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Albert DeSalvo – The Boston Strangler
The Boston Strangler operated in the Boston, Mass. area during a two-year span in the early 1960s. The “Silk Stocking Murders” is another epithet given to the same series of crimes. Though Albert DeSalvo confessed to the murders, many experts and investigators have doubts as to his involvement in the crimes.
POLITE WARNING……. THIS PAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGE OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS
ABOVE IS ARE A FEW IMAGES OF A HAND MADE NECKLACE MADE BY ALBERT De SALVO , THE BOSTON STRANGLER WHILST IN WALPOLE PRISON, USA AND NOW ON PERMANENT DISPLAY AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL ALONG WITH OTHER HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED LETTERS ETC.
The Boston Strangler is a name attributed to the murderer (or murderers) of several women in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the early 1960s. Though the crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo after his confession to the murders was revealed in court during a separate case,[1]parties investigating the stranglings have since suggested the murders (sometimes known as the silk stocking murders) were not committed by one person.
The initial sobriquet for the perpetrator or perpetrators of the crimes was “The Mad Strangler of Boston”[2] The July 8, 1962 edition of the Sunday Herald, in an article entitled “Mad Strangler Kills Four Women in Boston,” declared in its opening paragraph, “A mad strangler is loose in Boston.”[3]The killer (or killers) also was known initially as “The Phantom Fiend”[4] or “The Phantom Strangler”[5] due to the uncanny ability of the perpetrator (or perpetrators) to get women to allow him into their apartments. By the time DeSalvo’s confession was aired in open court, the name “The Boston Strangler” had become part of crime lore.
Victims
[edit]First Stage (1962)
- Anna E. Slesers, 55, sexually molested with unknown object and strangled with the cord on her bathrobe; found on June 14, 1962 in the third-floor apartment at 77 Gainsborough St., Back Bay (source: Boston Globe Archives)
- Mary Mullen, 85, died from a heart attack, but in the confession was said to have collapsed as the strangler grabbed her; found on June 28, 1962
- Nina Nichols, 68, sexually molested and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on June 30, 1962
- Paula Lepro, 57, sexually molested with a table paddle and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on June 22, 1962 in her apartment in Stoughton, Mass.
- Helen Blake, 65, sexually molested and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on June 30, 1962 in her apartment at 73 Newhall Street, Lynn, Mass.
- Ida Irga, 75, sexually molested and strangled; found on August 21, 1962 at 7 Grove Street in Boston
- Jane Sullivan, 67, sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on August 30, 1962 at 435 Columbia Road, Dorchester
[edit]Second Stage (1962-1964)
- Sophie Clark, 20, sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on December 5, 1962, Boston Back Bay
- Patricia Bissette, 23, sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on December 31, 1962, Boston Back Bay
- Mary Brown, 69, stabbed, strangled and beaten, found on March 9, 1963 in Lawrence, Mass.
- Beverly Samans, 23, stabbed to death on May 8, 1963 at 4 University Road in Cambridge, Mass.
- Evelyn Corbin, 58, sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings; found on September 6, 1963 in Salem, Mass.
- Joann Graff, 23, sexually assaulted and strangled on November 23, 1963 in Lawrence, Mass.
- Mary Sullivan, 19, sexually assaulted and strangled with dark stockings; found on January 4, 1964
Albert DeSalvo
| Albert DeSalvo | |
|---|---|
 DeSalvo after escaping Bridgewater State Hospital and being caught in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1967. |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Albert Henry DeSalvo |
| Also known as | The Boston Strangler The Measuring Man The Green Man |
| Born | September 3, 1931 Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | November 25, 1973(aged 42) |
| Cause of death | stabbed to death |
| Sentence | Life imprisonment |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims | 13 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Massachusetts |
| Date apprehended | October 27, 1964 |
Albert Henry DeSalvo (September 3, 1931 – November 25, 1973) was a criminal in Boston, Massachusetts who confessed to being the “Boston Strangler“, the murderer of 13 women in the Boston area. DeSalvo was not imprisoned for these murders, however, but for a series of rapes. His murder confession has been disputed, and debate continues regarding which crimes DeSalvo actually committed.
DeSalvo was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts to Frank and Charlotte DeSalvo. His father was of Italian ancestry and his mother was of Irish ancestry. His father was a violent alcoholic who at one point beat all of his wife’s teeth out and bent her fingers back until they broke. He also forced his children to watch him have sex with prostitutes he brought home. DeSalvo tortured animals as a child and began shoplifting and stealing in early adolescence, frequently crossing paths with the law.[edit]Early life
In November 1943, the 12-year-old DeSalvo was first arrested for battery and robbery. In December of the same year he was sent to the Lyman School for Boys. In October 1944, he was paroled and started working as a delivery boy. In August 1946, he returned to the Lyman School for stealing an automobile. After completing his second sentence, DeSalvo joined the Army. He was honorably discharged after his first tour of duty. He re-enlisted and, in spite of being tried in a court-martial, DeSalvo was again honorably discharged.
