View Full Version : MA MA - The Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, 1960's
STANDREID
06-21-2012, 09:19 PM
I don't see a Boston Strangler thread on here so I thought I'd start one.
Despite what some think, the case is officially unsolved and began 50 years ago this month.
I remember when it was big on the news along with his contemporary Jack the Stripper in England which is unsolved as well. A case of dueling serial killers?
DeSalvo could have been the strangler but I doubt it. He was never charged with a single murder; only some sexual crimes.
Actually, I think there were probably at least two killers.
STANDREID
06-21-2012, 09:40 PM
There have been at least 5 movies inspired by the case:
The Strangler(1964)
The Boston Strangler(1968)
No Way to Treat a Lady(1968)
The Boston Strangler(2006)
Boston Strangler: The Untold Story(2008)
STANDREID
06-22-2012, 07:29 AM
My own personal view (worth close to what you paid for it) is:
The "official" Boston Strangler was the person who killed most if not all of the eight women age 55-75.
Albert DeSalvo was responsible only for the death of Mary Mullen and this was manslaughter not murder.
Some other killer or killers murdered the remaining five victims who were all women age 19-23.
STANDREID
06-22-2012, 09:55 PM
The first murder occurred June 13/14 of 1962 and the last January 3/4 1964 so just over 18 months. He started off with 5 deaths in his first 16 days but then slowed his pace. In fact, he never killed more than two people in one month after this first flurry.
STANDREID
06-23-2012, 10:06 PM
The toll for June 1962 was Anna Slesers, Paula Lepro, Mary Mullen, Nina Nichols and Helen Blake. Nichols and Blake were killed on the same day. There were no murders in July.
Ambercat
06-27-2012, 05:21 PM
This is the Crime Library article about the Boston Strangler -- http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/boston/index_1.html
George Nasser may have been responsible for some of the crimes (reportedly, he was the person Albert DeSalvo confessed to, but it could have been the other way around). George Nassar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
marycarney
06-27-2012, 06:40 PM
Slightly OT, but I went to see the 1968 movie (I was 12). The end of the movie, someone is saying softly to DeSalvo "Albert..........Aaallllbert......"
My cousin Mike had gone to the restroom and unbeknownst to us snuck back into the row behind all us girl cousins. As the credits started to roll, he leaned behind me and said "Aaalllllbert" - scared the bejeebers outta me! :)
STANDREID
07-10-2012, 08:56 AM
Yes, I remember that night at the movies as well. I was married at the time and my wife and I went to the early evening performance at a 1400 seat theater and couldn't get in because it was sold out. We came back to the later screening and just barely got into that. In fact, there were nothing but single seats open so we had to sit a couple of rows apart. I actually have fonder memories of the experience than of the film which was somewhat of a disappointment.
STANDREID
07-20-2012, 09:42 PM
When a man named Charles Edward Terry was arrested in New York during June of 1963 for the strangulation murder of Zenovia Clegg, 62, some thought that he might be the Boston Strangler and a few still do. Terry, who killed at least two women, including another in Louisiana, died in prison in 1981.
He was available to commit all but three of the murders on the Strangler list and those three are somewhat doubtful in some people's minds - two because they were way outside of the standard 55-75 age range and the other because there are some circumstances in her case that would be unique to the Strangler or at least the purported one who was killing the older women.
STANDREID
07-21-2012, 07:36 AM
That other is Evelyn Corbin who was 58 when she was sexually assaulted and strangled with her stockings in her Salem apartment. She fits the chronological age but it has been said that she looked much younger, like maybe 38. The other unusual factor in her murder is that evidence indicated that her killer broke into her residence through her window by a fire escape rather than gaining access to the home by subterfuge which was the Stranger's believed practice in most if not all of the other slayings.
In the case of Mrs. Clegg, Terry befriended her in a dating type situation in order to enter her residence and kill her. At the time, he had just turned 33 and she was 62.
STANDREID
07-22-2012, 08:28 PM
I see that when I Google Boston Strangler suspects, Terry is the only putative suspect, besides DeSalvo, who shows up on the first page.
STANDREID
07-23-2012, 08:12 AM
If I recall, the first time I heard about Nassar was in the Unsolved Mysteries segment on the case.
STANDREID
08-09-2012, 09:31 AM
Nassar was a charismatic individual so it's easy to think he could talk his way into a woman's apartment more readily than DeSalvo who came across as a dullard. The problem with that view though is that we do know DeSalvo talked his way into women's residences as the Green Man and the Measuring Man so either he had better social skills than it appeared or the women were not nearly as careful as they should have been.
