American Serial Killer Albert DeSalvo: Beyond the Green Man

Was Albert DeSalvo was actually responsible for the killings attributed to The Boston Strangler? It is now more than forty years after the murders and this question has not yet been answered.

June 14^th 1962 saw the beginning of the Strangler's oppression of the women of Boston as the first murder, being that of Ana E Slesers, was discovered on that day. Before the terror would end eighteen months later, 12 more women would lose their lives and Boston would never be the same again.

The question of whether Albert DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler has, however, never truly been answered. There are even doubts as to whether the same person was responsible for all of the killings and these doubts stem from (a) the wide age range of the victims (the youngest was 19 and the oldest 85) and (b) the fact that the women were killed in different ways (ten were strangled after being sexually assaulted, two were stabbed to death and one died of heart failure during the assault). But people were convinced that there was only one killer on the loose and their belief was eventually vindicated...at least in their eyes.

Arrested on suspicion of rape on October 27^th 1964, petty criminal Albert DeSalvo surprised everyone by confessing twice to the Strangler's crimes: first to a fellow inmate and then under hypnosis to the police. Before his confessions, DeSalvo had not even been a Strangler suspect and so to say that his admission was a revelation is an understatement. It was found that he did, however, have a history of sexual deviancy as he had previously been arrested while masquerading as both The Measuring Man (who "interviewed" potential models) and The Green Man (who broke into houses and assaulted women whilst wearing a green uniform). Hopes were therefore high that the string of stranglings would soon be solved.

DeSalvo did, furthermore, appear to have information about the Strangler crime scenes that had never been released to the public but, on the other hand, there was simply no physical evidence linking him to the murders. It has thus recently been suggested that, just like serial killers Peter Kurten and Fred Shipman had wanted to provide for their wives and so confessed and committed suicide respectively, DeSalvo had wanted to make money for his family by accepting pending Strangler book and movie deals. Unfortunately for his loved ones, he signed the deals but he never received a penny.

DeSalvo soon stood trial for the random sexual offences and robberies that he had originally been arrested for, was found guilty and, in 1967, was sentenced to life in prison. By then his Strangler confessions had also become public knowledge and the general consensus was that the Strangler had been caught and had been justly punished. DeSalvo was murdered in the prison infirmary by an unknown assailant six years after his incarceration so it will probably now never be determined whether he actually was the Strangler.

It is interesting to remember that, despite the confessions, the police never had a strong enough case to warrant their even charging DeSalvo with the Strangler's crimes. Even more ominously, stranglings continued after DeSalvo's arrest...

For some people, the investigation into who exactly was The Boston Strangler continues to this day.

Sources:
Marilyn Barsley The Boston Strangler TruTV Crime Library
Boston Strangler Crime & Investigation Network
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