Union City Investigators Help Make Arrest in 25-Year-Old Vermont Murder Case

A California prisoner is being charged with murder in the 1986 killing of a Vermont woman after being questioned by Union City investigators, according to media reports.

David Allan Morrison, 52, was being questioned by the local police agency in 2009 about a separate case when he made statements suggesting his involvement in the strangling death of 36-year-old Vermont golf pro Sarah Hunter more than 25 years ago, the Associated Press reports.

Morrison’s comments, which were not disclosed, were relayed to Vermont police who later used DNA tests to link hair strands found in Morrison’s car to the victim.

Hunter, a Manchester, Vt. resident, went missing in September 1986. Her body was found two months later in a wooded area, according to the Manchester Journal.

At the time of Hunter’s disappearance, Morrison was working at a gas station near the area where Hunter’s vehicle was found. He was one of the primary suspects and was interviewed twice but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Morrison, the Vermont newspaper reports.

Morrison left Vermont in 1998 and moved to California. Later that year, Morrison was arrested and charged with attempted murder, sexual assault and kidnapping in a Chula Vista case, according to media reports. He is still serving time for the charges, the Manchester Journal reports.

According to the Associated Press, Vermont investigators believed Hunter’s death to be related to other unsolved murders in the region and were trying to determine if Morrison was connected to any of them.

A Vermont police lieutenant told reporters that there were similarities between Hunter’s death and the attempted murder case in California.

Morrison was linked to the Vermont murder after police re-analyzed evidence found in Morrison’s car. Police matched hair found in the car to Hunter by comparing it to Hunter’s sister’s DNA, according to reports.

Morrison will be extradited to Vermont in coming months where he will face first-degree murder charges.

Earlier this year, Union City police , 68, with the 1983 murder of Hayward resident Michael Barbato, whose body was found wrapped in a blanket in an abandoned car in Union City.

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