Boston Strangler

Ruskin succeeds in paying tribute to McLaughlin's hard work but is less successful in filling in the bigger story.

Eventually, "Boston Strangler" reaches a point in which it is totally controlled by the wild course of events it is recreating, and it does make for decent, unsettling twists in a third act based on truth. [Alessandro Nivola](/cast-and-crew/alessandro-nivola), who plays a Boston cop who admits to being worn down by the case but starts to see the purpose in supporting Loretta's tenacity. There are many scenes of Loretta and Jean poring over documents, and moments meant to sting—like when Jean makes eye contact with a suspect in custody—lose their effect. But the plotting takes on some interesting layers, including the point when Loretta and Jean call out the Boston police in the paper for how they have mishandled the investigation and left innocent Bostonians in a dangerous dark. Instead, the stakes are more about someone believing so hard in the case they risk losing focus on their family life, and yet "Boston Strangler" doesn't have much space for that. Loretta and Jean are the first to pursue and broadcast the connection through the paper.

'Boston Strangler' tells the story of a series of murders in the early 1960s from the perspective of the two journalists who broke the story.

[WBZ-TV in 2018](https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-strangler-cellmate-interview-george-nassar-albert-desalvo-wbz-tv-i-team-cheryl-fiandaca/), Nassar denied having taken part in the killings and claimed he told Bailey to take on DeSalvo’s case. In the following years, Marsh moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where a series of similar murders later took place. Lee Bailey (played by Luke Kirby), who took on DeSalvo as a client when he became the prime suspect in the case. The question of whether DeSalvo committed the other 12 murders remains unanswered. [Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/11/25/loretta-mclaughlin-groundbreaking-reporter-and-former-globe-editorial-page-editor/SfVdYxacCQtG5JfUSru5gL/story.html) about what pushed her to cover the case, explaining how it was the fourth murder in the summer of 1962 that “galvanized” her attention. DeSalvo recanted his confession in prison in 1973 shortly before he was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate. It was at this point in time that McLaughlin and Cole started to come up against significant resistance from authorities who took the stance that the level of detail included in their reporting wasn’t helping the investigation and could inspire copycat crimes. That said, in terms of trying to tell a story that spanned several years in a feature film, you obviously have to take some liberties.” In October 1964, 34-year-old Albert DeSalvo (played by David Dastmalchian) was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman after pretending to be a police officer to gain entry into her home. DeSalvo was sent to await trial at Bridgewater State Hospital, a state facility for the criminally insane, and it was there that he allegedly confessed to his cellmate, George Nassar (played by Greg Vrotos), that he was responsible for the murders associated with the Boston Strangler case. The majority were sexually assaulted before being strangled to death. That was what made them so interesting…sisters in anonymity, like all of us.”

In writer/director Matt Ruskin's true-crime thriller “Boston Strangler” (now streaming on Hulu), Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Coon) team ...

Some of the imagery and the way in which we depict the violence – hearing things instead of seeing things in many cases – is actually more horrifying than if we tried to depict it.” “Boston Strangler” also digs into how the police struggled in the "early stages" of criminology, Ruskin adds. “They would go visit different regional police stations and see some of their articles taped to the wall,” Ruskin says. “It was a tabloid newspaper, and so they did what they could to sell papers,” the filmmaker says. McLaughlin “tried to punch everyone in the face and say, ‘Take me seriously!’ And Jean is much more wily about it and a bit flirty,” Knightley says. “A lot of women have said watching it is cathartic,” Knightley says.

The new film Boston Strangler, available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ documents the real murders that took place in Boston in the 1960s.

DeSalvo was sent to MCI-Walpole to serve his life sentence in 1967, per The Crime Museum. Gertrude Gruen, a survivor of an assault by the man believed to be the Boston Strangler, doubted DeSalvo was the killer, but felt "something frighteningly familiar" about George Nassar, per The Crime Museum. However, DeSalvo was able to describe the women he supposedly killed in detail, per Crime Library. Supposedly, DeSalvo told Nassar that he was responsible for the Boston Strangler murders. The case could not be linked to DeSalvo until 2013, when police were able to test DNA from DeSalvo's nephew, Tim DeSalvo. Her work has previously appeared in The Cut and Teen Vogue. A few years before the Boston Strangler murders occurred, DeSalvo confessed to being the "Measuring Man," a man who went around to women's houses, claiming to be from a modeling agency, and sexually assaulted women while taking their measurements. Mary Sullivan, the last woman killed in the Boston Strangler murders, was found with a "Happy New Year" card leaning against her foot. After matching DNA with DeSalvo's nephew, investigators extracted DNA from DeSalvo's body—including his femur and teeth. Shortly after his confession, DeSalvo was sent to a mental hospital for psychiatric observation. The film, which stars Keira Knightly and Carrie Coon, follows the journalists who broke the story of the serial murders that took place in the city, and the hysteria that surrounded the case, particularly for women living in Boston at the time. [The Crime Museum](https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/the-boston-strangler/), were raped and left naked with the murder weapon—a stocking or pillow case—ornamentally tied around their neck like a bowtie.