[edit]Strangler murders
Between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964, 13 single women between the ages of 19 and 85 were murdered in the Boston area; they were eventually tied to the Boston Strangler. Most of the women were sexually assaulted in their apartments, and then strangled with articles of clothing. The eldest victim died of a heart attack. Two others were stabbed to death, one of whom was also badly beaten. Without any sign of forced entry into their dwellings, the women were assumed to have either known their killer or voluntarily allowed him into their homes.
Gainsborough Street site of the first murder attributed to The Boston Strangler
The police were not convinced all of these murders were the work of a single individual, especially because of the wide gap in the victims’ ages; much of the public believed the crimes were committed by one person, however.
On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman’s home in East Cambridge posing as a detective. He tied his victim to her bed, proceeded to sexually assault her, and suddenly left, saying “I’m sorry” as he went. The woman’s description led police to identify the assailant as DeSalvo and when his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier on October 27, DeSalvo had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future BrocktonPolice Chief Richard Sproles, became suspicious and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo.
DeSalvo was not initially suspected of being involved with the murders. Only after he was charged with rape did he give a detailed confession of his activities as the Boston Strangler under hypnosis induced by William Joseph Bryan and sessions not induced by hypnosis with Assistant Attorney General John Bottomly. He initially confessed to fellow inmate George Nassar; he then reported to his attorney F. Lee Bailey, who took on DeSalvo’s case. Though there were some inconsistencies, DeSalvo was able to cite details which had not been made public. However, there was no physical evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offenses. Bailey brought up the confession to the murders as part of his client’s history at the trial as part of an insanity defense, but it was ruled as inadmissible by the judge.
The motive for DeSalvo confessing to the crimes remains the same whether he actually committed them or not. He believed that he would be spending the rest of his life in jail for the Green Man attacks and wanted to use the confession to raise money to support his wife and children. Plus, to a braggart like DeSalvo, being the notorious Boston Strangler would make him world famous. Dr. Robey testified that “Albert so badly wanted to be the Strangler.”[1]
For the 1967 trial, DeSalvo was mentally evaluated by Dr. Harry Kozol, also of Eugene O’Neill and Patty Hearst fame.[2]
Bailey engaged a plea bargain to lock in his client’s guilt in exchange for the lack of a death penalty and a desire for an eventual insanity verdict.[3] With the jury decision of life in prison, Bailey was very angry: “My goal was to see the Strangler wind up in a hospital, where doctors could try to find out what made him kill. Society is deprived of a study that might help deter other mass killers who lived among us, waiting for the trigger to go off inside them.”[4]
[edit]Imprisonment and death
DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. In February of that year, he escaped with two fellow inmates from Bridgewater State Hospital, triggering a full scale manhunt. A note was found on his bunk addressed to the superintendent. In it, DeSalvo stated he had escaped to focus attention on the conditions in the hospital and his own situation. The day after the escape, he turned himself in to his lawyer in Lynn, Massachusetts.[5] Following the escape, he was transferred to the maximum security prison known at the time asWalpole where he was found murdered six years later in the infirmary. Robert Wilson, who was associated with the Winter Hill Gang was tried for the murder of DeSalvo, but the trial ended in a hung jury. No one was ever found guilty of the murder.
In 1971, the Texas legislature unanimously passed a resolution honoring DeSalvo in an April Fool’s Day joke made by Waco Representative Tom Moore, Jr.. Moore admitted to the joke–made to prove his colleagues were not putting due diligence into researching legislation they were passing–and withdrew the resolution.[6]
[edit]Controversy
Lingering doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. At the time he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the crimes. It was also noted the women allegedly killed by “The Strangler” were of widely varying ages, social strata and ethnicities, and that there were different modi operandi.
