Over four decades after the brutal murder of a 13-year-old girl in California, a cigarette butt discarded carelessly on the ground proved to be the critical piece of evidence that broke the case. This DNA recovered from the filter led to the identification and conviction of the perpetrator, closing one of the area's oldest cold cases. The crime had shocked the small town of Cloverdale, California, and left lasting scars on the community.

The victim, Sarah Gear, was last seen on the afternoon of May 23, 1982, leaving a friend's house in Cloverdale, located in the San Francisco Bay area. Shortly after, she was approached by James Younick, who, according to the indictment, violently grabbed her and dragged her into an alley, where he raped and strangled her with her own shorts. Her lifeless body was discovered the next morning by a firefighter returning home after his shift.

While her death was immediately ruled a homicide due to the brutality of the crime, limited investigative resources and technology at the time hindered the ability to solve the case. The recent breakthrough in DNA analysis, however, has not only brought closure to Sarah's family but also raised discussions on the effectiveness of cold case investigations and the importance of advances in forensic science, emphasizing a significant shift in how such cases are approached today.