month-long trial concluded in February 2026 after jurors heard testimony from Sarah’s friends about her final weekend and heard Unick testify in his own defense.

On the stand, Unick testified that Sarah had propositioned him while he played a video game at the Cloverdale arcade and that they later had consensual sex on a hillside near the Russian River, an account prosecutors and jurors rejected as fictitious. After roughly two hours of deliberations, the jury returned a guilty verdict and found the sexual-assault special circumstance true.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez called the verdict “a testament to everyone who never gave up searching for Sarah’s killer,” and added, “While 44 years is too long to wait, justice has finally been served, both to Sarah’s loved ones as well as her community.” Cloverdale Mayor Todd Lands said, “Today, we stand united in solidarity with the Geer family as we witness the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance by our law enforcement officials.” The Cloverdale Police Department posted that Sarah’s death “haunted the community for over 40 years.”

Reporting on Unick’s age varies by outlet, Gray Local Media and People report 66, while at least one report listed 64, and court or booking records should clarify that administrative detail ahead of the April 23 sentencing.