Francis J. Jordan

The summer of 1965 was a tense time in Boston, a city gripped by a fear that had been building for three years. The string of murders attributed to the Boston Strangler had left residents on edge, wary of strangers and headlines. It was against this backdrop of city-wide anxiety that another life was violently taken, a case that has remained unsolved for decades. In the quiet, academic neighborhood of Brighton, 59-year-old Francis J. Jordan, a male, was killed, his case now a brief entry on a long list of cold cases.

The address of the crime, 127 Lake Street, was and still is the location of Saint John's Seminary. An imposing and historic institution, the seminary was established in the 1880s to train young men for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. Its stone buildings and landscaped grounds created a peaceful enclave set back from the city's bustle, a place of study and worship. It was here, on Friday, July 16, 1965, that the Boston Police Department was called to the scene of a brutal assault.

Officers arriving at the seminary found Francis J. Jordan deceased. The official report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner would later rule his death a homicide, the result of trauma and assault and battery. The stark clinical language does little to capture the violence of his final moments or the questions that would arise in their wake. Who would commit such an act within the secluded grounds of a seminary, and why was Francis Jordan the target? The police investigation began, but information about its progress was not publicly available.

Decades have passed with no announced suspects or arrests, leaving a void where a story of justice should be. Details about Francis Jordan’s life are scarce. Public records from earlier in the 20th century suggest a man named Francis J. Jordan served with the Boston Fire Department. A 1908 city employee list includes a Francis J. Jordan working as a hoseman, and newspaper archives from 1920 mention a fireman by the same name. It is possible this was the same man who, in his later years, found himself the victim of a senseless crime, his life of service ending in violence. Without confirmation, however, his personal history remains largely unknown. We do not know if he had a wife or children waiting for him to come home, or what his dreams and daily routines were.

The investigation into the murder of Francis J. Jordan was handled by the Boston Police Department Homicide Unit. In 1965, forensic science was a world away from the DNA testing and digital evidence that solve cases today. Detectives relied on witness interviews, physical evidence processed with the tools of the time, and intuition. Whatever evidence was collected at the scene and whatever leads were pursued have not been enough to close the case.

As of November 2026, the murder of Francis J. Jordan is still officially listed as an unsolved homicide by the Boston Police Department. It is one of many cases from that era that have grown cold, the memories of the events fading with the passage of time. There are no public memorials or anniversary vigils mentioned in available records. For the family and friends who mourned him, the lack of answers is a burden carried for more than half a century. The police continue to list the case, a silent appeal for anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward.

The Boston Police Department asks anyone with information to contact the BPD Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470. For those who wish to remain anonymous, tips can be submitted through the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-494-TIPS.