Back in the 1960's a series of crimes put the Boston population in panic. Eleven single women between the ages of 19-85 were targeted, raped and killed.
Most were sexually assaulted and strangled in their apartments. Without any sign of forced entry, the women were assumed to have either known their attackers or have voluntarily allowed them into their homes, believing them to be an apartment maintenance man, delivery man, or some other service man.
On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman's home posing as a detective. He tied the victim to her bed, sexually assaulted her, and then suddenly left, saying "I'm sorry" as he went. The woman's description led police to identify the assailant as Albert DeSalvo, a blue-collar worker and Army vet who was married with children.
When his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them.
He was sentenced to life in prison for a series of armed robberies and sexual assaults and initially confessed being the Boston Strangler to a fellow inmate, George Nassar, who reported the confession to his attorney, F. Lee Bailey. The attorney also took on DeSalvo's case.
Police were impressed at the accuracy of DeSalvo's descriptions of the crime scenes and although there were some inconsistencies, DeSalvo was able to cite details which had not been made public. However, there was no physical evidence to substantiate his confession.
De Salvo was stabbed to death in the state's maximum-security prison in Walpole in 1973.
After 40 years of his death, new evidence suggests he did kill who was presumed to be the Boston Strangler's last victim, Mary Sullivan.
Sullivan, 19, was found strangled in her Boston apartment in January 1964. She had moved from her Cape Cod home to Boston just days before her death.
Boston police recently located a water bottle used by a nephew of DeSalvo, tested it and found a "familial match" with DNA from the scene of Mary Sullivan's murder.
Sullivan is the only victim for which DNA evidence is available because according to reports, authorities at the time set aside evidence extracted from her body and a blanket from the crime scene, and place it in a laboratory until science could be used to link a suspect.
This new evidence is proof enough to warrant the exhumation of the alleged killer's remains for further testing to finally prove if he was guilty of that crime or not.
Mary Sullivan's nephew, Casey Sherman, has for years maintained that DeSalvo did not kill his aunt and even wrote a book on the case pointing to other possible suspects.
He said he accepted the new findings after concluding that the DNA evidence against DeSalvo appeared to be overwhelming.
"I only go where the evidence leads," he said. He thanked police and praised them "for their incredible persistence."
An attorney for DeSalvo's family said yesterday they believe there's still reasonable doubt he killed the Strangler's last supposed victim, even if additional DNA tests show a 100 percent match.
A DeSalvo family lawyer said previous private forensic testing of Sullivan's remains showed other male DNA was present that didn't match DeSalvo.
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