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The Boston Strangler is the pseudonym given to a serial killer active in Boston, Massachusetts (United States) in the early 1960s.

Between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964, thirteen single women between the ages of 19 and 85 in the Boston area, including Beacon Hill, were murdered. All thirteen women were murdered in their apartments, strangled with articles of clothing after being sexually assaulted. Without any sign of forced entry, the women apparently either knew their assailant or voluntarily let him into their homes.

While the police were not convinced that all of these murders were the work of a single individual, the public believed so. Despite police efforts to solve the case, it was the alleged Strangler who caused his own capture.

On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman's home 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 Albert Henry DeSalvo (September 3, 1930–November 26, 1973), and when his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier that night, he had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future Brockton police chief Richard Sproles, became suspicious, and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo. At this point, DeSalvo was not suspected of being involved with the stranglings. It was only after he was charged with rape that he confessed in detail his activities as the Boston Strangler. However, there was no evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offences. DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967 and was murdered six years later in his cell.

Lingering doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. At the time that he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the vicious crimes (granted that it is common for people who personally knew a serial killer to have never suspected the killer to be capable of such violence). In the case of Mary Sullivan, murdered January 4, 1964, at age 19, DNA and other forensic evidence gathered nearly forty years later by her nephew Casey Sherman and published in his book A Rose for Mary (2003) suggested that DeSalvo was not responsible for her death. There are also suggestions from De Salvo himself that he was covering up for another man, the real killer.

DeSalvo was the subject of the 1968 Hollywood film The Boston Strangler, starring Tony Curtis as DeSalvo, and Henry Fonda and George Kennedy as the homicide detectives who apprehend him. The movie was highly fictionalized; it assumed DeSalvo was guilty, and portrayed him as suffering from multiple personality disorder and committing the murders while in a psychotic state. DeSalvo was never diagnosed with, or even suspected of having, that disorder.

In 1971, DeSalvo was commended by the Texas House of Representatives as being "officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology." Texan legislator Tom Moore had introduced the measure to demonstrate the lack of legislative scrutiny.

Reference

• A Rose for Mary ISBN 155553578X

External links

• FBI files (still partly classified)
• Albert DeSalvo - The Boston Strangler?
• The Boston Strangler (Court TV's Crime Library)
• The Boston Strangler (IMDB entry for the 1968 film)
• The Boston Strangler
• The Texas legislature once passed a resolution honoring the Boston Strangler

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