Who is The Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo's Wife?
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Content warning: This article contains references to murder and abuse some may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
Hulu's The Boston Strangler stars Kiera Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin, a Boston Record American lifestyle reporter who took on the coverage of a series of targeted murders with fellow reporter Jean Cole back in 1962. The true-crime movie is based on a real and partially-unsolved case of a murderer (dubbed "the Boston Strangler" by McLaughlin and Cole) who primarily targeted elderly women living alone, ransacking their apartments and leaving behind nothing but the dead body as evidence.
In 1964, Albert DeSalvo confessed to being the Boston Strangler during an examination for trial with psychiatrist Dr. Robert R. Mezer. At the time of confession, DeSalvo was in prison for a separate string of sexual assaults and burglaries and had previously served time for other sexually-motivated crimes. In his verbal confession, he claimed responsibility for all 13 women killed by the Boston Strangler as well as detailing the gruesome acts he committed against some of them.
DeSalvo served a life sentence for the rapes that he was convicted of but, due to insufficient physical evidence, was never charged for the murders — despite his verbal confessions. DNA proof that linked DeSalvo to the rape and murder of strangling victim Mary Sullivan was eventually discovered in 2013, but many people believe there might have been a string of copycat killers who could've adopted the Boston Strangler's MO and strangled some or all of the 12 other victims. DeSalvo recanted his confession while at Walpole State Prison right before his death in 1973.
Keeping his all-female victims and history of sexual assault in mind, was Albert DeSalvo married? Did he have a family? Here is what we know about his personal and romantic life.
Was Albert DeSalvo married?
Yes, he was. Albert DeSalvo married Irmgard Beck in 1953 and the couple stayed married until his death in 1973. The Boston Globe reports that DeSalvo once remarked, “It was the best thing I ever did when I married a German girl.”
What do we know about his wife?
DeSalvo served in the army for almost eight years and was stationed in Germany when he met Irmgard Beck. The couple got married in Frankfurt and ended up having two children together. Their first child, a daughter named Judy, was born with a physical handicap. A couple of sources claim that Beck avoided sleeping with her husband to evade the possibility of having another child with a handicap, but they had a second child together — a healthy son named Michael.
Using recently-uncovered notes from a social work researcher who went by the initials J.E.B., The Boston Globe described DeSalvo's "careless supervision of his two children" during a visit in 1962. The man reportedly egged young Michael on to make a mess that "Mommy can clean up." Said reports also noted in all caps, “[DESALVO'S] MOTHER MADE CLEAR THAT [HIS] WIFE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT HIS JUVENILE RECORD OR COMMITMENT AND THAT BOTH HE AND SHE — THE MOTHER — WANT THE WIFE TO REMAIN IN IGNORANCE ABOUT THIS POINT.”
Some sources report that Beck didn't believe it when defense attorney F. Lee Bailey informed her of her husband's confession, claiming that he had confessed to procuring money from the newspapers and profiting off of his newfound notoriety.
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