Never in a million years did authorities believe the answers they’d been searching for after decades in relation to a cold case would just walk right through the front door. However, that just happened after 68-year-old Oregon resident John Michael Irmer stepped into an FBI office and confessed to the 1979 murder of Susan Marcia Rose.
Rose, who was 24 at the time, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer inside an abandoned building in Boston the night before Halloween.
68 year old John Irmer of Portland, Oregon arraigned today for 1979 murder of Susan Marcia Rose in a Beacon St townhouse.
Irmer allegedly confessed to FBI and @bostonpolice in August. Authorities say DNA collected at scene is match.
More @boston25 5/6PM @NEunsolved #TrueCrime pic.twitter.com/3qEbsXIBq6— Bob Ward Boston 25 (@Bward3) September 11, 2023
John Michael Irmer walked into an FBI office in Portland last month and told agents he wanted to confess to several murders – one among them being the murder of Susan Marcia Rose.
He couldn’t remember her name but described details accurately.
As per his confession, he had met Rose at an ice rink and taken her inside the building for ‘exploring’ followed by rape and killing her with a hammer.
The DNA evidence corroborated his confession leading to his arrest without bail.
The investigators are still probing if there were other victims besides Susan Marcia Rose as Irmer had previously served 30 years in prison for another murder in California.
In 1983, he was convicted of armed robbery and murder involving a drug dealer killed with a hammer and firearm.
After ten years as a free man, it seems like he walked into the FBI office out of guilt or some kind of conscience stirring up from within him that made him confess about this heinous crime after 44 long years.
John Michael Irmer, 68, hid behind a wall while he was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court today for murder and aggravated rape in the October 30, 1979 death of Susan Marcia Rose, 24. According to Suffolk DA, last month Irmer went to the FBI office in Portland, OR and confessed. pic.twitter.com/7KspQhvDlz
— Bianca Beltrán (@BiancaNBCBoston) September 11, 2023
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R Hayden said: ‘Nearly 44 years after losing her at such a young age, the family and friends of Susan Marcia Rose will finally have some answers’.
He further added that 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.’
John Micheal Irener will be returning to court on October 17th following his arraignment where he hid from news cameras standing behind a wall.
