Summary

On December 14, 1984, two teenagers were parked near their high school where a crowd had gathered for an annual basketball tournament in the small northern California town of Burney, which is located in Shasta County. An unfamiliar car with an unknown driver parked directly behind the couple on Mountain View Road. An unknown man exited the car and approached the teenagers. The man shot and killed one of the teens, who was later identified as 18-year-old Terrance "Terry" Arndt. Terry's teenage female friend was ordered to get out of the car. She was then sexually assaulted by the unknown man.

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene and launched an investigation. Crime scene evidence was collected, including forensic evidence from the assault victim's clothes. Over the years, investigators have spent countless hours working to resolve the mystery around the homicide and sexual assault. At one point, a suspect was arrested and charged with Arndt's murder and the woman's assault. Traditional STR testing later revealed that the man was not responsible for the crimes and charges against him were dismissed. The STR profile of the unknown suspect was entered into CODIS, but there were no matches to a known individual. Despite a decades-long investigation, the suspect could not be identified and the case went cold.

In 2025, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the suspect. Using funding provided by Project 525, Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown suspect. This DNA profile ushered in a new investigatory phase in the case.

Othram's in-house forensic genetic genealogy team used the profile in genealogy research to develop new investigative leads that were returned to law enforcement. Using this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to potential relatives of the man. This investigation led to the positive identification of the suspect, who is now known to be 64-year-old Roger Neil Schmidt of Tucson, Arizona.

Roger Schmidt was arrested on two charges--murder and sexual assault--in Tucson, Arizona on Monday, July 21, 2025. Schmidt, who was born in Shasta County in 1961, was a 23-year-old resident of Burney, California when the crimes were committed in 1984. Schmidt is being held without bail and is expected to be extradited to California.

This case is a reminder that every piece of preserved evidence has the potential to unlock long-awaited answers. If you would like to support efforts to solve more cases like this, consider contributing your DNA data to the DNASolves database which aids law enforcement in identifying suspects and giving families the answers they deserve.

This identification represents the 66th case in the State of California where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram.