Canadian Man Charged in 1997 Cold Case Murder of New Jersey Woman

Advanced DNA testing led to the arrest and extradition of Robert Creter, accused of killing 23-year-old Tamara Tignor nearly three decades ago.

Tamara Tignor, a 23-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, was found strangled near Washington Valley Park in 1997, and the case remained unsolved for 27 years.
Robert Creter, a 60-year-old Canadian citizen who was living in Winnipeg, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to Tignor's death.
New DNA testing in January 2023 identified Creter as a suspect, using evidence resubmitted to the CODIS DNA database.
Creter, who lived in New Jersey at the time of the murder and moved to Canada in 2002, was arrested in Winnipeg in June 2024 and extradited to the U.S. in November 2024.
Tignor's family expressed gratitude for the arrest, with law enforcement emphasizing the role of advanced technology and persistent efforts in solving the case.