after 50 years look like they might have ID'd the guy

[www.nytimes.com]

Thanks for the post! Very interesting case.

"Well my heavy throbbers itchin' just to lay a solid rhythm down"

That's strange, because the bodies of Mary Sullivan and Albert DeSalvo were both exhumed for DNA testing some 20 years ago, and it was conclusively determined that there was no match. Ironic that a New York news source would be reporting this erroneous story, because in New York, as detailed at the end of Susan Kelly's book The Boston Stranglers, a news item flashed on a message board above Times Square reporting that DeSalvo was not the Boston Strangler (as a result of the DNA tests that were done).

The one many people suspect is a fellow Bridgewater prison inmate of DeSalvo's, George Nassar, who is said to have fed information to DeSalvo about the crimes, which DeSalvo in turn was seeking to sell the rights for to provide money for his family and notoriety for himself.

The night before he was killed, DeSalvo called Dr. Ames Robey, the forensic psychiatrist who argued that DeSalvo was innocent, explaining that it was urgent that they meet right away. Dr. Robey agreed to meet with DeSalvo at the prison the next morning. Dr. Robey reveals what was discussed during the phone call:

“He was going to tell us who the Boston Strangler really was, and what the whole thing was about. He had asked to be placed in the infirmary under special lockup about a week before. Something was going on within the prison, and I think he felt he had to talk quickly. There were people in the prison, including guards, that were not happy with him… Somebody had to leave an awful lot of doors open, which meant, because there were several guards one would have to go by, there had to be a fair number of people paid or asked to turn their backs or something. But somebody put a knife into Albert DeSalvo’s heart sometime between evening check and the morning.”

Dr. Robey also mentioned that DeSalvo had asked for one other person to meet with them--a reporter (from the Boston Herald).


DeSalvo's cell at Walpole state prison, where he was murdered on the night of November 25, 1973.



George Nassar, who received a life sentence for the 1964 murder of a gas station attendant--shortly after the Boston Strangler had killed his last victim.

Author Susan Kelly wrote a book on the Boston Strangler which detailed the exhumations of both Sullivan and DeSalvo. Below is an online source detailing the DNA testing that was done on the exhumed body of Mary Sullivan:

On January 4, 1964, Mary Sullivan was found by her roommate, strangled to death and sexually assaulted. In a final morbid gesture, placed at her feet was a Happy New Year card.

The police collected semen left on Mary’s body by the killer. But in 1964, there was no way to match it to a suspect. Albert DeSalvo later admitted he’d killed Mary. However, two families have formed a surprising alliance to challenge his confession: the family of Mary Sullivan and the family of Albert DeSalvo, including his brother Richard:

“I never believed my brother was the Boston Strangler from day one. I just want the name cleared. That's all. Albert was not perfect. Albert did some bad things. Albert was not a murderer.”

Mary Sullivan's sister, Diane, also believes that DeSalvo was not the killer:

“I'm gonna do everything I can to find her murderer, to find the murderer of Mary.”

According to Casey Sherman, Mary Sullivan’s nephew, he contacted the Boston police and asked about possible DNA evidence in The Strangler case:

“I made several inquiries to the Boston police department and they told me flat out that they did not have any physical evidence left in the Boston Strangler case to test for DNA evidence.”

So Mary Sullivan’s family turned to the only evidence available to them: Mary’s remains.
Casey said the family felt exhumation was the only way they could settle the case:

“We had to do the exhumation of my aunt's body. It was a horrible experience. We didn't want to do it, but it was our last and only recourse, we thought, and it was the only chance to find her killer.”

The Sullivans got help from a team of forensic experts, including world-renowned Professor of Law and Forensic Science, James Starrs:

“We were obviously looking for any seminal fluid, and we do know that seminal fluid will fluoresce under UV light. So we looked, and seminal fluid fluoresced, and it was also in the right location for seminal fluid. It's on pubic hair.”

Forensic molecular biologist Dr. David Foran was another member of the team:

“So we examined that, hoping to get any DNA from it. We had to be extra careful because, obviously, her hair is going to have her DNA in it, so one of the tricky parts becomes isolating DNA only from this material that's stuck in the pubic hair, and not from the hair itself.”

Dr. Foran successfully isolated a DNA sequence and compared it to Albert DeSalvo's genes using DNA taken from his brother, Richard. The results were virtually indisputable; the semen was not Albert DeSalvo’s. It confirmed to Casey Sherman that his family made the right decision in exhuming his aunt’s body:

“When he said that there was DNA, they believed, from Mary's killer on her body, and that DNA didn't match Albert DeSalvo, it was just complete vindication as far as I was concerned.”

