DE SALVO, ALBERT: Great Crimes & Trials TV - History's Conspiracies TV - Daily Mail - Katherine Ramsland - Saul Kassin - Elaine Whitfield Sharp - Unsolved Mysteries TV - Born to Kill? Albert de Salvo TV - David Wilson TV - Serial Killers TV - True Crime Recaps TV -
1964 ... Joann Graff, a twenty-three-year-old dress designer, is found strangled in her apartment while watching the TV coverage [of Kennedy]. Throttled with her own black leotard which was tied around her neck in a grotesque bow she had become the twelfth victim of the Boston strangler, a killer who had terrified the city for almost eighteen months. Great Crimes & Trials s1e19: The Boston Strangler, BBC 1993
The stranglings in Boston had begun at 77 Gainsborough Street in the Back Bay district on 14th May 1962. ibid.
In all he had claimed thirteen lives. Then the murders ceased as suddenly as they had begun two years before. Gradually the female population of Boston breathed a sigh of relief. But what appeared to be a new menace soon surfaced in Connecticut, as a young man who became known as the Green Man, because he always wore green work pants, began talking his way into young women’s homes, tying them up and raping them. In November 1964 the police linked the Green Man to a smooth-talking sexual con-man who had served eleven months in prison four years earlier. His name was Albert de Salvo. ibid.
Within five weeks the Strangler had escaped causing a massive police hunt. ibid.
It was the first and most notorious serial murder case in American history. In 1965 Albert de Salvo confessed to being the Boston Strangler. But he was never convicted of the eleven brutal sexually deranged murders. But there was no physical evidence to link de Salvo to the crimes. Was de Salvo really the Boston Strangler or was he a publicity-seeking false confessor? History’s Conspiracies
Six years later de Salvo was murdered in prison under suspicious circumstances. Some people believe he was about to recant his confession. ibid.
And on closer examination, many people now believe the hard evidence proves there was more than one Boston Strangler. ibid.
In November 1964 de Salvo was arrested for a series of sexual attacks known as the Green Man Assaults ... He was obsessed with sex, but his track record gave no indication of the extreme violence of the stranglings ... The Green Man Assaults came after the stranglings. ibid.
Boston Strangler is murdered in his cell. Daily Mail, article December 1973
The so-called Boston Strangler case does not strike me as the work of one killer. Dr Katherine Ramsland, author The Human Predator
If you go back and look at some of the facts that he details in that confession, almost every one of them originates with the questioner. Professor Saul Kassin, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The Boston Strangler was a creation of the mass media. Elaine Whitfield Sharp, forensic attorney
In the early 1960s Boston was gripped with fear. A killer was on the loose. Ten women were found murdered. They ranged in age from 19 to 75 and they had different ethnic backgrounds. They lived in different neighbourhoods ... They named the killer the Boston Strangler. Unsolved Mysteries
Albert de Salvo would go down in history as the Boston Strangler confessing to the bizarre and brutal murders of thirteen women. A crime-wave that caused city-wide terror. But was Albert de Salvo a born killer? And was he even a killer at all? Born to Kill? Albert de Salvo
One of six brothers and sisters, de Salvo had a particularly hard upbringing. ibid.
De Salvo was accused of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl. ibid.
With no modelling contracts forthcoming, women began to report the bizarre sexual assaults. The police dubbed the phantom agent The Measuring Man. ibid.
De Salvo was diagnosed as a sociopath and sent to prison. Then soon after his release, eleven months later, there began a series of attacks that would shock the city of Boston to its core. ibid.
Then the Strangler suddenly stopped. Faced with almost a dozen unsolved murders the State’s Attorney General formed a dedicated Strangler Bureau. ibid.
The rapist, wearing green workman’s clothes, became known as the Green Man. ibid.
Police estimated that de Salvo, as the Green Man, may have committed hundreds of assaults. ibid.
He would make a staggering claim ... He is the Boston Strangler. ibid.
There was no physical evidence linking de Salvo to the crimes. ibid.
Albert de Salvo was found stabbed to death in his locked cell. No-one was ever convicted of his murder. ibid.
The Boston Strangler case remains officially open. ibid.
I have no doubt that Albert de Salvo was a serial killer. Professor David Wilson
1962: On the evening of June 14th on a quiet street in the Back Bay area, Boston is about to get a much grizzlier reputation. Serial Killers s1e4: De Salvo, Channel 5 1999
An unusual burglar had been caught in nearby Cambridge as he ran from the scene of an attempted break-in. His name is Albert de Salvo. ibid.
‘Easy going, smiled easily and was very polite.’ ibid. F Lee Bailey
Albert de Salvo’s motivations remain as difficult to prove as the crimes he claimed to have committed. ibid.
A psychotic strangler was on the loose in the Boston area. 13 women murdered in 18 months … A madman dubbed the Boston Strangler. True Crime Recaps: The Infamous Case of the Boston Strangler, Youtube 11.33, 2022
A confession came from a convicted predator already behind bars, Albert de Salvo. But to this day some experts believe there was more than one killer responsible. ibid.
Albert was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on September 3rd 1931. His childhood was brutal thanks to his father. ibid.