Nearly 44 years after a 13-year-old Cloverdale girl’s body was discovered in an alley, her suspected killer is facing a jury in what is considered the city’s first-ever homicide.

The seven men and nine women, including alternates, heard opening statements and the first round of testimony Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the trial of James Unick. The 64-year-old is charged with murder in the death of Sara Ann Geer, whose body was discovered the morning of May 24,1982.

Unick is being held at the Sonoma County jail without bail.

Arguments before Judge Laura Passaglia are expected to last into February and shed light on events that led to the July 2024 arrest of Unick in Willows, a small city in Glenn County. Prosecutors with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office say DNA evidence was a key component in identifying Unick as a suspect. His defense attorney, Gabriel Quinnan, countered DNA is merely a “starting point” with little supporting evidence such as finger prints, footage or a confession.

“At the end of the trial, you’ll be left wondering how the DNA got there,” Quinnan told jurors Tuesday.

Geer was a Washington School seventh grader in 1982 and police at the time said her death was Cloverdale’s first homicide to their recollection, according to Press Democrat coverage from that year.

Investigators said Geer had spent a weekend with a friend before returning home Sunday, May 23, 1982. She briefly visited a friend, Cheryl Evans, before she walked downtown and was last seen at a video game arcade on Cloverdale Boulevard.

In recorded testimony played for jurors Tuesday, Evans said Geer was her best friend and she had stopped by around 11 p.m. that night four decades ago. She left about 30 minutes later and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“She was happy. She was always happy,” Evans said.

The next day, Evans said, she learned Geer’s body had been found.

Her partially clothed body was behind an apartment building on Main Street, in an alley between Second and Third streets. Two children made the grim discovery, including the 6-year-old granddaughter of a then-Cloverdale City Council member who lived in the building.

The alley ran beside the bedroom window of Norene Haberski, who now lives in New Jersey and also provided pre-recorded testimony. As she headed to bed around midnight, she heard the sound of shuffling feet coming from the alley, which was covered in gravel and packed dirt.

The next morning she found “flip-flops in disarray on the alleyway.” Haberski and her boyfriend placed the sandals aside before leaving, only to return to police activity later that day.

An autopsy found Geer died from “manual traumatic injuries,” consistent with strangulation or a beating. Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Christina Stevens told jurors Geer had been sexually assaulted and the strangulation was so forceful that she bled from her mouth.

The killing stood out for a community that several of Geer’s friends and family members described Tuesday as a small, quiet town where everyone knew each other. Evans added it wasn’t unusual for her and Geer to walk around downtown Cloverdale at night.

But another common observation from Tuesday’s testimony: None of the witnesses knew Unick.

The case remained cold for nearly 40 years until Cloverdale police reopened it in 2021.