Between 1962 and 1964, a series of murders targeting women inside their own homes gripped Boston, Massachusetts, with fear. The victims ranged widely in age, but the crimes shared disturbing similarities: no forced entry, sexual assault, and death by strangulation. As panic spread, the press gave the unknown killer a name that would endure for decades, the Boston Strangler.
In 1965, Albert DeSalvo confessed to the murders while already in custody for unrelated crimes. He was never tried for the killings themselves, and for years the case rested on confession rather than proof. In 2013, DNA testing, confirmed after DeSalvo's exhumation, linked him conclusively to the murder of Mary Sullivan, but left open the question of whether he was responsible for all the deaths attributed to the Strangler.
In this episode, we examine the murders, the investigation under pressure, the confession that divided opinion, and why the Boston Strangler remains one of America's most debated serial murder cases.
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