MA MA - ALBERT DESALVO, The Boston Strangler, 1960's

[STANDREID]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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). [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nassar"]George Nassar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[marycarney]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

If I recall, the first time I heard about Nassar was in the Unsolved Mysteries segment on the case.

 

[STANDREID]

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]

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]

The Strangler often committed more than one murder in a month but he never committed murders in two consecutive months.

 

[mysterymom7]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.