A man from Oregon walked into an FBI office and confessed to a 1979 murder on the other side of the United States.
John Michael Irmer, 68, was arraigned in a Massachusetts court on Monday for the murder of Susan Marcia Rose almost 44 years ago.
Rose was found dead on October 30, 1979 in a building under construction in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Her cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt force injuries and brain lacerations.
Her body was found at the building the next day. Irmer had at that point fled to New York City.
In August, Irmer told FBI agents in Portland that he met Rose, who was then 24, at a Boston skating rink the day before Halloween. The two decided to go ‘explore’ a building at 285 Beacon Street, which was under renovation at the time.
Shortly after entering the building, Irmer grabbed a hammer and struck Rose on the head, killing her. He then proceeded to rape her.
Rose’s brutal murder remained unsolved for years. Another suspect was arrested and charged for her murder, but he was found not guilty after a trial in 1981.
Meanwhile, Irmer was convicted of murdering a drug dealer in California in 1983. He served a 30-year prison sentence before getting out in 2013.
He stayed silent for another 10 years before walking into the Portland FBI office last month, where he also confessed to another murder in the south.
Irmer reportedly did not know Rose’s name when he confessed, but he provided enough details that they were able to match his confession to her unsolved case.
FBI investigators also matched Irmer’s DNA to a sample taken from Rose’s body.
Irmer was extradited from Oregon to Massachusetts over the weekend. He was arraigned on Monday and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated rape.
‘This was a brutal, ice-blooded murder made worse by the fact that a person was charged and tried—and fortunately, found not guilty—while the real murderer remained silent until now,’ Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.
Irmer is currently being held without bail.
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