Susan Kelly, an author who has had access to the files of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts‘ “Strangler Bureau”, argues the murders were the work of several killers rather than a single individual.[7] Another author, former FBI profiler Robert Ressler, said “You’re putting together so many different patterns [regarding the Boston Strangler murders] that it’s inconceivable behaviorally that all these could fit one individual.”[8]
In 2000, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, an attorney specializing in forensic cases based in Marblehead, Massachusetts, represented the DeSalvo family and the family of Mary A. Sullivan. Sullivan was publicized as being the final victim in 1964, although other murders occurred after that date. Former print journalist Whitfield Sharp assisted the families in their media campaign to clear DeSalvo’s name, to assist in organizing and arranging the exhumations of Mary A. Sullivan and Albert H. DeSalvo, in filing various lawsuits in attempts to obtain information and trace evidence (e.g., DNA) from the government, and to work with various producers to create documentaries to explain the facts to the public. Whitfield Sharp pointed out various inconsistencies between DeSalvo’s confessions and the crime scene information (which she obtained). For example, Whitfield Sharp observed, contrary to DeSalvo’s confession to Sullivan’s murder, there was no semen in her vaginaand she was not strangled manually, but by ligature. Forensic pathologist Michael Baden observed DeSalvo also got the time of death wrong — a common inconsistency with several of the murders pointed out by Susan Kelly. Whitfield Sharp continues to work on the case for the DeSalvo family.[9]
In the case of Mary Sullivan, murdered January 4, 1964 at age 19, DNA and other forensic evidence — and leads from Kelly’s book — were used by the victim’s nephew Casey Sherman to try to determine her killer’s identity. Sherman wrote about this in his book A Rose for Mary (2003) and stated DeSalvo was not responsible for her death. For example, DeSalvo confessed to sexually penetrating Sullivan, yet the forensic investigation revealed no evidence of sexual activity. There are also suggestions from DeSalvo himself he was covering up for another man.[citation needed]
The results of a 2001 forensic investigation has cast doubts over whether DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler. The investigation raised the possibility the real murderer could still be at large. The investigation revealed DNA evidence found on Sullivan does not match DeSalvo. James Starrs, professor of forensic science at George Washington University, told a news conference DNA evidence could not associate DeSalvo with the murder. Sullivan’s and DeSalvo’s bodies were exhumed as part of the efforts by both their families to find out who was responsible for the murders. Professor Starrs said an examination of a semen-like substance on her body did not match DeSalvo’s DNA.[10]
George Nassar, the inmate DeSalvo reportedly confessed to, is among the suspects in the case.[11] He is currently serving a life sentence for the 1967 shooting death of an Andover, Massachusetts gas station attendant. In February 2008, the Massachuetts Supreme Judicial Court denied Nassar’s appeal of his 1967 conviction.[citation needed] Claudia Bolgen, Nassar’s attorney, said Nassar, 75 at the time, denied involvement in the murders.[citation needed] In 2006, Nassar argued in court filings he could not make his case in a previous appeal because he was in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas in the 1980s and therefore did not have access to Massachusetts legal materials.[citation needed] The court noted Nassar was back in Massachusetts in late 1983 and did not inquire about the case then or for more than two decades.[citation needed] Bolgen said she was disappointed in the decision, but said Nassar had a pending motion for a new trial inEssex County that she was confident would be granted.[citation needed]
Ames Robey, a former prison psychologist who analyzed both DeSalvo and Nassar, has said Nassar was a misogynistic, psychopathic killer who was a far more likely suspect than DeSalvo.[11]Some followers of the case said Nassar was the real strangler and fed DeSalvo details of the murders so DeSalvo could confess and gain notoriety or through Nassar get the reward money to help support DeSalvo’s family of wife and two children.[11] In a 1999 interview with The Boston Globe, Nassar denied involvement in the murders, but said the speculation killed any chance he had for parole. “I had nothing to do with it,” he said. “I’m convicted under the table, behind the scenes.”[citation needed]
Nassar had previously been convicted of the May 1948 murder of a shop owner. Nassar was sentenced to life in prison in that case, but through his friendship with a Unitarian minister he was paroled in early 1961, less than a year before the Boston Strangler murders were believed to have begun.[12]
As his name suggests, the serial killer known as Boston Strangler operated in Boston, Massachusetts area and murdered his victims by strangulation. He is believed to have murdered as many as 13 women, even though there are still many unanswered questions and guesses. It is possible that only (if you can really use that word) 11 women were actually murdered by the Boston Strangler. The killing started with strangulation of a 55 year old Anna Slesers on June 14, 1962 who was sexually molested by vaginal insertions of foreign objects and then strangled to death with her bathrobe cord. The last victim of Boston Strangler was murdered on January 4, 1964, which means he only operated for one and half year. Her name was Mary Sullivan – she was 19 year old and she is the woman in the crime scene photo above.
Mary Sullivan was found naked, bloodied with a broom inserted up her vagina. Boston Strangler left a Happy New Year card by her feet. She was strangled with her own stocking.
Is Albert DeSalvo Boston Strangler
One year after murder of Mary Sullivan a man named Albert DeSalvo came forth and confessed that he was the murderer known as Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo was a convicted rapist who was serving time at Bridgewater State Hospital. His confession remains questionable and many forensic specialists doubt that he was the real Boston Strangler. While he provided many accurate details regarding all Boston Strangler murders, there were also many serious inconsistencies. For example in case of above pictured Mary Sullivan, Albert DeSalvo confessed to raping her and strangling her manually. However forensic evidence proves that Mary Sullivan was strangled by ligature and there were no signs of sexual intercourse taking place anytime before or after she was strangled to death. Albert DeSalvo also got date of her murder wrong and there was no semen, nor other DNA evidence that would link him to this murder.
Albert DeSalvo died in 1973. He was murdered by fellow inmates at Walpole State Prison. The Boston Strangler case has never been officially closed and the more evidence is brought forth, the more it becomes doubtful that Albert DeSalvo committed any of the Boston Strangler murders. Now, half century later, it is possible we will never know who the real murderer responsible for atrocious killings of 13 women, including Mary Sullivan seen in photo above was.
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