Irmer faced arraignment in Boston on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated rape, confessing to the brutal killing of a woman named Susan Marcia Rose in 1979, in what would later be referred to as the “Back Bay Murder” case.
John Michael Irmer, aged 68, entered an FBI field office located in Oregon and openly admitted to a heinous Back Bay murder that transpired more than four decades ago.
According to an article published by Fox News, a 68-year-old man named John Michael Irmer walked into an FBI field office in Oregon and confessed to a gruesome murder that occurred over four decades ago in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Irmer was arraigned in Boston on charges of first-degree Back Bay murder and aggravated rape after he admitted to bludgeoning a woman named Susan Marcia Rose to death in 1979.
He claimed to have met Rose, who had red hair, at a skating rink just before Halloween, and they walked around Back Bay before entering an apartment building under renovation. Irmer confessed to the Back Bay murder by striking Rose on the head with a hammer, killing her, and then raping her before fleeing to New York the following day.
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The Back Bay murder sent shockwaves through the community, leaving a haunting legacy that spanned decades.
According to an article published by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, what makes this Back Bay murder case particularly intriguing is that another man had been arrested and charged with the Back Bay murder back in 1979 but was acquitted in 1981. It wasn’t until Irmer’s recent confession that the truth came to light. Irmer had been a free man for a decade after serving 30 years in prison for another homicide in California.
DNA evidence further corroborated Irmer’s confession, matching samples preserved from the Back Bay murder scene. Susan Marcia Rose’s family and friends, who had been waiting for answers for nearly 44 years, finally received some closure.
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden characterized the Back Bay murder as brutal and cold-blooded, exacerbated by the fact that an innocent person had been charged and tried for the Back Bay murder crime while the true perpetrator remained silent until now. Irmer was ordered held without bail until his next court appearance on October 17.