The results led James Starrs to lay down a challenge:

“For those who say that Albert DeSalvo did do it, the shoe is on their foot now. It's for them to come forward and show the evidence to prove that Albert DeSalvo did do it.”

But if Albert DeSalvo did not kill Mary Sullivan, then who did?

Full story at: [www.unsolved.com]

The Boston Stranglers is the book written by Susan Kelly and published in hardcover in 1995 and in mass market paperback in 2002.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-07-13 04:50 by stonehearted.

well...

I'm just talkin' 'bout the Midnight Rambler.

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stonehearted
That's strange, because the bodies of Mary Sullivan and Albert DeSalvo were both exhumed for DNA testing some 20 years ago, and it was conclusively determined that there was no match. Ironic that a New York news source would be reporting this erroneous story

did you read the article?

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sonomastone

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stonehearted
That's strange, because the bodies of Mary Sullivan and Albert DeSalvo were both exhumed for DNA testing some 20 years ago, and it was conclusively determined that there was no match. Ironic that a New York news source would be reporting this erroneous story

did you read the article?

Yes. I also read the (Susan Kelly) book. I thought the case was (re)done and (re)dusted.

As I posted above, they already took DNA from DeSalvo's brother. Here is that part of the post:

Dr. Foran successfully isolated a DNA sequence and compared it to Albert DeSalvo's genes using DNA taken from his brother, Richard. The results were virtually indisputable; the semen was not Albert DeSalvo’s.

When they exhume DeSalvo, they'll find the same thing they did when they exhumed and tested the remains 20 years ago: nothing. They should instead take a DNA sample from George Nassar--there's your match.

everybody's got to go!

Apparently Nassar is alive and still in custody. Should be easy to sort this one out if dna samples survive for the other murders. Problem is that high profile miscarriages of justice are a serious embarrassment to so many (police/legal system/newspapers etc.).
Having studied the RFK case for some time (which has an interesting but unsubstantiated overlap with the DeSalvo case) it's clear that justice has a lot less to do with justice and doing the right thing than it would in an ideal world.
I guess all this current testing can prove is whether or not desalvo killed the last victim. It is also worth remembering that dna testing is not as infallible as we're often led to believe.
Interesting thread.

Well that's all very confusing.

I can't imagine there's anyone on the 2013 BPD payroll that gives a rat's ass about covering up a 50 year old mistake, if there was one. They're just using the most modern science to try to resolve a murder. As they even stated during yesterday's press conference, this won't even prove DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler, just the likely murderer of Mary Sullivan.

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shakeydeal
I can't imagine there's anyone on the 2013 BPD payroll that gives a rat's ass about covering up a 50 year old mistake, if there was one. They're just using the most modern science to try to resolve a murder. As they even stated during yesterday's press conference, this won't even prove DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler, just the likely murderer of Mary Sullivan.

Absolutely correct. My point was slightly more aimed at LAPD/California DA whose conduct Paul Schrade might have a thing or two to say about.

Exhuming Albert DeSalvo: What Happens Now?

The body of the man who could be the "Boston Strangler" is heading to Texas.

To be more precise, a DNA sample extracted from the exhumed remains of Albert DeSalvo will be carefully packaged and sent to a lab in Dallas.

As state and local officials revealed on Thursday, they believe that the DNA sample will prove that DeSalvo committed the last of the 11 murders that occurred in Greater Boston between 1962 and 1964. Mary Sullivan, a 19-year-old who was found raped and murdered in her Charles Street apartment in 1964.

On Friday afternoon, investigators gathered at the Puritan Lawn Memorial Park in Peabody — where DeSalvo is buried — to execute a unique search warrant.

Exhumations are rare. Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County DA's office, said that in his nine years on the job, this is the first time he's seen one requested. Since graveyards and human remains are protected by law, those rare requests are typically handled by the courts.

In this case, Suffolk Country District Attorney Daniel Conley took a different approach, requesting a search warrant for DeSalvo's coffin. That coffin, of course, contains DeSalvo's remains – and his DNA.

Once workers at the cemetery unearth the coffin – DeSalvo's entire remains will be brought to the medical examiner's office on Albany Street in Boston – where members of the Boston Police Department crime lab will recover a DNA sample from his tissue or bone.

