Who was the "Boston strangler"? Discusses the unsolved case.

Essay by jared_rx7University, Bachelor'sA+, December 2002

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Who Was The Boston Strangler?

Between June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, thirteen single women in the Boston area were victims of either a single serial killer or possibly several killers. At least eleven of these murders became known as victims of the Boston Strangler. The Police didn't actually see all of these murders as the work of a single person, the public did. All of the women were murdered in their apartments, had been sexually molested, and were strangled with articles of clothing. There were no signs of forced entry, leading police to believe that the women knew their assailant or at least, voluntarily let them in their homes. Many people believe that the Strangler was Albert De Salvo, but through countless investigations recent evidence may prove his innocence.

Raymond Chitolie describes the way that the Boston Strangler got into the women's homes so easily, "He would spend little time targeting his victims, gaining admission to the premises under the guise of being an official authorized to carry out business in the unsuspecting victims home"(Chitolie 2).

Several forensic psychiatrists tried to profile the strangler and come up with a motive but all of their theories were wrong. After this "a new psychofit was provided by "the father of American Psychological profiling", Dr. James Brussel. The killer was now considered to be aged thirty, strongly built, average height, clean shaven with thick dark hair, and a paranoid schizophrenic."(Chitolie 2). With these descriptions all signs pointed to Albert De Salvo, a 31 year old construction worker who had a record of sexual assault.

Another view on the case of the Boston Strangler comes from a book called "Murder In America, A History" by Roger Lane. In this book Lane seems confident that Albert De Salvo was...