Albert DeSalvo reportedly raped and killed 13 women as the Boston Strangler. Read ahead for a complete timeline of the Boston Strangler's victims.

He did receive a life sentence for the "Green Man" assault. Upon his release DeSalvo began breaking into the homes of women across New England, where he'd tie them up and sexually assault them while wearing green handyman clothes, earning him a new nickname, "Green Man." He was arrested and spent nearly a year in prison for those crimes. The outlet claims DeSalvo was nicknamed the "Measuring Man" after he would knock on the doors of young women, claiming to represent a modeling agency, and "crudely fondle" them with his tape measure. Read ahead for everything we know about the Boston Stranger and his murder victims. He was never charged with the crimes, as he was serving life in prison for other crimes.

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon play reporters from Scituate and Milton in "Boston Strangler," which debuts March 17 on Hulu.

And to be able to line those streets with old cars from the 1950s and early ’60s, and dress the actors in a wardrobe from that time period, it was amazing to witness the neighborhoods returned to a period that was before my time.” “There's just no shortage of great actors in the Boston area,” he said. “But I was particularly inspired by Loretta and her commitment to doing the work that was so important to her. And the more I got to know about these women, the more I grew to admire them and felt incredibly compelled to tell their stories.” “There was very little information available about them,” Ruskin said of McLaughlin and Cole. “Then several years ago, I started reading all that I could and discovered this incredibly layered mystery that was full of twists and turns, and in many ways was as much a story about the city. “They thought that she didn't belong in the workplace either.” I was just completely gripped by the case, and when I discovered the contributions of these reporters, Loretta Mclaughlin and Jean Cole, I felt it was a really compelling way to revisit the case.” And both reach deep into the darkest recesses of a story that’s as much about their characters as it is about the crime. “When I started researching the story, I was immediately grabbed by Loretta and Jean's stories,” Ruskin said. But he’s quick to add that championing McLaughlin and Cole, as well as the victims, was always his priority. DeSalvo confessed to the killings, but was never convicted of them, and decades later [a DNA investigation raised doubts](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/us/doubts-are-raised-in-case-of-boston-strangler.html?searchResultPosition=1) about his confession.

More than 60 years after the Boston Stranger took their first of at least 11 victims, no charges have ever been brought. A new Hulu film starring Keira ...

“But we do believe that we stand on the threshold of unprecedented certainty regarding Mary Sullivan’s murder.” Some have posited that more than one person could have been responsible for the Boston Strangler killings. The question of whether DeSalvo really was the Boston Strangler lingered. “We don’t claim with certainty that Albert DeSalvo is a suspect in each of them,” District Attorney Daniel F Conley told The New York Times then. The unknown always holds a certain element of terror, and because so much about the Strangler is completely unknown, and because what is known is so bizarre, he has had a far-reaching effect on the city.” [The New York Times](http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=44681X1458326&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F1967%2F01%2F19%2Farchives%2Fboston-strangler-guilty-in-4-attacks-strangler-gets-life-in.html&sref=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/boston-strangler-documentary-true-story-b2302597.html) reported at the time. DeSalvo was dead by then (he died in prison in 1973 after being stabbed to death in prison). Six decades after Slesers’s death, the story of the Boston Strangler remains in part shrouded in mystery. The women were found in their homes. It is a dark, distressing true-crime saga, involving a controversial confession, breakthrough DNA evidence, and a pioneering journalist who first connected the deaths to one another. In the months that followed, more women were found, apparently killed by the same perpetrator. More than 60 years after the Boston Stranger took their first of at least 11 victims, no charges have ever been brought. The Boston Strangler’s first victim, Anna Slesers, was found dead on 14 June 1962.

Relative of serial killer's last victim is convinced the bogeyman figure of the Boston Strangler never existed, and he has spent 36 years on a ceaseless ...

There was no DNA from DeSalvo in Mary’s body. DeSalvo, who one medic diagnosed as schizophrenic, told his therapist he had visited the Strangler crime scenes, which Casey thinks might account for the DNA found on the blanket. Casey says: “We did find evidence of my aunt’s killer inside her body. Ten months after the murder, Albert DeSalvo, a handyman, was apprehended for an unconnected string of sexual assaults and sent to a state mental hospital. In 2021, Casey acquired letters said to be from DeSalvo, in which he vowed to expose the “big” people who had been “using him”. Nobody was ever convicted of his murder. Casey also examined 60 hours of interview tapes, and found inconsistencies with DeSalvo’s claims. There was no physical evidence or pattern to suggest the murders were by one person. And he is convinced the bogeyman figure of the Boston Strangler never existed. One of the victims died of a heart attack, another was stabbed and a third was both stabbed and strangled. Mary had been strangled with three ligatures, two scarves and one of her own stockings. It was haunting and beautiful.”

The 1968 film “Boston Strangler,” starring Henry Fonda as the lead investigator and Tony Curtis as suspected Strangler Albert DeSalvo, debuted to generally ...

In the same documentary, Phil DiNatale, the lead investigator of a Boston Strangler task force, said he believed that DeSalvo, his prime suspect in the case, was guilty. A 1964 Record-American story tells of Hurkos touching crime scene objects and using ESP to identify an unnamed 57-year-old suspect who Brooke said matched the description of a “prime suspect” in the case. Much like in real life, the ending of “Boston Strangler” doesn’t come to any tidy conclusion about who was responsible for the killings. The deal said that DeSalvo would be sentenced to life in prison for the multiple rapes he allegedly committed, but his confession to being the Boston Strangler would not be admissible in court. “Boston Strangler” also spends time with another alleged suspect, known as “Daniel Marsh.” Marsh did not exist in real life, but instead represents the many men who were at one point strongly considered to be the Strangler. It also speculates that perhaps Nassar himself may have committed some of the killings, and found DeSalvo as a willing scapegoat. Nivola, who doesn’t naturally speak with a Boston accent but capably pulls it off in the film, told Boston.com that he watched a police interrogation of the “It was actually the first time I’d ever really listened to a real police interrogation start to finish,” Nivola said. It was also true that McLaughlin wrote a number of lifestyle pieces during her time at the Record-American and its predecessor. “Growing up in Boston, I think everybody had heard of the Boston Strangler,” Ruskin told Boston.com. McNamara initially garnered positive headlines for his diligence on the case, with the Record-American noting that he had assigned 150 detectives to the case in September 1962. This isn’t the first time Hollywood has taken a look at the killing spree that rocked Boston in the 1960s, during which 13 women were murdered between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964.

Who was the Boston Strangler? DNA evidence proved Albert DeSalvo was guilty of one of the 13 murders but there could be many Boston Stranglers.

In the fall of 1964, police were also trying to save a series of rapes committed by a perpetrator dubbed the “Measuring Man” or the “Green Man” in addition to trying to solve the Strangler cases. “There was not one Boston Strangler, but rather a bare minimum of six and much more likely eight or nine,” she wrote. The letters were part of a collection of correspondence between DeSalvo and a family who’d met him while visiting a friend at Walpole State Prison. “He’s the killer of my aunt, which is all this has been about for me.” Though DeSalvo has been conclusively linked to Mary Sullivan’s murder, there are doubts as to whether he’s responsible for the slayings of the other Strangler victims. DeSalvo was arrested in connection to the “Green Man” rapes but was not considered a Boston Strangler suspect. “That confession has been the subject of skepticism and controversy from almost the moment it was given.” Lee Baily and Senator Brooks and a lot of other big names.” “For almost five decades, the only link between Albert DeSalvo and Mary Sullivan was his confession,”. The DNA profiles matched one from a water bottle that had recently been used by one of DeSalvo’s nephews. He was never charged or convicted, however, as the technology that could link him physically to the crimes would not become widely used for another 20 years. 19-year-old Mary Sullivan, the last of the victims, was found raped and murdered in her apartment in January 1964. Even though local police’s primary suspect confessed to the slaying of at least 13 women, authorities had insufficient evidence to charge him with the crimes.