‘The Boston Strangler’: the true story behind the Disney+ movie

While the platforms of streaming they continue to rescue the stories of legendary serial killers to turn them into world entertainment, or perhaps morbid fascination, Disney+ has released a movie dedicated to one of New England’s worst criminal myths: the Boston Strangler.

Directed by Matt Ruskin and co-produced by Ridley Scott, the film of the same name tells the story of real-life reporter Loretta McLaughlin (played by Keira Knightley) who, along with her colleague Jean Cole (played by Carrie Coon) , made it known the story of the murderer for the Boston Record American in the sixties.

But, What is the true story behind the Boston Strangler? And why has this case continued to be investigated until 2013?

The True Story of the Boston Strangler, Explained

In June 1962, for two terrifying years, women in and around Boston were sexually assaulted, raped, and murdered in their own homes. A total of 13 single women, between the ages of 19 and 84, were abused and killed, often strangled with a silk stocking or rope, which was then tied with a bow.. Since there was never any sign of forced entry into their homes, it was thought that the killer might have been posing as a delivery man or building maintenance man.

It was not until October 1964 when one of his victims, whom he had approached posing as a detective and later raped, was able to identify him to police as Albert DeSalvo. He initially was not charged with all the murders, but was accused of rape and later confessed.

DeSalvo was able to cite details about the crimes that had not been made public, leading authorities to believe him. However, there were some inconsistencies in his confessions, and in a time before DNA testing, the police were unable to link him with certainty to the crimes, as there was no physical evidence to do so.

Instead, he was tried for prior sex crimes and robbery charges, but not for any of the crimes associated with the Boston Strangler. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. However, in February of that year, he escaped from Bridgewater State Hospital with two other inmates.. He tried to disguise himself as a Navy officer, but turned himself in a day later. He was later transferred to a maximum security prison and six years later he was stabbed to death in that same prison.

The killer behind the Boston Strangler: Doubts with DeSalvo?

While he was in prison, there were several people who believed that DeSalvo had fabricated the confession. In 1968, according to Dr. Ames Robey of Bridgewater State Hospital, DeSalvo was not the murderer, just “a highly intelligent and cunning compulsive confessor who desperately needs to be recognized.”

Others claimed that the murders were more likely the work of several people, rather than just one, while, in a 2001 documentary on the case, ‘The Boston Strangler’, a Former FBI profiler said: “It is inconceivable at the level of their behavior that all of these [asesinatos] could fit into a single individual”.

However, in 2000, a lawyer and journalist took up the case and the bodies of DeSalvo and his latest victim, Mary Sullivan, were exhumed. In 2013, the Boston Police Department announced that it had found DNA evidence to link DeSalvo to Sullivan..

Taking DNA from a water bottle belonging to DeSalvo’s nephewthey found a near-certain match (that it had passed through the family’s male ancestors on the patrilineal line) and then DeSalvo’s exhumed corpse was tested, and his DNA (in seminal fluid) was found at the scene of DeSalvo’s murder. Sullivan. This led authorities to conclude that DeSalvo was likely responsible for the other murders..

As Massachusetts prosecutor Martha Coakley said at the time when ABC News: “We may have solved one of the nation’s most notorious serial murders”.

‘The Boston Strangler’ is available on Disney+ from March 17.