11 September 2023 , 21:48
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A 68-year-old man has walked into an FBI office where he confessed to bludgeoning a woman to death more than four decades ago, according to prosecutors.
John Michael Irmer walked into the FBI field office in Oregon where he confessed to the murder in Boston's Back Bay neighbourhood. He was arraigned on Monday, September 11, in Boston.
Prosecutors say Irmer is also being looked at after allegedly confessing to another murder. He is being held without bail pending another court appearance on October 17 on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated rape.
Investigators said Irmer had been free for 10 years after serving three decades in prison for a homicide in California. He told FBI agents at the field office in Portland, Oregon, on August 7 that he'd met a woman just before Halloween in Boston in 1979 at a skating rink.
Susan Marcia Rose was found dead in an apartment building undergoing renovation work on October 30, 1979 (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)He couldn't remember her name or how old she was but remembered she had red hair. He said she had wanted to "explore an abandoned building" in the Back Bay. She was identified as Susan Marcia Rose, who, according to the police report, had been recently fighting with her boyfriend.
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Irmer went on to tell agents in the office that the pair had walked around the Back Bay before going into an apartment building that was under renovation at the time, prosecutors said. Just after they entered the building, Irmer told investigators he grabbed a hammer and struck Susan, 24, on the head.
He allegedly told the agents he hit her with such force he believed she was killed instantly. Irmer is said to have then raped the young woman and thrown her wallet in the Charles River before fleeing to New York.
Irmer's attorney, Steven Sack, said he wouldn't contest bail, but highlighted the 68-year-old's decision to turn himself in.
Irmer confessed to the murder though he could not remember Susan's name or age (Getty Images)"I would say on his behalf, he was a free man for 10 years. He walked into police and confessed, allegedly," said Mr Sack. Another man had been arrested by police at the time and charged with the time but was acquitted of the charges in 1981.
Police said Susan, who had red hair, was found dead in the building on October 30, 1979, by a construction worker. The cause of death was listed as blunt injuries to the head with skull fractures and lacerations of the brain.
"There was blood spatter and brain matter found about halfway up the stairs from the first floor to the second floor..." said the police report. "Rose was then dragged up the stairs to the second floor where her partially nude body was found."
Investigators also took a DNA sample from Irmer, which they said was a match with DNA samples preserved from the murder scene. In 2005, Boston police compared crime scene DNA to samples from multiple people of interest, including the man acquitted in 1981, but they found no matches. ,
The police report said: "Irmer stated that when he was released from prison in 2012, he was surprised that the Boston police weren't waiting for him because he knew that his DNA was taken and submitted to CODIS [the nationwide DNA system for cold cases] while in prison."
Rose had moved to Boston from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and was living on a nearby street when she was killed. Her family told investigators at the time she had moved to Boston to escape the "doldrums" of small-town life.
"Nearly 44 years after losing her at such a young age, the family and friends of Susan Marcia Rose will finally have some answers," said Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden in a written statement. "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.
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"No matter how cold cases get resolved, it's always the answers that are important for those who have lived with the grief and loss and so many agonising questions."