The Boston Strangler: A Complete Timeline of Albert DeSalvo's Alleged Victims
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Content warning: This article contains discussions of murder and sexual assault some may find upsetting reader discretion is advised.
The Boston Strangler terrorized women across the Massachusetts state capitol for two years, killing over a dozen women in mysterious attacks that would remain mostly unsolved for decades. Hulu's new film, Boston Strangler, highlights Record-American newspaper reporter Loretta McLaughlin, played by Keira Knightley, as she begins to piece together the truth connecting the murders. The film also showcases the rampant sexism that McLaughlin and her colleague Jean Cole experience on their quest to uncover the truth about who was responsible for the heinous crimes.
More than 50 years after the last victim was discovered, officials in Massachusetts announced that DNA test results taken from the remains of Albert DeSalvo provided an "unprecedented level of certainty," proving that DeSalvo raped and strangled Mary Sullivan. According to USA Today, DeSalvo initially admitted to killing Sullivan and 12 other women between 1962 and 1964 but later recanted. He was never charged with the crimes, as he was serving life in prison for other crimes. DeSalvo was killed in 1973 by another inmate in prison.
With new true crime series and films emerging about DeSalvo being the Boston Stranger, new conversations have emerged about who he was and the identities of his victims. Read ahead for everything we know about the Boston Stranger and his murder victims.
How many people did the Boston Strangler kill?
According to Biography.com, the Boston Strangler raped and killed 13 women across Boston. He began a life of crime and sexual assault against women in the late 1950s. 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. He was arrested and spent nearly a year in prison for those crimes.
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." DeSalvo's crimes continued to worsen, and in 1962, he killed his first victim Anna Slesers with her housecoat and tied the ends, which later became his signature. According to Biography.com, DeSalvo began raping and killing older women throughout the summer of 1962 and attacking younger women that winter.
On October 27, 1964, DeSalvo was arrested after a victim he raped reported him to the police. According to The New York Times, DeSalvo confessed the details of the slayings of 13 women to a psychiatrist, but he was never charged or convicted for the Boston Strangler murders due to lack of physical evidence. He did receive a life sentence for the "Green Man" assault. An unidentified inmate stabbed DeSalvo to death at Walpole State Prison on November 26, 1973.
When did the Boston Strangler kill his victims?
The Boston Strangler killed 13 women of different ages and races between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964.
June 14, 1962: Anna Slesers, 55
June 28, 1962: Mary Mullen, 85
June 30, 1962: Helen Blake, 65
June 30, 1962: Nina Nichols, 68
August 19, 1962: Ida Irga, 75
August 20, 1962: Jane Sullivan, 67
December 5, 1962: Sophie Clark, 20
December 31, 1962: Patricia Bissette, 23
March 6, 1963: Mary Brown, 69
May 6, 1963: Beverly Samans, 23
September 8, 1963: Evelyn Corbin, 58
November 23, 1963: Joanne Graff, 23
January 4, 1964: Mary Sullivan, 19
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