The ‘Boston Strangler’ Was *Finally* Identified In 2013
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*Trigger warning: sexual assault, violence*
In the early 1960s, more than a dozen women were murdered by a killer in the Boston area, and the person behind the crimes would eventually become known as the Boston Strangler. While the story has cropped up in pop culture references, movies, and shows for decades now, a new Hulu and Disney+ movie, aptly called Boston Strangler, tells the story of the murders and the two trailblazing journalists who uncovered the patterns in the killings.
The movie, which dropped March 17, details how the Boston Record-American reporters, played by Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon, doggedly investigated the disturbing killings. The duo had to fight to get the story published, and in the trailer, Keira (who plays reporter Loretta McLaughlin) asks, “How many women have to die before it’s a story?!”
But how true-to-life is the new Boston Strangler movie and the journalists featured in it? Here’s everything you need to know.
The film is based on a very real story.
The Boston Strangler had at least 13 female victims in the Boston area between 1962 and 1964, and became one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, according to Brittanica.
Two local journalists, Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole decided to take the story on in the hopes of bringing justice to those who were killed. They were famous for their work on the Boston Strangler news story until their deaths.
Who were the victims?
The Boston Strangler has been tied to at least 13 deaths. The killer’s first victim was a 55-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted and strangled in her apartment on June 14, 1962, according to Brittanica. After that, a string of women between the ages of 65 to 85 were killed in a similar fashion, and the murderer was dubbed a “mother killer.”
But then, younger women were found killed under similar circumstances, with police suspecting that the killer had broadened his reach.
According to the Boston Globe the victims were believed to have included:
Anna Slesers, 56
Mary Mullen, 85
Nina Nichols, 68
Helen Blake, 65
Ida Irga, 75
Jane Sullivan, 67
Sophie Clark, 20
Patricia Bissette, 23
Beverly Samans, 26
Mary Brown, 69
Evelyn Corbin, 58
Joann Graff, 23
Mary Anne Sullivan, 19
Loretta and Jean broke the story.
Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightly) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) were “trailblazing” reporters and fought sexism in the workplace to investigate the string of crimes that would later be attributed to the Boston Strangler, according to the Boston Herald.
As the movie shows, they fought to have their editors and even police take the story seriously—and Jean’s obituary echos that sentiment.
“Despite initial ridicule and derision from police investigators, she and her colleague continued writing articles to alert women to the risks they faced,” the obit reads. “Eventually, of course, their early intuitions were discovered to be facts.”
Was the Boston Record-American a real newspaper?
Yep, the Boston Record-American used to be a daily newspaper in the Boston area. It eventually became the Boston Herald, which is one of the biggest papers in the Boston area today.
Was the strangler ever caught?
Well, yes and no.
In 2013, investigators finally linked a man named Albert DeSalvo (who many already believed to be the Boston Strangler) to DNA found in the home of 19-year-old Mary Sullivan. Mary was murdered in 1964 and was believed to be one of the killer’s last victims. However, DeSalvo was already dead at the time of the discovery. (The authorities used DNA from DeSalvo's nephew and then exhumed DeSalvo's corpse, the Times reported).
“We may have just solved one of the nation’s most notorious serial killings,” Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts attorney general, said at a news conference at Boston Police Headquarters, per The New York Times.
DeSalvo had previously confessed to the murders while in prison for rape charges, but was never prosecuted for the string of killings, since authorities were uncertain if he actually was the killer. He was later murdered in jail, where he was serving a life sentence for a string of robberies and rapes, per Biography.
Samples of semen taken from Sullivan’s body and a blanket that she was found on matched with DeSalvo.
The story has been referenced and explored in songs, shows, movies, and pop culture.
The Boston Strangler has inspired a slew of movies, shows, and songs, including an episode on TNT's Rizzoli & Isles, the name of a Boston hardcore band, the Rolling Stones’ “Midnight Rambler,” and the TV movie The Front with Andie MacDowell. And that's just to name a few.
Catch Boston Strangler streaming on Disney+ and Hulu now.
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