Jamaica Plain man held without bail on 1997 murder charge
BOSTON, December 17, 2025 – A Jamaica Plain man stabbed a woman 37 times in 1997 before fleeing her Mattapan apartment and leaving blood stains on her doorframe and DNA under her fingernails, which provided investigators evidence to charge him with murder 28 years later, a prosecutor said in court today.
BRIAN KEAZER, 50, appeared in Suffolk Superior Court today after being indicted and arrested yesterday for the October 17, 1997 murder of Ruth Foster, 56, at Foster’s 47 Withington Street apartment in Mattapan. Keazer pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. He will return to court January 8 for a pre-trial conference.
Assistant District Attorney John Verner said investigators found Foster’s front door broken toward the outside, leaving glass and blood on her front steps. Investigators also found blood on the door frame, Verner said.
Five people, including Foster’s brother and son and three acquaintances, provided blood samples during the initial investigation and all were eliminated as suspects.
In recent years the Boston Police unsolved homicides squad along with prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office developed information on Keazer as a possible suspect. Investigators placed Keazer under surveillance and saw him spit on the sidewalk from his parked car, recorded on video. Investigators collected the spit and submitted it for DNA testing. The DNA profile matched the blood found at Foster’s apartment, Verner said.
Hayden called the investigation and arrest a “testament to advanced forensics and unrelenting investigative work.”
“Brian Keazer may have thought he’d never be made to answer for this horrible act of violence. He thought wrong. We and Boston Police never gave up on justice for Ruth Foster, nor do we on any other unsolved homicide. Unsolved homicides are never considered unsolvable homicides,” Hayden said.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Our office handles more than 20,000 cases a year. Nearly 160 assistant district attorneys practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Boston and Chelsea Juvenile Courts and the Supreme Judicial Court. Our office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs for anyone encountering the criminal justice system. We are committed to educating the public about our mission and services while focusing on crime prevention to keep the residents, workers and visitors of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications