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People everywhere are still in doubt, Is the Strangler in prison, or roaming about?
DeSalvo

The Boston Strangler was a serial killer and serial rapist who was active in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1960s. Though a sex offender by the name of Albert DeSalvo claimed responsibility for the murders, which were also called "The Silk Stocking Murders", he was never convicted of them. He remains a major suspect for the murders, but there are doubts as to whether he was telling the truth.

Brief Case History[]

The first murder attributed to the Boston Strangler was committed on June 14, 1962. The victim was Anna E. Slesers, a 55-year-old seamstress. It was initially attributed to a suicide, but was then believed to have been the result of a botched robbery, even though several pieces of jewelry were found at the scene. Between that day and August 30, five more women were killed; the second, an 85-year-old, died of a heart attack while her attacker was trying to strangle her. All of those victims were middle-aged or elderly, the youngest being 55. The Strangler then appears to have stopped killing for a few months, returning on December 5. During this second round of murders, the victims were usually in their late teens or early 20s. At the last crime scene, that of Mary Sullivan on January 4, 1964, the killer left a Happy New Year card propped up against her left foot.

During the investigation, two psychics got involved with the task force in charge of the case, the "Strangler Bureau". The first, Paul Gordon, was an ad copywriter said to have ESP powers. He made a description of the killer of Anna E. Slesers which fit "Arnold Wallace" (not his real name), a mental patient held at Boston State Hospital who had escaped on several occasions, most of which coincided with the Strangler murders. When he was consulted about the seventh Strangler murder, that of Sophie Clark, he, surprisingly, displayed detailed knowledge of her apartment and made a description that fit Lewis Barnett, who was an initial suspect in the murder. Nothing concrete came out of Gordon's advice. The second psychic, Peter Hurkos, was a well-known career psychic. He claimed to have assisted in the investigation and is confirmed to have been in Boston at the time of the investigation and to have spent time with the police, but a few days later, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer in order to gather information and later convicted of it. James A. Brussel, who previously had made a spot-on profile of the Mad Bomber in New York, aided the authorities. Unlike many contemporary and later psychologists and psychoanalysts involved in the case, he asserted that the murders were the work of a single man, attributing the changes in his behavior to changes in his regular life. In November of 1964, a convicted burglar named Albert DeSalvo (see below), was caught for an unrelated series of attacks and confessed to the Strangler murders.

Albert DeSalvo[]

Albert DeSalvo

Albert DeSalvo.

Albert Henry DeSalvo was born on September 3, 1931 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His father, Frank DeSalvo, was a sadistic, violent, alcoholic fisherman from Newfoundland who brutally abused his wife, Charlotte DeSalvo, Albert and his five siblings, one brother and four sisters, and would regularly take home prostitutes and have sex with them in front of his family. Albert once saw him beat all of the teeth out of Charlotte's mouth and then break her fingers one by one. Frank also once sold all his children to a farmer in Maine for $9, though they managed to break out and return home, at which point Frank began teaching him to steal and encouraged him to do so. In 1943, aged 12, Albert was arrested for battery and robbery and was sent to a reform school. The next year he was paroled and got a job as a delivery boy. He was sent back to the same reform school for auto theft only two years later.

At the age of 17, after being released, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Europe, where he met a German woman, Irmgard Beck, whom he married and brought back to the States, where he did a second tour in the Army. During his second tour, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he was arrested for molesting a nine-year-old girl, narrowly escaping conviction because her parents wouldn't press charges. In spite of his court-martial, he was honorably discharged in 1956. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested twice for robbery. He demanded sex from his wife six times a day and called her rigid if she refused. When their first child, a girl named Judy, was born with a pelvis disease, she kept their sex life to a minimum, afraid that any other children they might have might also have conditions. They eventually conceived a healthy son, Michael, together. In the time between DeSalvo's second discharge and March of 1960, he committed a series of attacks known as "The Measuring Man" crimes, during which he would pose as a talent scout from a modeling agency named "Johnson" in order to get inside women's homes and con them into undressing so he could pretend to take their measurements, fondling them while doing so. Though he confessed to the attacks when he was arrested for burglary, no charges for them were filed and he was sentenced to 11 months in prison for only the burglary charge.

After being released from prison, DeSalvo committed a series of home invasions known as the "The Green Man" attacks. Dressed in green work-clothes, he would break into apartments belonging to women, tie them to their beds in a spread-eagle position at knifepoint, sexually assault them, and leave. A victim who was attacked on October 27, 1964 gave the police a description of the assailant, which led the investigators to DeSalvo and was published in newspapers, leading to more victims coming forward. Earlier on October 27, DeSalvo attempted to break into a home by posing as a motorist. In November, he was arrested for the assaults and confessed not only to them, but also to being the Boston Strangler. He made further confessions under hypnosis. Though his descriptions of the murders and the crime scenes had inconsistencies, he did know some details which had not been revealed to the public. In 1967, he was found guilty of the Green Man attacks and sentenced to life in prison as result of a plea bargain his lawyer, F. Lee Bailey (who later acted as defense for O.J. Simpson and Patty Hearst, made with the prosecution. In February of the next year, he escaped from his imprisonment together with two other inmates, but turned himself into Bailey the next day. In 1973, he was found brutally stabbed to death in his cell. Nobody was ever found guilty of his murder.

Though he confessed to the Strangler murders, there are still some doubts as to whether DeSalvo's claims about them were credible. For one thing, his confessions were not completely consistent with the evidence; in many cases, he got the time of death wrong, sometimes he got whether the victim's death was caused by manual or ligature strangulation wrong, and in the case of Mary Sullivan, he stated that he had sexually penetrated her, and yet no semen was found on her body; she was, however, sexually assaulted with a broom handle. Additionally, there was no physical evidence linking DeSalvo to the murders and no witness could place him on any of the crime scenes. Because the victims varied widely in age, race, and social class, and the modi operandi in the attacks varied, some believe the murders to be the work of multiple killers; FBI profiler Robert Ressler agreed with this theory, also remarking that it is very implausible that a serial killer who murders thirteen women would simply stop killing in favor of sexual assaults. Of the same opinion is fellow profiler John Douglas, who claimed that most of the strangler's murders showed signs of a sexually sadistic rapist/killer, while DeSalvo was merely a power-reassurance rapist. Additionally, DeSalvo was braggart and is believed to have exaggerated his confessions; according to Dr. Ames Robey, the psychiatrist who evaluated him at Bridgewater State Hospital, DeSalvo "wanted so badly to be the Strangler". One theory about why he would make a false confession is that he wanted to make money from it to support his family; he had told Bailey that he hoped to do so. In 2001, forensic analysis of the exhumed body of Mary Sullivan, the last victim of the Strangler killings, found DNA on her underwear and pubic hair which belonged neither to her nor to DeSalvo. On June 11, 2013, it had been announced that newly-discovered DNA evidence linked DeSalvo to the murder of Sullivan, and that authorities are having DeSalvo's body exhumed for further evidence. In July the same year, the authorities announced that a DNA comparison between DeSalvo and semen found at the Sullivan crime scene had confirmed that DeSalvo was the source. 

Modus Operandi[]

The Strangler's victims were women of several different ethnicities and of widely varying ages; the youngest was 19 and the oldest 85. During the first phase of the killings, the victims were often older and during the second phase, younger. He entered their homes through home invasions, where he attacked them sexually. As the Strangler's nickname implies, the victims were killed by strangulation, usually with their own nylon stockings. Sometimes the killer constructed ligatures by weaving together a bunch of smaller ones. According to some sources, the Strangler also had a habit of tying the murder weapons and/or other handy lengths of fabric such as handkerchiefs around the victims' necks into a bow.

One thing that was later noted by profilers was that, though the murders attributed to the Strangler have similarities, there were differences between them:

  • Some victims were posed, some were not.
  • Some murders were brutal and aggressive while some were more clinical and efficient
  • Some victims were physically raped while some were sexually assaulted with blunt objects from the house. Evelyn Corbin was forced to perform oral sex on her killer.
  • A few victims were stabbed; Beverly Samans was killed solely by 25+ stab wounds, mostly around her right breast. The rest were not stabbed.
  • Some victims were strangled with multiple ligatures while some were strangled using only one. One victim, Ida Irga, was killed by manual strangulation.

Other Suspects[]

Charles Terry

Charles Edward Terry.

  • Charles Edward Terry (1930-1981)
    • Diagnosed psychopath and sexual sadist
    • Dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Marines in 1949, after having been convicted for stealing a vehicle
    • Assaulted two women and raped one of them in 1951
    • Assaulted another woman in 1959, breaking her jaw in two places and cutting her scalp
    • Had several jobs and lived in New Orleans, New York, Waterville and Boston
    • Confessed to killing a 62-year-old woman in New York City by beating and strangling her with her own scarf (which was tied into a bow). The body was also sexually assaulted with a bottle and posed
    • Suspected of three other murders in which at least two victims were strangled (one with her own scarf)
    • Confessed to visiting Boston on the weekends, coinciding with the time that the Strangler's first five victims had been killed. He was discovered to have stayed at two rooming houses only blocks away from some of the stranglings
    • Refused to talk to Boston police about the murders
    • Suspected to have committed at least some of the Strangler's murders of elderly women by legendary NYPD detective Thomas J. Cavanagh, Jr. and his son
    • Never physically linked to the murders
  • "David Parker" (pseudonym)
    • Diagnosed psychotic and possibly schizophrenic
    • Harvard student in his twenties, with an extremely high I.Q., ranging between 150 and 170
    • Was known to fabricate pipe bombs
    • Had a history of drug abuse and petty crimes, including disturbing the peace
    • Subject to wild fits of anger and violence
    • Was arrested, in January 1964, while abusing his pregnant wife. They married on January 4, the date of the Sullivan murder
    • At the moment of his arrest he was dressed and made up as Othello, and carried a dagger with him
    • Almost strangled his wife once
    • Thought his wife betrayed him with a friend of his
    • Claimed he wanted to save the world by destroying its women
    • Briefly considered as a suspect
    • Drank the same brand of beer a customer ordered at a tavern near the locations of the Graff and Sullivan murders. The beer was only sold in California and the request was pretty unusual
    • Had no alibi for the morning of the Sullivan murder, but was in New York City at his own wedding in the afternoon
    • Tied his shoes with the same knot employed by the Strangler
    • Speculated to have been indirectly referred by Peter Hurkos during his sessions
    • His stay at Bridgewater coincided with DeSalvo's, and they were both evaluated by Dr. Robey
    • His move from Boston to the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area coincided with seven brutal sexual murders in which stockings were tied around the victims' necks. However, it was found they had been committed by John Norman Collins. The connection between "Parker" and the Collins' murders was made by Dr. Robey, who had moved from Boston to Ypsilanti
    • Never physically linked to the murders
  • "Arnold Wallace" (pseudonym)
    • Diagnosed psychotic in his twenties with a low I.Q.
    • Admitted to Boston State Hospital at the time
    • Reportedly tried to kill his mother, whom he regularly punched and kicked
    • Identified by psychic Paul Gordon
    • Briefly considered as a suspect in five of the Strangler's killings, including the Sleser and Sullivan murders, since he was missing from the hospital during those days
    • A lie detector test proved inconclusive, possibly due to his low intelligence
    • Apparently confessed to his sister of being the Strangler
    • Never physically linked to the murders
  • "Thomas P. O'Brien" (pseudonym)
    • Shoe salesman with a history of psychosis, as well as paranoid and self-destructive behavior
    • Identified by psychic Peter Hurkos
    • Briefly considered as a suspect
    • Voluntarily recommitted himself to a mental institution
    • Never physically linked to the murders
George Nassar

George Nassar in recent years.

  • George Nassar (1932)
    • Criminally sophisticated and with a high I.Q.
    • Considered as a suspect for allegedly "knowing more than it seemed" about the murders
    • Was in prison for murdering a gas station attendant. He had previously murdered a shopkeeper, and admitted killing for the excitement of it
    • No official attempt was ever made to link him to the Strangler
    • Never physically linked to the murders

Known Victims[]

Boston Strangler's Victims

Several victims of the Boston Strangler.

Note: The dates denote when the victims were found.

  • 1962:
    • June 14, Boston, Massachusetts: Anna E. Slesers, 55 (sexually assaulted with an unspecified object, non-fatally strangled with a belt, fatally strangled with the cord of her bathrobe, and tied it around her neck post-mortem)
    • June 28, Boston, Massachusetts: Mary Mullen, 85 (indirectly; died of a heart attack when he attempted to strangle her)
    • June 30:
      • Boston, Massachusetts: Nina Nichols, 68 (sexually assaulted with a wine bottle and strangled with a nylon stocking; tied two stockings around her neck post-mortem)
      • Lynn, Massachusetts: Helen Blake, 65 (sexually assaulted and strangled with a nylon stocking like the previous victim; tied the nylon and a bra around her neck post-mortem)
    • August 19, Beacon Hill, Massachusetts: Ida Irga, 75 (sexually assaulted and manually strangled; a pillowcase was tied around her neck post-mortem)
    • August 30, Boston, Massachusetts: Jane Sullivan, 67 (sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings)
    • December 5, Boston, Massachusetts: Sophie Clark, 20 (sexually assaulted and strangled with her nylon stockings and a petticoat)
    • December 31, Boston, Massachusetts: Patricia Bissette, 23 (raped and strangled with a ligature made of several interwoven nylon stockings and a blouse; was one month pregnant at the time of her death)
  • 1963:
    • March 9, Lawrence, Massachusetts: Mary Brown, 69 (raped, stabbed in the breasts with a fork, and strangled; fatally bludgeoned with a pipe)
    • May 8, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Beverly Samans, 23 (stabbed four times in the neck and 22 times in the torso; two scarves and a nylon stocking were tied around her neck post-mortem)
    • September 6, Salem, Massachusetts: Evelyn Corbin, 58 (raped, forced to perform oral sex, and strangled with two stockings)
    • November 23, Lawrence, Massachusetts: Joan Graff, 23 (beaten, raped, and strangled with two nylon stockings and a black leotard)
  • January 4, 1964, Boston, Massachusetts: Mary Sullivan, 19 (sexually assaulted with a broom handle and strangled with two scarves and a nylon stocking, then them around her neck post-mortem)

