РефератыИностранный языкThThe Boston Strangler

The Boston Strangler

– Serial Killer Essay, Research Paper


The Boston Strangler was probably the most notorious


criminal that Boston, Massachusetts has ever known. But


who was the Boston Strangler? Was he Albert DeSalvo,


the person who confessed and went to jail for these


crimes? Is he someone that took his secret to the grave and


let an innocent man take the blame for his crime? Or is he


still walking the streets of Boston, or even the streets of


another city? We may never know for sure because based


on all the evidence I’ve read, in my opinion Albert DeSalvo


was not the famed Boston Strangler. The Boston Strangler


wreaked havoc on the city from June 1962 until January


1964. He claimed the lives of thirteen women, ages ranging


from 85 years old to 19 years old. The first victim had been


raped and her bathrobe tie wrapped around her neck in a


bow in June 1964. The next victim, was 85 year old Mary


Mullen, she was not technically killed by the strangler, but


rather a fatal heart attack when confronted by him. On June


30th, 1962, Helen Blake met death at the hands of the


strangler. Next was 68 year old Nina Nichols. The fifth


victim was 75 year old Ida Irga. On August 20th, 1962


Jane Sullivan had been raped and strangled with her nylons.


The only black woman to be killed by the hands of the


Boston Strangler was Sophie Clark. On December 30th,


1962, 23 year old Patricia Bissette was killed. Then 68


year old Mary Brown met her fate. In August 1963,


Beverly Samans met the strangler, she was stabbed instead


of strangled and was not raped, but the police still thought it


was the strangler’s work. The next victim was Evelyn


Corbin . On November 11th 1963, Joann Graff was found


raped and strangled in her apartment. But the Boston


Strangler was getting sloppy, because he allowed himself to


be seen. A man that lived upstairs from Joann reported to


police a man had knocked on the door across the hall from


his and inquired about Ms. Graff, when he told the man


where she lived he quickly left, but not without being seen.


The final murder occurred on January 4th 1964. The victim


was Mary Sullivan. She was the youngest of the strangler’s


victims. Susan Kelly in The Boston Stranglers: The Public


Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven


Shocking Murders makes a persuasive argument for


DeSalvo being innocent of the strangling murders. She cites


a number of reasons why she and others still believed that


DeSalvo was innocent. One of the strongest of these


reasons is that there was &quo

t;not one shred of physical


evidence that connected him to any of the murders." Nor


could any eyewitness place him at or even near any of the


crime scenes. Albert had a relatively memorable face,


particularly because of his prominent, beak-like nose. The


Strangler (or Stranglers, since some experts believe that it


had to be at least two different murderers and possibly


more) was seen by a number of eyewitnesses. One was


Kenneth Rowe, the engineering student who lived on the


floor above Joann Graff?s apartment. He spoke to the


stranger who was looking for her apartment just before she


was killed. When Rowe was shown a photo of Albert


DeSalvo, he did not recognize him as the man looking for


Joann. Another point to make is serial killers tend to follow


a pattern. The Boston strangler did not. He chose woman


of all different ages and backgrounds, which leads me to


believe that it was more than one person committing these


crimes. No one can know for sure why DeSalvo would


confess to crimes he didn’t commit, but one reason could


be money. When Albert was conferring with his lawyer, he


asked him if confessing could bring money to his family by


ways of books and interviews. His attorney said probably


and Albert then quickly confessed. On the night before


DeSalvo was killed by another inmate in prison, he called


his attorney and told him he had something important to tell


him and to come see him the next day. Unfortunately we


will never know what Albert had to say, because he was


stabbed through the heart and killed, but I think he wanted


to tell his lawyer who the Boston Strangler really was.


Works consulted: 1. Bailey, F. Lee. The Defense Never


Rests New York: Mass Market Paperbacks, 1995. 2.


Kelly, Susan. The Boston Stranglers; The Wrongful


Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven


Shocking Murders. Los Angeles: Carol Publishing Group.


1995 3.Frank,Gerold. The Boston Strangler. Boston: New


American Library, Inc.1966 4. Banks, Harold K. The


Strangler! The Story of Terror in Boston: A Prize-Winning


Newspaperman’s On-The-scene Account; New York:


Avon Books, 1967. 5. The Boston Strangler–Tony Curtis,


Henry Fonda, George Kennedy. 20th century Fox. 1968


6. Frasier, David K. Murder Cases of the Twentieth


Century: Biographies and Bibliographies of 280 Convicted


or Accused Killers New York: McFarland & Company,


Inc. Publishers. 1996 7. APB news online.(1998)online.


Internet. 12 Nov 1999. available FTP:


www.apbonline.com


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