DNA Leads To An Arrest 4 Decades After Murder, Sexual Assault Of Teens In California

CBS Bay Area

July 24, 2025

Police have made an arrest in Arizona four decades after the cold-case murder and sexual assault of two teenagers who were attacked in a parked car in Northern California, officials said Wednesday.

On Dec. 19, 1984, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office was called to an incident in Burney, California, by the California Highway Patrol. They found two 18-year-old victims, a male and a female, according to a news release from the office. The male victim, identified by police as Terrance Arndt, had sustained a gunshot wound. He was transported to an area hospital but died from his injuries. The female victim, who police did not disclose, had been sexually assaulted.

An investigation found that Arndt and the female victim were parked in Arndt's car talking near an area high school when an unknown person pulled up in a vehicle. Arndt tried to protect the female victim, but was shot. The female victim was then assaulted and left for dead, Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson said in a news conference. After the suspect left the scene, she drove Arndt's car for help until she was able to reach police. Johnson said that the crime "rocked the community for many years."

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