Sacramento jurors convict in brutal 1981 killing after DNA evidence cracks case

Nearly 44 years after the brutal murder of a Sacramento County woman, her killer will go to prison for his crime after DNA evidence thawed the decades-long cold case.

Sacramento Superior Court jurors on Sept. 30 convicted Arties Johnson, 65, of first-degree murder and burglary in the December 1981 killing of 66-year-old Clara Miller, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said.

Johnson broke into Miller’s home Dec. 16, 1981, kicking down her front door before beating, strangling and stabbing the woman to death, leaving the knife in her wounds. Johnson took Miller’s purse and fled in her car before setting it ablaze.

The case was in a holding pattern for decades before advances in DNA technology cracked the case in 2024. Criminologists were able to link DNA found on the murder weapon to Johnson, the D.A.’s Office said in announcing the verdict.

Prosecutors said Johnson torched the car that December night, then drank and ate at a restaurant with a friend who lived across the street from him. At one point, they drove past Miller’s burning car. Johnson pointed out the car and told the friend he killed the woman who owned it.

Prosecutors said Johnson watched on the next morning as Sacramento Police Department investigators examined the boot print on the front door of Miller’s home. He and his friend dumped the boots into a nearby levee, disappearing evidence that could lead investigators back to Miller’s killer.

Johnson was arrested in connection with the killing in May 1982. An anonymous caller told Sacramento police that Johnson’s friend knew he had killed Miller. Johnson’s friend identified Johnson as the woman’s killer and Johnson was arrested. Before trial, Johnson told his friend to “get rid” of the anonymous caller and leave Sacramento. The friend left for Ohio fleeing California and testimony in Johnson’s murder case.

Without prosecutors’ star witness, a Sacramento judge dismissed the case before it reached trial and Johnson was freed.

Johnson was arrested again in June 2024 by Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies on a local warrant connected to the murder charge.

Johnson now awaits sentencing Nov. 7 before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Helena Gweon.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.