STANDREID
08-20-2012, 08:52 AM
For August 50 years ago, Ida Irga, 75, was killed on the 19th and found on the 21st. Jane Sullivan, 67, was slain on the 20th and found later in the month. There had been about a 7 week lull in the murders and there will not be another until early December nor another older woman killed until March of 1963.
STANDREID
08-25-2012, 07:50 AM
The Strangler often committed more than one murder in a month but he never committed murders in two consecutive months.
mysterymom7
08-27-2012, 08:35 AM
That other is Evelyn Corbin who was 58 when she was sexually assaulted and strangled with her stockings in her Salem apartment. She fits the chronological age but it has been said that she looked much younger, like maybe 38. The other unusual factor in her murder is that evidence indicated that her killer broke into her residence through her window by a fire escape rather than gaining access to the home by subterfuge which was the Stranger's believed practice in most if not all of the other slayings.
In the case of Mrs. Clegg, Terry befriended her in a dating type situation in order to enter her residence and kill her. At the time, he had just turned 33 and she was 62.
Did the Boston Strangler usually go into a woman's home? I think I should look into the victims more to get a good idea of the MO.
STANDREID
08-28-2012, 07:26 PM
Yes as I recall, all the women were killed in their apartments. In almost all the cases, it is believed that he used some ruse to gain entry such as claiming to be a maintenance man, an exterminator, a building inspector or some such thing.
mysterymom7
08-28-2012, 09:38 PM
Yes as I recall, all the women were killed in their apartments. In almost all the cases, it is believed that he used some ruse to gain entry such as claiming to be a maintenance man, an exterminator, a building inspector or some such thing.
I looked into it. I have a relative who went missing between 1960-1963 in Essex County, but she was married with children.
STANDREID
08-28-2012, 10:13 PM
I am sorry to hear of your loss. There were victims who had grown children and I think maybe at least one who might have been married but separated - I could be wrong on that last part. There were no known missing victims but that doesn't mean there couldn't have been.
STANDREID
08-28-2012, 10:25 PM
The woman in the Curtis movie who was attacked but survived I think was one of DeSalvo's Green Man attacks and thus unrelated to the Strangler Case, that is unless you think DeSalvo was the Strangler.
STANDREID
08-29-2012, 09:02 AM
The majority of the murders occurred in the first 6 months with the remainder strung out over the next 13 months.
STANDREID
09-04-2012, 07:03 AM
All the victims in the first 6 week flurry were in the over 55 age group.
mysterymom7
09-04-2012, 01:07 PM
All the victims in the first 6 week flurry were in the over 55 age group.
After further research, I've found that the missing family member of mine headed to Florida in the summer of 1962.
STANDREID
09-11-2012, 09:20 AM
All the victims in the first 6 week flurry were in the over 55 age group.
I meant 9 not 6:waitasec:
STANDREID
09-14-2012, 06:49 AM
DeSalvo was in the military police at one time. Whether that would have been much help in evading detection is up for debate.
STANDREID
09-23-2012, 08:08 PM
The last unsolved killing in the case was the murder of Albert DeSalvo himself in 1973.
STANDREID
09-24-2012, 09:28 AM
I can't find a definite DeSalvo related crime time-line but the best I can estimate at this moment:
Late 1960-Early 1961: The Measuring Man Assaults (DeSalvo)
Mid 1962-Early 1964: The Boston Strangler Murders (DeSalvo?)
Mid 1962-Late 1964: The Green Man Rapes (DeSalvo)
So the Green Man crimes ran roughly simultaneously with the Strangler murders and even beyond them some. That begs the question, why would a serial killer deescalate or why kill some women but not others? It would seem to argue against DeSalvo as the murderer in my view at least.
mysterymom7
09-24-2012, 09:52 AM
I can't find a definite DeSalvo related crime time-line but the best I can estimate at this moment:
Late 1960-Early 1961: The Measuring Man Assaults (DeSalvo)
Mid 1962-Early 1964: The Boston Strangler Murders (DeSalvo?)
Mid 1962-Late 1964: The Green Man Rapes (DeSalvo)
So the Green Man crimes ran roughly simultaneously with the Strangler murders and even beyond them some. That begs the question, why would a serial killer deescalate or why kill some women but not others? It would seem to argue against DeSalvo as the murderer in my view at least.
They don't usually deescalate, which would lead me to believe it wasn't the same person.
