Police in Tucson, Arizona, have arrested a man accused of murdering a young man and sexually assaulting a young woman in their car in California in 1984. 

Roger Neil Schmidt Sr., 23 at the time of the Dec. 14, 1984, incident, is accused of shooting Terrance Arndt, who was 18, and sexually assaulting a young woman, also 18, who was with Arndt, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a release Wednesday.

Another suspect had been arrested in 1995 and jailed for two years, but was let go because his DNA did not match evidence found on the woman’s blouse, according to SFGATE. In 2024, the case was revisited by investigators who sent the DNA evidence to Othram Labs in Texas for genealogical testing.

New DNA testing turned up Mr. Schmidt, who also matched a description of the suspect provided by the female victim in 1984, the sheriff’s office said. Last week, Shasta County detectives and Tucson Police Department personnel got a sample from Mr. Schmidt via a search warrant, and the police department’s forensic lab matched the 1984 sample to Mr. Schmidt.

The attack had taken place in Burney, California, where Arndt and the woman, unnamed by the sheriff’s office, were talking in his car. Another car pulled up alongside them. An armed man got out and approached Arndt’s car, and Arndt was shot trying to protect the woman, who was assaulted afterwards by the suspect, the sheriff’s office said. The woman then drove Arndt’s car with him inside to try and get help.

The car was found by California Highway Patrol, which contacted the sheriff’s office and other responders. Arndt was taken to a local hospital but ultimately died of his wounds.

Mr. Schmidt was arrested in Tucson on Saturday, the sheriff’s office said, for the murder of Arndt and the sexual assault of the female victim. 

At the time of the arrest, Mr. Schmidt was living in Tucson with his daughter and her family, according to Chico, California’s KNVN-TV. Authorities are now working to get Mr. Schmidt extradited to Shasta County, California.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.