A 15 yr old boy is found raped and strangled to death In the late summer of 1973, the Teta family had recently settled into a new home on Suffolk Avenue in Revere, Massachusetts, after moving from Boston. Their 15-year-old son, James M. Teta, a white male, was starting a new chapter and had just gotten a job at a local restaurant. But this period of new beginnings was shattered by his sudden and violent death.
On the morning of Thursday, August 23, 1973, James left his house around 11:30 a.m. with plans to hitchhike into Boston. He was last seen two hours later near the city's Government Center. When he didn't return, his family grew deeply concerned, reporting him missing. A search began, but it would end in the worst possible way.
Two days later, on Saturday, August 25, the teenager's body was discovered in a wooded area off a desolate stretch of Route 119 in the quiet town of Rindge, New Hampshire, more than an hour's drive from where he was last seen.
The discovery sent a wave of shock and horror through the small New England community. An autopsy revealed the brutal nature of James's final hours: his nude body showed he had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
For decades, the case grew cold, leaving James's family without answers and his killer without a name. The New Hampshire State Police took over the investigation, and in time, it was passed to their Cold Case Unit. Investigators pursued various leads over the years, but none led to an arrest. The case remained a painful, unsolved mystery, a file filled with questions and few answers.
Years later, a disturbing potential link emerged from an unlikely place. In 2001, investigators in Montana were examining the crimes of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a man with a long and horrifying history of kidnapping and sexually assaulting children. While searching Bar-Jonah's garage, they sprayed the walls with a phosphorous chemical, a technique used to reveal latent evidence. A single word materialized in bright green, possibly written in blood: "Tita." This discovery led authorities across the country to the cold case of James Teta. Bar-Jonah had lived in Massachusetts during the 1970s, placing him in the region at the time of the murder. He became a significant person of interest in James's death, as well as other unsolved child disappearances in New England.
Despite the chilling clue and the strong suspicions, investigators were never able to gather enough evidence to formally charge Nathaniel Bar-Jonah with the murder of James Teta. Bar-Jonah was convicted of other heinous crimes, including the kidnapping and sexual assault of several boys. He was sentenced to 130 years in prison for those offenses. In 2008, he died of a heart attack behind bars, taking any secrets he held about James's murder to his grave.
Fifty years after his death, the case of James Teta officially remains an unsolved homicide. The New Hampshire Department of Justice continues to list him among its cold cases, hoping that someone, somewhere, holds the key to finally closing this painful chapter. Authorities continue to ask for the public’s help. Anyone with information is urged to contact the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit. 
