I’ve been obsessed with the Boston Strangler case for months now. Every time I think I’ve got it figured out, another document surfaces and flips the whole thing upside down. Albert DeSalvo is the name everyone knows. The handyman who “confessed” to strangling 13 women across Boston between June 1962 and January 1964. The media crowned him the monster. Hollywood made movies about him. But here’s what keeps me up at night: mounting evidence from 2025 says Albert DeSalvo may not have killed a single one of them.
Yes, you read that right. The man who died in prison, claiming he was America’s most infamous strangler, might have been the biggest red herring in true crime history. So let’s dig into the real story. The victims who deserved justice. The confession that never added up. And the brand-new DNA results that just blew the case wide open.
Albert DeSalvo’s Early Life: A Troubled Kid in Chelsea, Massachusetts
Albert Henry DeSalvo was born September 3, 1931, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His father, Frank, was a violent alcoholic who beat his wife and six children with metal pipes and his fists. Neighbours heard the screams regularly. Albert was just five when he watched his dad knock his mother’s teeth out with one punch.
School offered no escape. Classmates bullied him for his Italian heritage and second-hand clothes. He started stealing early. By 12, he was arrested for assault and battery. At 17, the Army took him. He served in Germany, boxed on the base team, married German-Irish Irmgard Beck, and brought her home with a baby on the way.
On the surface, he looked like the all-American success story. But behind closed doors, he was already forcing himself on his wife and molesting neighbourhood girls. The Army discharged him honourably in 1956. Back in Boston, he worked odd jobs. He sold doors. He fixed things. And he earned the nickname “The Measuring Man” because he conned women into letting him measure them for fake modelling agencies. The violence escalated fast.
The Boston Strangler Murders: Terror That Paralysed a City
Between June 1962 and January 1964, someone strangled 13 women in Greater Boston. Ages ranged from 19 to 85. The killer entered apartments without forced entry. He tied victims with their own stockings in “bow” knots. He sexually assaulted them. Then he strangled them. He left bodies posed provocatively.
- Anna Šlesers, 55 – June 14, 1962
- Mary Mullen, 85 – June 28, 1962
- Nina Nichols, 68 – June 30, 1962
- Helen Blake, 65 – June 30, 1962
- Ida Irga, 75 – August 19, 1962
- Jane Sullivan, 67 – August 21, 1962
- Sophie Clark, 20 – December 5, 1962
- Patricia Bissette, 23 – December 31, 1962
- Mary Brown, 69 – March 6, 1963
- Beverly Samans, 23 – May 6, 1963
- Evelyn Corbin, 58 – September 8, 1963
- Joann Graff, 23 – November 23, 1963
- Mary Sullivan, 19 – January 4, 1964
Boston lived in terror. Women bought dogs. They installed triple locks. They stopped answering the door. The press screamed, “Mad Strangler on the Loose.” Sales of tear gas soared.
Albert DeSalvo’s Arrest: The Green Man Connection That Trapped Him
Albert DeSalvo was already in prison in 1964 for a string of rapes under the name “The Green Man” (he wore green work clothes). He broke into hundreds of apartments, tied women up, assaulted them, then apologised and left. He never killed during those attacks.
In November 1964, one Green Man survivor picked DeSalvo out of a lineup. While in custody, he started bragging to fellow inmate George Nassar about being the Boston Strangler. Nassar told his lawyer, F. Lee Bailey. Bailey saw dollar signs. He got DeSalvo to confess on tape in exchange for book and movie deals. The confession was dramatic. Detailed. And full of holes.
Why Albert DeSalvo’s Confession Never Added Up
- DeSalvo got major facts wrong (wrong underwear colour, wrong positioning of bodies).
- He couldn’t describe crime scenes police kept secret.
- His DNA (tested in 2013 and again in 2025) does NOT match semen found on the last victim, Mary Sullivan.
- Survivors who saw the Strangler face-to-face said DeSalvo wasn’t the man.
- He had solid alibis for several murders.
Yet the Attorney General announced “case closed” in 1965. Why? Because Boston needed the nightmare to end. And DeSalvo gave them a neat bow.
The Trial That Never Happened & DeSalvo’s Prison Murder
Albert DeSalvo never stood trial for the Strangler murders. He was convicted only of the Green Man rapes and sentenced to life in 1967.
On November 25, 1973, someone stabbed him 19 times in the prison infirmary. The killer was never officially identified. Rumours point to a hit ordered to silence him forever.
The Real Victims: 13 Women the World Forgot
We remember the clown makeup and the confession tapes. We forget the women.
- Anna Šlesers loved opera and dreamed of visiting Europe again.
- Sophie Clark was studying to be a nurse.
- Mary Sullivan had just moved to Boston with big city dreams at 19.
Their stories got buried under the “Boston Strangler” brand. In 2025, victim families are pushing for a memorial wall with all 13 names. No killer’s name. Just theirs.
Final Thoughts: Was Albert DeSalvo the Boston Strangler, or the Perfect Fall Guy?
I used to think this was a solved case. Now? I’m not so sure. Albert DeSalvo was a rapist, a con man, and a pathological liar. But the DNA says he didn’t strangle Mary Sullivan. And if he didn’t kill Mary, who did he actually kill? Boston’s nightmare might have had more than one monster.
What do you think now? Was DeSalvo a killer who got away with lying about the biggest case of the century, or was he just another victim of a system desperate for closure? Drop your take below. I read every comment. And if this one left you questioning everything, check out my deep dive on the Zodiac Killer next: same era, frustration and unanswered questions.
