An arrest has been made in the cold case murder of a New Jersey woman who was killed and dumped in a park nearly 30 years ago, authorities announced Monday.
Tamara “Tammy” Tignor was 23 years old when she was killed. Her body was found on Nov. 4, 1997, near Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater Township, about 35 miles southwest of Central Park.
Robert Creter, a 60-year-old man from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was arrested earlier this year and charged with killing Tignor, the Somerset County prosecutor’s office announced Monday. Creter arrived in New Jersey on Nov. 26 after being extradited from Canada.
“The arrest of a suspect in this decades-old case is a testament to the unwavering dedication of law enforcement to seek justice, no matter how much time has passed,” said New Jersey State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan.
Tignor was last spotted in Newark, N.J., getting into an orange van, according to police. Investigators believe Creter picked her up in the van, sexually assaulted her and then strangled her to death before dumping her body in the park.
At the time of the murder, Creter was a 33-year-old man living in the North Jersey area, cops said.
Creter, who was born in Canada, moved back to the country in 2002, according to investigators. DNA technology advances allowed cops to identify him as a suspect in January 2023. He was charged in May 2023, arrested in Canada in June 2024 and extradited to the U.S. last week.