Winnipeg man sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing woman in U.S.

Robert Allen Creter is shown in an undated police handout photo extracted from a portable file document. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Somerset County Prosecutor's Office (Mandatory Credit)

SOMERVILLE — A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he admitted to strangling a woman in New Jersey nearly three decades ago.

Robert Allen Creter pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the 1997 death of Tamara (Tammy) Tignor, whose body was found on a dirt road near Washington Valley Park.

Prosecutors had agreed to a 10-year prison sentence, with 85 per cent of it to be served without parole, in exchange for the guilty plea.

The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office says he was formally sentenced last week.

A break in the cold case came in 2023 when evidence was resubmitted for DNA testing and pointed to Creter, who had moved to Winnipeg in 2002.

A social media post from the prosecutor’s office says when Creter was arrested in Winnipeg in 2024, he said, “I have had nightmares about this day happening for almost 30 years.”

The office thanked the RCMP and law enforcement in the area for their help in the case.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.

The Canadian Press