A man who confessed to a 46-year-old Back Bay murder has pleaded guilty to the horrific cold case.

John Irmer, 71, entered a guilty plea for first-degree murder, which comes with a mandatory life sentence, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.

Irmer walked into an FBI office in Portland, Oregon, in 2023 to confess to killing a red-haired woman he’d met around Halloween in 1979 at a skating rink in Boston.

According to the DA’s office, Irmer told the FBI that after the meeting he’d walked into an apartment on Beacon Street that was under renovation with the victim, who turned out to be 24-year-old Susan Rose. Once inside, he said picked up a hammer, hit Rose on the head with it, killing her, then raped her. The next day, Oct. 30, Irmer said he left the state the next day for New York, while a construction crew found Rose’s body and a lot of blood.

Rose had been planning on dressing as “Dracula’s helper” for Halloween, borrowing a cape from a friend that she was wearing at the time of her death, according to a Herald article published the day after she was found.

A Boston Police detective described the killing as one of the most “vicious” he’d ever seen, telling Herald reporters whoever did it was a “real psycho.”

Another man had been tried for Rose’s murder a few months after the crime took place and was acquitted. In 2005, police reexamined evidence in the case and made a DNA profile from sperm found on a broom at the crime scene. Investigators found the DNA could not have been from the defendant in the first trial, the DA’s office said.

The FBI in Oregon reached out to Boston Police, who flew detectives across the country to interview Irmer. He told them that after becoming sober and finding religion during a prison stint in California for another killing, he felt he needed to confess to Rose’s murder.

During the interview, Irmer told police detailed information about Rose’s killing and confessed to another murder that took place in the South. According to the DA, investigators are also investigating that case.

In court Monday, Rose’s sister gave what the DA called an “emotional” impact statement, holding a photo of Rose when she was a first-grader.

Rose’s sister said she went by the nickname “Susie,” and was “caring, intelligent, adventuresome, and curious.”

“Now we know that my sister’s life was taken by John Irmer, but he also ruined the lives of my parents and me,” she said.

“The answers for Susan Rose’s sister and friends finally came today, though after a very long and sad period of time,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “I hope other families affected by John Irmer’s murderous behavior find similar answers.”

In April, two babies were relinquished at Connecticut hospitals under the state’s Safe Havens Act, according to the state Department of Children and Families. The babies were surrendered to Yale New Haven Hospital and Connecticut Children’s at the University of Connecticut Health Center, DCF said. 

The Safe Havens Act, which was enacted 25 years ago, allows a parent to give up their infant to hospital emergency room staff anonymously and without the threat of prosecution. DCF then places the baby in a preapproved adoptive home.

At a Wednesday press conference, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the Safe Havens Act has had “an incredible impact” and called it “life-saving.” 

“Those women who find themselves in a situation where they deliver a baby and they cannot or they do not want to raise that baby, they may feel incredibly isolated and challenged and judged, and they may feel they have nowhere to turn,” Bysiewicz said.

Under the law, a baby may be surrendered at a designated location by a parent, relative or advocate for the child, and the parent has 30 days to change their mind and begin working with DCF to see if reunification is possible. There are 37 medical centers in Connecticut — 25 of them hospitals — that allow babies to be surrendered 24 hours a day.

Pam Sawyer, a former state representative who spearheaded the law’s passage, said she intended it to be “so simple it could be shared in the school bus.”

But two babies relinquished in the same month — though these are the only two babies relinquished so far this year — marks a spike from the usual trend. Since the law went into effect, a total of 60 babies have been relinquished. And in 2025, just one baby was surrendered the whole year. 

Co-chair of the General Assembly’s Committee on Children, Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, outlined a number of issues that could lead a parent to give up their baby, such as inadequate housing or financial instability. 

The Committee on Children advanced a bill this session that would establish a task force to study the voluntary surrender of infants — including considerations for the best way to provide such a program without perpetuating “racial, ethnic, health, economic and socioeconomic disparities” among parents looking to surrender.

The bill passed the state Senate on April 15 and awaits a vote in the House.

Some lawmakers and advocates have suggested adding another option for parents considering giving up a baby — temperature-controlled chambers known as “baby boxes” that are installed within the exterior walls of a surrender location to allow parents to relinquish the infant anonymously.

Once a baby is left in the box device, alerts are sent to staff and to 911 dispatch centers. The boxes are designed with bassinets, and equipped with electricity, air conditioning and heating, but they’re not federally regulated. Lori Bruce, a researcher and bioethicist at Yale University, pointed this out during her testimony at a public hearing on the legislation Feb. 17.

“Even our hairdryers, even tongue depressors, all sorts of much more basic tools require regulation,” Bruce said. 

The boxes are intended to be anonymous, but that’s not always possible when they are installed at places like firehouses, which have cameras all around the building. 

Bruce said the boxes also remove the opportunity for any face-to-face interaction between the parent and a public service worker who might offer access to resources like crisis counseling — or simply ask if they are okay.

Baby boxes have been installed in 20 states so far, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes.

Sawyer said she is in favor of the baby boxes, but only after more research.

“I love the idea, but I don’t know that they’re quite there yet,” she said. “My view still is that it’s advocacy and teaching” that will help those who need the Safe Havens Act the most.