Arizona man arrested after DNA match in 1984 murder-rape case of 2 California teens
Roger Neil Schmidt Sr. of Tucson was arrested July 19 in connection with the 1984 shooting death of 18-year-old Terry Arndt and the sexual assault of a girl Arndt was with when he was killed, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office announced July 23.
The 64-year-old faces murder and sexual assault charges, authorities said.
Schmidt, who was born in Shasta County, was 23 years old and a Burney, California, resident when the crimes were committed in 1984, according to investigators.
Arndt, an 18-year-old Shasta College student, was shot twice through the window of his parents' car with a rifle on a wooded lovers' lane near Burney High School, according to authorities.
The assailant then sexually assaulted the teenage girl Arndt was with, authorities said.
Another man was previously accused in the case. Thomas Elmer Brewster was exonerated during a 1997 capital trial. DNA taken from the girl's semen-stained blouse proved that Brewster wasn't her assailant.
Nearly 30 years later, investigators had what seemed to be a breakthrough in the case, the Record Searchlight of Redding, California, first reported.
In a press conference, Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said his department worked with Tucson law enforcement officials and a private company specializing in investigative genealogy to carry out a search warrant and collect DNA evidence from Schmidt.
Authorities compared Schmidt's DNA to evidence collected from the girl the night she was assaulted and obtained a match, he said.
The DNA analysis "opened up a whole new avenue to the investigation, which ultimately led to the suspect's arrest," Johnson said.
Schmidt was booked into the Pima County jail.
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com.
Shawn Raymundo covers Phoenix and Scottsdale. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona man arrested after DNA match in 1984 cold case
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