Cold Case: Police Arrest Suspect Nearly 30 Years After Murder, Sexual Assault

Boston, MA - Dora Jean Brimage was last seen alive leaving a Prentiss Street party. She was found the next morning on the floor of a vacant Grove Hall storefront, apparently strangled to death, severely beaten and sexually assaulted.

For nearly 30 years, the case went cold. Now, Boston Police believe they have found her killer.

The Suffolk County Grand Jury on Monday returned an indictment charging James Paige with first-degree murder in Brimage's homicide.

Paige, a 50-year-old resident of Manchester, New Hampshire, is currently in custody at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, where Massachusetts police have lodged a warrant. Paige was arrested June 23 on a probation violation, Manchester police said.

(Photo courtesy City of Manchester Police Department)

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, evidence suggests Brimage accepted a ride from Paige when she left the party, and that she was taken to the vacant building at 655 Warren St. where she was later found dead and partially unclothed.

The Cold Case Squad recently submitted DNA evidence recovered at the time for testing. The DNA identification matched with Paige in 2014.

"After numerous re-interviews by the Cold Case Squad and an exhaustive grand jury investigation by Assistant DA Craig Iannini of our Homicide Unit, we are in a position now to bring our case to court and seek a first-degree murder conviction," Conley said.

He noted, "DNA alone is not enough to prove the elements of murder beyond a reasonable doubt." Conley credited the work of Boston Police Sgt. Det. Billy Doogan and Detectives Jack Cronin, Kevin Pumphret and the DA's prosecutors in gathering interviews and additional details to build the case.

"When the evidence exists, we follow it wherever it leads – no matter how many years it might take or how many miles we must travel," Conley said.

Brimage, born and raised in Boston, was active in church and in high school athletics. According to the DA's office, she had planned to pursue a career in nursing.

According to the DA's office, Brimage's murder adds to 17 cold cases in the past seven years, in which police have identified suspects.

A blistering 2014 report by The Boston Herald found the city had a backlog of more than 900 unsolved murder cases since 1970. Those cases fell disproportionately on three neighborhoods - Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester - and black males comprised the majority of the victims.

>> Photo via Suffolk County District Attorney's Office