Serial Killers: The Boston Strangler Murder

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Serial killers are oddly fascinating, whether it’s the method they kill or their background story. Each serial killer’s story is unique and different. What fascinated me the most were the IQ scores of the most successful serial killers. I wondered why all the best serial killers had high IQ scores, and then I wondered if they were higher than an average person. I organized my paper into sections, first is the background information about Albert DeSalvo who was the serial killer that I picked to do the most research on. The next section is the findings section, which I sectioned into three more sections. The three serial killers were divided into whether or not they dropped out of high school, dropped out of college or graduated college. Then …show more content…

Between June 1962 and January 1964, a series of murders took place in Boston. The Boston Strangler was accountable for 11 of the 13 female victims. At that time, no one was tried for the Boston Strangler because there was no actual evidence. DeSalvo confessed to each of the 13 Strangler murders and gave detail about how he killed each victim, but there was still doubts from people that worked with him.
Boston Strangler Crime
From June 1962 through January 1964, 13 single women between the ages of 19 and 85 were murdered throughout the Boston Area. The first victim was Anna Slesers; a seamstress was murdered on the evening of June 14, 1962. She lived on her own in Boston. Her son found her body in the bathroom with a cord around her neck tied in a bow. Detectives found Slesers in an obscene state: nude and stripped of dignity. She had been sexually assaulted and the apartment was ransacked.
The next victim was murdered on June 28, 1962. Mary Mullen, 85-year-old was found murdered in her home. Then two days later 68-year-old Nina Nichols was also found in Boston. Both victims seemed to be robbed and were found undressed. Nichols was found with her legs wide open and her stocking tied in a …show more content…

Detectives thought that they had their killer; DeSalvo was incarcerated in the MCI Cedar Junction prison in Massachusetts. In November 1973, DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison. There were no more murdered by the Strangler after DeSalvo had been arrested, but the case was never closed.
Recent News
In 2001, DeSalvo’s body was exhumed and DNA tests were taken to compare evidence from the last Strangler victim, Mary Sullivan. There was no match, which only proved that DeSalvo didn’t sexually assault her. In 2013, his body was re-exhumed for further evaluation with new forensic testing. After taking DNA from DeSalvo’s nephew, the police said it was a “near-certain match” to DNA evidence found on Mary Sullivan’s body. After testing DeSalvo’s femur and some teeth, it was determined that DeSalvo was the man who killed and raped Mary Sullivan.
Speculation
Although DNA and evidence showed that DeSalvo was the killer, the family of DeSalvo and a nephew Mary Sullivan continue to believe in Albert DeSalvo’s innocence of the 13 murders to which he confessed; they remain convinced that the killer is still

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