Oregon Man Walks Into FBI Office and Confesses to 1979 Boston Murder
After ‘finding Jesus,’ a Portland man has confessed to the rape and murder of a 24-year-old woman in Boston nearly five decades ago.
At the age of 71, John Michael Irmer now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison after confessing to the rape and murder of Susan Marcia Rose in 1979.
Construction workers found Rose’s bloodied and partially naked body in a building in the Back Bay neighborhood.
He Walked Into the Portland FBI Field Office and Confessed
In 2023, Irmer walked in and confessed to agents at the FBI field office in Portland. He said that he took Rose to a construction site, where he struck her on the head with a hammer and then raped her. Irmer said he left Boston the following day.
After his confession, a sample of Irmer’s DNA was found to be a match for a sample collected at the murder scene in 1979.
- Oct. 30 1979 – Susan Rose was found dead in Boston’s Back Bay.
- 1981 – Another defendant was tried and acquitted.
- August 2023 – Irmer confessed at the Portland FBI office.
- 2023 – DNA testing linked Irmer to preserved evidence.
- Apr. 29 2026 – Irmer pleaded guilty to first degree murder.
He Then Told the FBI He Had Committed Another Murder
After confessing to the Boston murder, Irmer told the FBI that he had murdered someone else in a southern state. That confession is now under investigation.
Irmer appeared in court in Boston on Wednesday, where he said that after a lifetime of crime, he ‘got sober’ and ‘found Jesus.’