Killing of Deanna Cremin

Deanna J. Cremin was a 17-year-old resident of Somerville, Massachusetts, who was found dead on the morning of March 30, 1995. A student at Somerville High School, she had worked at a local supermarket, volunteered at the city's cable access television station, and assisted third-grade students through her school's child development program.

On the night of March 29, 1995, Cremin followed her usual Wednesday routine, spending time with friends and visiting her boyfriend. Her curfew was 10 p.m., and when she had not returned home by midnight, her mother tried unsuccessfully to reach her by pager. Cremin's boyfriend, whom investigators considered the last person to see her alive, said he had walked her partway home before leaving her — a departure, according to her mother, from his usual practice of walking her all the way to her door.

Around 8 a.m. the following morning, two children whom Cremin had babysat discovered her body while taking a shortcut to school. She was found behind a senior housing complex a short distance from her home. An autopsy determined that she had been strangled, and investigators reported that she had also been sexually assaulted.

The case has remained unsolved for three decades, and no one has been charged. Over the years, investigators identified several persons of interest but did not bring charges against anyone. In 2005, Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley announced that new forensic evidence had been developed using techniques that were unavailable in 1995, though the disclosure did not lead to an arrest. In 2009, District Attorney Gerard Leone said he believed the case could be solved if witnesses came forward. By 2015, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan described the investigation as a continuing priority, with her office's chief of homicide and a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to it.

The Cremin family has publicized the case for decades, maintaining an annual billboard and supporting a reward that grew from $10,000 in 1995 to $70,000 by 2015 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution. Somerville has memorialized Cremin in several ways, including Deanna Cremin Square, dedicated in the summer of 1995 at the corner of Jaques and Temple streets, and the renaming of a local playground in her honor in 2016.

In March 2025, on the 30th anniversary of her death, family and friends held a prayer service at St. Ann's Church and walked to Deanna Cremin Square carrying purple balloons, observing a moment of silence of 30 seconds — one for each year since her death. Authorities have continued to ask anyone with information to come forward through a confidential tip line.