American man of Washington found guilty in 1991 cold-case murder of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A King County jury returned guilty verdicts Wednesday in the murder trial of Patrick Nicholas, finding him guilty of fatally strangling a Federal Way teenager in 1991 while trying to rape her.

The jury deliberated for 1 1/2 days before finding Nicholas, 59, guilty of first-degree felony murder for killing 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough, an honors student and drill team member, on the Federal Way High School campus. Jurors also determined Yarborough’s killing was sexually motivated.

Nicholas — who was 27 at the time of Yarborough’s Dec. 14, 1991, murder — evaded capture for nearly three decades before he was identified as a possible suspect through genetic genealogy. His DNA from two cigarette butts was later matched to unknown male DNA left at the crime scene. He was arrested and charged with murder in 2019.

Nicholas’ defense during his 2 1/2 week trial hinged on his attorney’s claim that he didn’t match the suspect description provided to police by two young witnesses, who said Yarborough’s assailant had acne or acne scars. Defense attorney David Montes also questioned the validity of the DNA evidence and said King County sheriff’s detectives were so desperate to solve the cold-case homicide that they turned to an untrained genetic genealogist who had offered up other potential suspects before identifying Nicholas.

During closing arguments last week, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Mary Barbosa told jurors that detectives — who submitted DNA from dozens of men for testing before ruling them out as suspects — finally saw their patience and determination pay off when Nicholas was identified as Yarborough’s killer from semen stains left on her clothing and DNA found under her fingernails.

“There’s absolutely no reason to doubt the DNA work done in this case,” Barbosa said.

About an hour before she was murdered, Yarborough raced out of her house in her drill team uniform, her hair in a ponytail with hot rollers, and drove her father’s car to the high school to meet her team for a competition.

She was either dragged or led from the school parking lot to a nearby embankment, where she was later found wearing only her skirt and sweater with her nylons wrapped around her neck. Her cause of death was ligature and manual strangulation.

Jurors considered three theories of murder: premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree murder committed during the commission of an attempted rape, and the lesser charge of second-degree murder while also committing indecent liberties, which is when a person knowingly causes someone to have sexual contact with them. Sexual motivation was alleged in each count.

The jury found Nicholas not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder but found him guilty of both felony first-degree murder and second-degree murder.

Nicholas will be sentenced only for the more serious crime. His sentencing is scheduled for May 25.