Latest news with #Tignor
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Suspect cuts plea deal in cold case killing of NJ woman in 1997
A Canadian man accused in the cold case killing of a New Jersey woman took a plea deal on Monday, admitting to the killing in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence. Robert Creter, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday. He told police he strangled Tamara 'Tammy' Tignor to death with his bare hands. Creter was initially charged with murder in the death of Tignor, who was 23 years old when she was found dead in Bridgewater Township on Nov. 4, 1997. Tignor's body was found on a dirt access road by a local resident. She had been living in Newark, about 20 miles east of where she was found dead. The case went cold for decades, until DNA found at the scene was retested in 2023. Cops said the DNA matched Creter, who was born in Canada and moved back to his native country in 2002. He was living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when cops identified him as a suspect. Eyewitnesses in 1997 said Tignor was last seen alive stepping into an orange van on the streets of Newark. Investigators said Creter had access to such a van. Creter was first charged in May 2023, and following the diplomatic process, he was finally arrested in June 2024 and extradited to the U.S. in November. Creter's sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 11. Under the terms of the plea deal, he must serve at least 8.5 years without parole.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Manitoba man pleads guilty in U.S. killing of woman 27 years ago
A Manitoba man has admitted he strangled a woman in New Jersey in the late '90s, putting an end to a homicide case that had remained unsolved for decades in the U.S. Robert Creter pleaded guilty Monday in the death of Tamara "Tammy" Tignor from Newark, N.J., Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday. The 61-year-old was extradited to New Jersey from Winnipeg in November after being charged with first-degree murder in connection to the decades-old cold case. A news release issued by the prosecutor's office Tuesday said Creter admitted to strangling Tignor with his bare hands in the Township of Bridgewater on the afternoon of Nov. 4, 1997. The 23-year-old woman's body was found on a dirt access road near Washington Valley Park later that day. DNA collected from the remains linked Creter to her killing in 2023, after more advanced testing was used. Prosecutors said the man — a Canadian citizen who was working as a day labourer in Bridgewater when Tignor's body was found — moved to Manitoba in 2002 and remained there until his extradition. Creter had been homeless in Winnipeg in the months leading to his arrest last June. The man pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors have agreed to a 10-year prison sentence, with 85 per cent of that sentence to be served without parole, the release said. Sentencing has been set for July 11.
