Boston, USA 1962-1964
In the early 1960s, the Massachusetts city of Boston was terrified by a series of murders of women by a killer nicknamed “The Boston Strangler”. Albert de Salvo was eventually arrested after killing 13 women. De Salvo pretended to be a workman and targeted women at home alone, gaining entry and then killing them by strangulation after sexually assaulting them.
DeSalvo was brought up in a terrible household. His father was a violent drunk, who frequently physically attacked his wife – he broke all of her teeth and even broke her fingers in front of Albert. In turn. Albert grew up a sadist, torturing animals and committing petty crimes. He was first arrested at the age of 12 for assault and robbery, and sent to a special school. He served a couple of sentences in the special school and also was kicked out of the military.
Anna Slesers 14 June 1962
55-year-old divorcee Slesers was found dead by her son on June 14th. She had been raped and strangled with a belt from her own housecoat, and left naked on the floor.
Mary Mullen 28 June 1962
Aged 85
Nina Nichols 30 June 1962
Aged 68
Helen Blake 30 June 1962
Aged 65. After this murder, police asked a psychological profile to describe the killer, and the profiler said they should look for a man who hated his mother (because at this point, the victims were all older women, a pattern that would change before the end of 1962)
Ida Irga 19 August 1962
Aged 75
Jane Sullivan 20 August 1962
Sophie Clark 5 December 1962
Aged 20
Patricia Bissette 31 December 1962
Aged 23
Mary Brown 9 March 1963
Aged 69
Beverley Samans 6 May 1963
Aged 23
Evelyn Corbin 8 September 1963
Aged 58
Joann Graff 23 November 1963
Aged 23
Mary Sullivan 4 January 1964
Aged 19. The last murder victim, she had been stripped and bound, then raped and strangled. The killer left a New Year’s card wedged between her toes.
ARREST AND TRIAL
After Mary Sullivan died, a new psychological profile by Dr James Brussel, was remarkably close to de Salvo: the profile said the killer was 30, average height but strong build, clean shaven and dark-haired, and possibly from a Spanish or Italian family.
On 27 October 1964, de Salvo posed as a detective to enter a victim’s apartment. He tied her to the bed and sexually assaulted her, but then told her he was sorry and left. She described her attacker and de Salvo was soon arrested for the assault. But he was not identified with the Boston Strangler at this point. He only confessed to the murders the following year, when he was being held in a secure hospital.
De Salvo’s confession showed knowledge of details of the killings that were not made public, so there was little doubt he knew about them, but there was no actual evidence of his involvement. His attorney made a plea bargain where deSalvo pleaded guilty to robbery and sexual offences that were nothing to do with the murders.
DeSalvo was sentenced to life imprisonment. At first he was sent to a secure hospital but he escaped with two other men, leaving a note to say that he was doing it to draw attention to the terrible conditions in the hospital. He gave himself up three days later, and was then sent to a high security prison. He died there in 1973 when he was stabbed in the heart. Another inmate was tried for the murder, but the jury could not agree and so he was not convicted. He later said de Salvo was killed because he was selling drugs without permission of the gang running the business in the prison.
DOUBTS
There had always been doubts about whether de Salvo was the Strangler, but in 2013, Boston Police revealed that DNA evidence proved he had murdered Mary Sullivan. However, the pattern of the Strangler murders did not match the usual pattern for a serial killer, where victims are usually similar, and methods consistent. Eight victims of the Boston Strangler were mostly over 55, but the other five (including Sullivan) were between 19 and 23. The victims were also from different ethnicities, again not a usual pattern for serial killers.
And the method of strangling was different between cases as well, and in confessing, de Salvo did not have all details correct.
De Salvo’s “confession” was to another inmate, George Nassar, but some have suggested that Nassar was the killer – a former prison psychologist who spoke to both men said that Nassar was a misogynistic psychopath, but Nassar denied any involvement and there is no evidence.