By: Richard L. Smith
A nearly three-decade-old homicide case has finally reached a conclusion with the sentencing of Robert Creter, whose DNA linked him to the 1997 killing of Tamara “Tammy” Tignor in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
On July 23, Superior Court Judge Angela Borkowski sentenced Creter to ten years in New Jersey State Prison.
Under the No Early Release Act, he must serve 85% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. 
Creter, who was initially charged with first-degree murder, later accepted a plea deal and was convicted of first-degree aggravated manslaughter.
According to a statement from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, the case went unsolved for 27 years despite early leads.
Tignor was last seen on November 4, 1997, entering an orange van in Newark. Her body was later discovered in Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater.
For years, investigators were unable to identify a suspect. But in February 2023, authorities resubmitted DNA evidence for advanced testing.
Two months later, a match was found, Creter’s DNA was recovered from beneath the victim’s fingernails. At the time of the crime, Creter had been employed by a moving company in Bridgewater that operated orange vans, matching witness accounts from 1997.
An arrest warrant was issued in May 2023. Creter was apprehended in Winnipeg, Canada, on June 27, 2024. Upon his arrest, he reportedly told authorities, “I have had nightmares about this day happening for almost thirty years.”
He was extradited back to the United States on November 26, 2024, after a lengthy legal process.
Assistant Prosecutors Michael McLaughlin and Lorina Murphy led the case, with litigation support from Paralegal Amy Vandergoot.
The conviction represents a major breakthrough for investigators who never gave up on solving the case—and for a family that waited decades for justice.