STANDREID
09-25-2012, 08:59 AM
Yes, they may slow their pace but, if anything, the murders usually become more brutal just like a junkie needing more heroin to get the same high.
We know for a fact that the last person killed in the second set of stranglings, Mary Sullivan, had someone's DNA on her and it was NOT Albert DeSalvo's. That doesn't necessarily mean the other stranglings weren't the work of DeSalvo, but I think given the other evidence there's a good chance he's not the real killer. In fact, I'd be surprised if this was the work of one person.
Here's a clip from Unsolved Mysteries explaining the DNA results of Mary Sullivan's exhumation:
http://youtu.be/kKCK79LJtQ4
STANDREID
10-11-2012, 09:30 AM
It's next to certain that DeSalvo did not kill Sullivan.
STANDREID
10-15-2012, 08:59 AM
Not unless he had a partner.
STANDREID
10-20-2012, 10:07 AM
and I don't know of anyone pushing that theory.
STANDREID
11-08-2012, 08:17 AM
One theory is that DeSalvo was actually killed by the real Strangler.
STANDREID
12-03-2012, 11:06 PM
We are now at the 50th anniversary of Sophie Clark's murder.
Dragonfyree
12-22-2012, 01:40 PM
The best book I've read about the stranglings is "The Boston Stranglers - by Susan Kelly.
It really goes into detail about the crime scenes. I didn't know several of the women were stabbed.
One victim, Patricia Bissette (not sure of correct spelling) was pregnant, was in her bed and covered with her blankets, not displayed. I believe she was having an affair with her boss and was supposed to testify in some kind of trial.
I read this book when it first came out so am a little vague on some of the details, but was very surprised that this was even considered a Strangler victim. Sounded more as if it was someone close to her.
The author believes there were several different killers, and the police were looking at different people until they all got lumped together under "The Boston Strangler.
STANDREID
12-22-2012, 11:00 PM
The best book I've read about the stranglings is "The Boston Stranglers - by Susan Kelly.
It is a first rate book. I have it in my library.
STANDREID
12-29-2012, 09:08 AM
It will be 50 years ago Monday, on the 31st, that Patricia Bissette was found strangled.
STANDREID
12-30-2012, 11:00 PM
If Patricia Bissette was a Boston Strangler victim then he took another hiatus for nearly 10 weeks.
STANDREID
01-11-2013, 11:02 PM
Of the five remaining Strangler victims (1963-64), 3 were in the 19-23 age group and the others were women 58 and 69.
STANDREID
01-29-2013, 08:16 PM
In the late 1960s there was some speculation the Boston Strangler might be responsible for the Ypsilanti murders - later proven to be the work of John Norman Collins. Collins was in high school in Michigan at the time of the Boston murders so he's pretty safely off the list for those but it does show that some weren't necessarily buying DeSalvo's "confession" back then.
STANDREID
02-11-2013, 11:01 PM
John Norman Collins has also been proposed as a suspect in the unsolved massacre of the 6 members of the Robison family in 1968 so his name has a habit of coming up in connection with true murder mysteries.
Dragonfyree
02-14-2013, 05:37 PM
John Norman Collins has also been proposed as a suspect in the unsolved massacre of the 6 members of the Robison family in 1968 so his name has a habit of coming up in connection with true murder mysteries.
I read a book on those murders and I think it was believed they were done by his business partner who later committed suicide.
I do know that one of the supposed John Norman Collins murder victims, Jane Mixer, was actually killed by someone else, who was convicted in 2005 on DNA evidence.
STANDREID
02-16-2013, 11:01 PM
John Norman Collins has also been proposed as a suspect in the unsolved massacre of the 6 members of the Robison family in 1968 so his name has a habit of coming up in connection with true murder mysteries.
I read a book on those murders and I think it was believed they were done by his business partner who later committed suicide.
Yes, that guy is the most popular suspect I believe.
STANDREID
03-07-2013, 11:03 PM
We're now at the 50th anniversary of the murder of 69-year-old Mary Brown. She was the first murder of an older woman in the series since August of 1962. Originally, there was some question as to whether she should be listed as a Boston S. victim since her slaying also involved beating and stabbing.
STANDREID
04-04-2013, 07:22 AM
The killer then took an 8.5 week hiatus before returning to a victim in the younger age group.
STANDREID
05-03-2013, 07:16 AM
The 50th anniversary of the murder of Beverly Samans is May 8, this coming Wednesday.
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