On Criminal Minds[]

  • Season One
    • "Plain Sight" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, The Strangler appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Franklin Graney - Both were serial killers and rapists who targeted women, raped them and strangled them with ligatures (though the Strangler killed by other means) in their homes, posed them with the ligatures still tied to them in their beds, were given nicknames for their crimes, operated in major cities that were sent into panics due to the murders, and were diverted from being caught when another suspect was arrested on sex crime charges. Graney and DeSalvo lived with a female loved one at the times of their confirmed crimes, had blue-collar jobs, and were arrested in regards to the attack of their last confirmed victim (Graney held a woman hostage while preparing to rape and murder her, while DeSalvo raped a woman and she described him to the police).
    • "Unfinished Business" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, The Strangler and DeSalvo appear to be an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Walter Kern, and a previous suspect, Scott Harbin - Both Kern and The Strangler were serial killers that targeted women in their homes, operated in major cities, were each active for approximately two years before going dormant, tied their victims up with intricate knots, killed them by ligature strangulation (though both also used other means), and were never conclusively caught because of focus on a prime suspect never conclusively tied to the murders. Both Kern and DeSalvo were serial burglars and violent offenders with histories of military service, were married, committed separate series of violent crimes, were unable to continue their sprees in specific intervals for particular reasons (Kern stopped killing for years due to car crash injuries, DeSalvo stopped sexually assaulting women for months after being imprisoned for burglary), were arrested after their second sprees, and gave full confessions to their crimes. Both were sexually-motivated serial burglars and violent felony offenders who were previously arrested and incarcerated for violent crimes and theft, worked in blue-collar jobs, were arrested on charges of sex crimes against women and murder in their final arrests (though only Harbin was convicted of murder), and were originally the prime suspects in a series of murders around the same time their confirmed crimes happened.
  • Season Two
    • "Aftermath" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, the Strangler appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, William Lee - Both were serial rapists who targeted both young and older women (with at least some of the former being college students), broke into their homes, restrained and then raped them repeatedly in their beds (both Lee and DeSalvo used a weapon to threaten them while doing this: a pistol and a knife, respectively), they both had two-month cool-off periods at some point, both Lee and DeSalvo were arrested while posing as motorists, and were ultimately murdered before they could be convicted.
  • Season Four
    • "Omnivore" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, the Strangler appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, George Foyet - Both were serial killers who primarily targeted women (though Foyet also killed men) of various races and ages, stabbed at least one victim several dozen times and bludgeoned another before killing them, were active in Boston (and subsequently garnered nicknames with "The Boston -er"), and their cases went cold (initially for Foyet). Foyet and DeSalvo had violent abusive fathers and submissive mothers, committed crimes as children, victimized a lover (DeSalvo demanded frequent sex from his wife and verbally degraded her, while Foyet killed his girlfriend), posed as a motorist at least once, they managed to escape the facilities they were sent to, and ultimately died at the hands of another man. Foyet also appeared in Season Five.
  • Season Five
    • "The Internet Is Forever" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, the Strangler appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Robert Johnson - Both were serial killers who targeted women of various ages, Johnson and DeSalvo (the prime suspect in the Strangler case) worked blue-collar jobs, used ruses to gain entry to victims' homes (Johnson offered to install free optic fibers in his murder victims' homes, while DeSalvo posed as a talent scout for a modeling agency in order to sexually assault women), broke into their victims' homes, would strangle them to death with ligatures in their bedrooms, and were given nicknames for their crimes. Also, its interesting to note that DeSalvo used the alias "Johnson" during is "Measuring Man" attacks.
  • Season Eleven
    • "A Badge and a Gun" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, the Strangler appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Andrew Meeks - Both were killers who targeted low-risk women, operated in major cities during times of increased violent crime, killed the women in their homes by asphyxiation, and posed them still wrapped in the murder weapons as signatures. Both Meeks and DeSalvo were repeat pattern offenders with previous criminal records they served prison time for, including assault, were paroled and worked in blue-collar jobs, used ruses to get into women's homes, including posing as a cop at least once, use the same method of restraints on their victims before attacking them (Meeks wrapped women in large household items before suffocating them, DeSalvo tied women to their beds in spread-eagled positions before raping them), and were apprehended while posing as motorists.
    • "Tribute" - The Strangler was mentioned in this episode as one of the serial killers whose M.O.s were copied by Michael Lee Peterson. In the episode, Prentiss erroneously names Albert DeSalvo as being the Strangler.

Sources[]

SKDB's article on DeSalvo

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