Bridgewater Cold Case Strangulation Murder At Washington Valley Park Solved 27 Years Later

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A 27-year-old cold case strangulation murder at Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater was solved with the help of new technology to analyze DNA evidence gathered from the crime scene in 1997.

"Tammy Tignor is the victim here. She was 23 years old when she was killed. It has been 27 years, as I said, 9,885 days since her body was found. And I want to thank our office, Bridgewater, and all the law enforcement agencies who worked this case because they never gave up. They never gave up in their relentless pursuit for justice," said Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Michael McLaughlin at a news conference on Monday.

On Nov. 4, 1997 at around 4:38 p.m. a Bridgewater resident called 911 to report finding a dead woman's body on a dirt access road that ended in a cul-de-sac off Gillbride Road near Washington Valley Park.

The woman was identified as Tamara "Tammy" Tignor, 23, of Newark, who grew up in the Somerset County area.

Authorities said the last person to see Tignor alive was when she got into an orange van in Newark. It is unclear why Tignor was in Newark at the time.

DNA evidence gathered from on Tignor's body was re-examined by members of the New Jersey Police Laboratory's Office of Forensic Science. And on April 6, 2023, a high stringency match was linked to Robert A. Creter, 60, of Winnipeg, Canada.

It is unclear what relationship Tignor and Creter had or if they had known each other before the murder. Creter had lived in the Middlesex/Somerset County area at the time of the murder before relocating to Winnipeg, Canada in 2002, said McLaughlin.

Creter was charged with first-degree murder and he was taken into custody by Canadian authorities on June 27. On Nov. 26, Creter was extradited to the United States.

McLaughlin called the murder purposeful, "Mr. Creter, his purpose was to kill Tammy and he knew he was going to kill her."

Bridgewater Police Chief John Mitzak had just started working as a Patrolman in June 1997 and was among the first responders at Tignor's crime scene.

"I was a Patrolman and I was in charge of the crime scene. And once the medical examiner did their work at the scene, I had to follow [Tignor] down to the ward as a chain of evidence. That was my role," said Mitzak.

Mitzak told Patch it was "awesome" to be able to see this case from beginning to the end when it was solved.

"If you think about when she was killed, there was really no cell phones, license plate readers, cameras in and around like there is today," said New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan. "And all those advances in technology do not replace the passion that the women and men on this case had for this, and that initial response, and how phenomenal those crime scene investigators were, how it was knocking on doors, it was talking to people in the park. It was all of those things that pointed to just a pure dedication to finding the killer in this case."

A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday for Creter.

There are eight other cold cases in Somerset County that authorities are still looking to solve.

"We continue to actively look at those. I have looked at files for those other cold cases within the past few months," said McLaughlin. "This is an exciting time, right? There are DNA advancements, and it allows us to do things we were never able to do that work."

Anyone with information relating to the homicide is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office at 908-231-7100 or the Bridgewater Townshi Police Department at 908-722-4111 or via the STOPit app. The STOPit app allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos. STOPit can be downloaded to your smartphone for free at the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, access code: SOMERSETNJ.

Information can also be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports and Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.

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