(Image via abc7ny.com)
Volunteer Writer: Aliyah Santana
Email: asantana5@umassd.edu
The 1997 murder of Tamara “Tammy” Tignor, a 23-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, has remained an enduring mystery for over two decades. Tragically, Tammy had been dead longer than she had been alive, but after 27 years, justice has finally been served, and the family of the victim is beginning to receive the closure they have long awaited.
On November 4, 1997, Tignor’s lifeless body was discovered on a hiking trail off Gilbride Road near Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
She had been strangled, and the death was quickly ruled a homicide. The investigation into her death began with limited evidence. Despite efforts to uncover leads, investigators faced many challenges.
While Tignor had a known history of drug abuse, with visible track marks on her arms from heroin use, it remains unclear whether her drug addiction played any role in her tragic death.
Tignor had been living away from home at this time.
At the time of her death, Tammy was living away from home. Her family was unsure of her whereabouts in the final hours of her life, but it is believed she spent her last moment at the Newark soup kitchen, where she often went to shower and receive a meal. She was last seen entering an orange work van.
For days, investigators scoured the woods surrounding the hiking trails in search of anything but didn’t experience any luck. The DNA evidence collected from the victim’s body also provided no answers, and the case grew cold over time.
Her family had to suffer not only losing their daughter but also not knowing who did this to her, but they continued to walk free. Quickly, the case grew cold as time went on without any evidence.
On the anniversary of Tammy’s death, each year, her mother would call the police department searching for something new, but year after year, no new information came up.
In January of 2023, the DNA samples were reanalyzed due to an advancement in DNA technology that allowed the sample taken from the body to be amplified, allowing an accurate DNA profile to be created.
This led investigators to Robert A. Creter, a 60-year-old man now living in Canada.
Creter was born in Canada before he was adopted and moved to New Jersey. He moved back to Canada in the early 2000s, where he spent the next three decades.
It was confirmed that Creter held dual citizenship between the US and Canada. His criminal history in Canada includes three charges of assault, one disobey of the court order, and two probation breaches.
He had no permanent address in Canada at the time and is said to have been homeless for around nine months before his arrest.
The evidence against him led to charges of first-degree murder. After his arrest, Creter was extradited back to the United States, where he faced the justice he had long evaded. For the first time in 27 years, Tammy’s family could breathe with relief, knowing that the person responsible for her death would be held accountable.
Somerset County Prosecutor Mike Mclaughlin shared a deeply emotional moment when he called Tammy’s mother to deliver the arrest news.
He recalled, “It has been 27 years, 9,885 days since her body was found,” said McLaughlin. “I spoke with the victim’s mother. I told her that we had arrested the man who killed her daughter. It was incredibly emotional.”
Creter is now awaiting trial in a U.S. jail as he faces the consequences of his horrific actions. Tammy Tignor is finally receiving the justice she deserved so many years ago.