That sample will be sent to Orchid Cellmark a lab outside of Dallas, TX, one of only a handful in the country that can extract meaningful data from the kind of small, old and degraded sample they will be receiving in this case. It's also one of two labs where, late last year, officials sent decades-old samples of seminal fluid recovered from Ms. Sullivan's body and a blanket found on the scene for new testing.

Both labs found that the samples contained the unique genetic profile of an unknown male. Officials believe that male is DeSalvo.

As rare as exhumations are, this is actually not the first time that DeSalvo's remains have been unearthed. In the early 2000's DeSalvo's family had him exhumed for the very same reason – a DNA test. They believed the results would exonerate him of the crime. Family members maintained that while DeSalvo had himself confessed to the crime, the details of his story were inconsistent and suspect.

Tests then did not rule DeSalvo out as a suspect, but the results suggested it was unlikely that he committed the crime.

This time, officials believe the results will be different and conclusive. Technology has advanced significantly and, as Conley pointed out, the previous tests were "not done by law enforcement," but by a private team of forensic experts.

If all goes according to plan, the DNA sample will be on its way to the lab and DeSalvo's body will be back underground – all by the time the sun sets on Friday afternoon, Wark said.

Results are expected sometime next week. Maybe then the family of Mary Sullivan and the body of Albert DeSalvo can – once and for all – rest in peace.

Story plus photos and video at: [www.wgbhnews.org]

I think Zodiac case is much more interesting

No news about Jack the ripper?

2 1 2 0

Lab: Confessed Boston Strangler's DNA on slain woman's body

Full details at: [www.cnn.com]

DNA match links confessed Boston Strangler to last slaying in the spree

From a Boston news source: [www.boston.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-07-20 03:05 by stonehearted.

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stonehearted

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sonomastone

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stonehearted
That's strange, because the bodies of Mary Sullivan and Albert DeSalvo were both exhumed for DNA testing some 20 years ago, and it was conclusively determined that there was no match. Ironic that a New York news source would be reporting this erroneous story

did you read the article?

Yes. I also read the (Susan Kelly) book. I thought the case was (re)done and (re)dusted.

As I posted above, they already took DNA from DeSalvo's brother. Here is that part of the post:

Dr. Foran successfully isolated a DNA sequence and compared it to Albert DeSalvo's genes using DNA taken from his brother, Richard. The results were virtually indisputable; the semen was not Albert DeSalvo’s.

When they exhume DeSalvo, they'll find the same thing they did when they exhumed and tested the remains 20 years ago: nothing. They should instead take a DNA sample from George Nassar--there's your match.

Turns out that when they exhumed Albert DeSalvo, it matched.

[www.cnn.com]

When I was between 18 months and 3 years of age during the time frame of the murders, of course I do not remember that time but we lived two doors down from Albert DeSalvo.

My Mother was in her early twenties and I had a sister who was 18 months older than myself My father worked on an overnight shift. My mom always said that he was not an overly friendly guy but was always polite and cordial.

A great book called A Death in Belmont chronicles a Shocking murder in the spring of 1963 that fits the pattern of the Strangler. Roy smith a Black excon was hired by the Murder victim to clean her house he was arrested and hastily convicted of the crime. Although Albert DeSalvo had worked for her also, as a carpenter and a picture does exist of him taken inside the very house.

What I find amazing is that most people do not know that Albert DeSalvo was never convicted for any of the Murders he was in jail for other deviant convictions.

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sonomastone
Turns out that when they exhumed Albert DeSalvo, it matched.

[www.cnn.com]

You'll note that I posted the very same CNN link in the post before yours.

I must admit that I was surprised, having read a book from the early 2000s that details the DNA testing done from the first exhumation.

But what doesn't surprise me is the timing of this case being "solved". Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley is running for mayor of Boston. And following the capture of the Boston Bomber, and with Whitey Bulger on trial for murder at last, then it's highly convenient to be solving the Boston Strangler case, which has "stumped five district attorney's offices that investigated the case" [abcnews.go.com], and putting your name out there in a high-profile manner in association with the case being solved. Makes for a tidy little political advertisement, and just in time for election season.

A poster above commented--sarcastically I think--if there was any news on the Jack The Ripper case.

Well, if this Dan Conley fellow were a high-profile police official in London, and he were running for the office of mayor in that city, then I'm certain there would have been something in the news about a break in the Jack The Ripper case--depending on when election year for mayor in London is, of course.