Susan Marcia Rose. (Photo credit: Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
Decades after another man was tried, charged, and acquitted, John Michael Irmer was finally arraigned on Monday in Boston after allegedly admitting to authorities last month that it was he who hit Susan Marcia Rose over the head with a hammer, killing her just one night before Halloween more than 40 years ago.
Irmer, 68, was arraigned Monday morning at the Boston Municipal Court, a clerk confirmed with Law&Crime. He faces charges of murder and aggravated rape. Irmer confessed to agents at an FBI office in Portland, Oregon, last month, according to Massachusetts District Attorney Kevin Hayden.
Irmer told the FBI he saw Rose, then just 24, at a skating rink near Boston’s Back Bay – it was her red hair that stood out to him, he allegedly told police. He and Rose left the rink and Irmer said they then walked toward a nearby building on Beacon Street that was under renovation.
Authorities say Irmer confessed to striking Rose on the head with a hammer found inside the building and then raping her. There were multiple signs of blunt force trauma on the then 24-year-old woman’s head.
It is currently unclear what happened in the moments leading up to her death and the time she departed the rink with Irmer, but the window was reportedly very short. He also told authorities that after he killed Rose, he fled to New York. Police told Boston FOX affiliate WFXT that a DNA sample collected from the crime scene on Oct. 30, 1979, matched DNA taken from Irmer more recently.
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At the time of her death, in addition to the blunt force injuries found on her head, there were multiple lacerations to her brain.
“Nearly 44 years after losing her at such a young age, the family and friends of Susan Marcia Rose will finally have some answers. 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,” Hayden said Monday.
The district attorney continued: “No matter how cold cases get resolved, it’s always the answers that are important for those who have lived with grief and loss and so many agonizing questions.”
Bail was not granted for Irmer on Monday.
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