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Boston Strangler

Also known as: Albert DeSalvo

Active

1962–1964

Region

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

State

MA

Kind

Serial

Status

Identified, never tried

Victims

13

Between June 1962 and January 1964, thirteen women aged 19 to 85 were sexually assaulted and strangled in their homes in Boston and nearby cities. Albert DeSalvo, held on unrelated rape charges, confessed to the murders while in custody, but there was no physical evidence; he was never tried for them and was killed in prison in 1973 after recanting. In July 2013 the Suffolk County District Attorney, the Massachusetts Attorney General and Boston Police announced that DNA from his exhumed remains matched evidence from the murder of the last victim, Mary Sullivan. Whether he killed all thirteen is still disputed.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Anna Elza Slesers, 55 · June 14, 1962
• Mary Mullen, 85 · June 28, 1962
• Nina Nioma Nichols, 68 · June 30, 1962
• Helen Elizabeth Blake, 65 · June 30, 1962
• Edes "Ida" Irga, 75 · August 19, 1962
• Jane Sullivan, 67 · August 21, 1962
• Sophie L. Clark, 20 · December 5, 1962
• Patricia Jane Bissette, 23 · December 31, 1962
• Mary Ann Brown, 69 · March 6, 1963
• Beverly Florence Samans, 23 · May 8, 1963
• Marie Evelina "Evelyn" Corbin, 57 · September 8, 1963
• Joann Marie Graff, 23 · November 23, 1963
• Mary Anne Sullivan, 19 · January 4, 1964

  Grew up on Cape Cod and had moved to Boston only days before she was killed.

Timeline of locations

1. 1962
   DeSalvo's home (Malden) (Killer's residence, approximate area)

   DeSalvo lived with his family in Malden during the years of the murders.

2. June 14, 1962
   Boston (seven victims' homes) (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Seven women were killed in their Boston homes between June and December 1962.

3. June 30, 1962
   Lynn (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Helen Blake was killed in her home in Lynn.

4. March 6, 1963
   Lawrence (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Mary Brown (March 1963) and Joann Graff (November 1963) were killed in their homes in Lawrence.

5. May 8, 1963
   Cambridge (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Beverly Samans was killed in her home in Cambridge.

6. September 8, 1963
   Salem (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Evelyn Corbin was killed in her home in Salem.

7. 1964
   Bridgewater State Hospital (Other)

   DeSalvo was held at Bridgewater State Hospital after his 1964 arrest. In February 1967 he escaped with two other inmates and surrendered the next day.

8. January 4, 1964
   Mary Sullivan's apartment, Beacon Hill (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Mary Sullivan was killed in her Beacon Hill apartment days after moving to Boston. In 2013 DNA from this scene was matched to DeSalvo, the only Strangler case with a DNA link.

9. February 1967
   Walpole state prison (MCI-Cedar Junction) (Prison)

   Serving life for the unrelated "Green Man" crimes, DeSalvo was moved to the maximum-security prison at Walpole, where he was stabbed to death in the infirmary on November 25, 1973.

Watch, listen, read

Sources

• Boston Strangler major update (WBUR, July 11, 2013)
• Sullivan family - DNA evidence definitively links DeSalvo in Boston Strangler case (CBS Boston, July 2013)
• Boston Strangler (Wikipedia)
• Albert DeSalvo (Wikipedia)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.