Suspect in custody for 1987 Boston cold case murder

BOSTON — A man suspected of killing a teenager in 1987 was indicted Monday, allowing her family to begin healing nearly three decades later.

Dora Brimage was 19 years old when she accepted a ride home from a party and was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled to death. Her body was found in a vacant building in Roxbury.

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"I ran all the way home, and when I got there, it was like they found Dora, and I just broke down into pieces," said the victim's sister, Angie Brimage, who was 16 at the time. "When that happened to her, it was just like a big piece of me went away with her."

The Brimage family thought of Dora every day, but, over the years, they began to think police had forgotten about her.

Then, in 2014, unknown DNA from Brimage's body was entered into a national DNA database. The results focused on James Paige, 50, of Manchester, New Hampshire. Paige had been serving time in the Hillsboro House of Correction for an unrelated case.

Through the evidence and interviews, police identified Paige as their suspect.

"This right here is a big break and a relief for my whole family, because we've been carrying this thing over our head like, 'Who did it?'" Angie Brimage said. "We've been waiting for this day. It's been like 30 years, and I just thank god I'm here to see it."

Cox Media Group