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DNA Could Solve 1960's 'Boston Strangler' Murder


Almost 50 years after the "Boston Strangler" killed 11 women, advances in DNA technology have allowed investigators to link a suspect to the final murder.

Longtime suspect Albert DeSalvo confessed to the murders, but was never convicted of the "Boston Strangler" killings. He was sentenced to life in prison for a string of sexual assaults and armed robberies, and died from a prison stabbing in 1973.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley told reporters in Boston Thursday that DNA evidence retrieved at the site where 19-year-old Mary Sullivan was raped and murdered in January 1964 was a close match to that of DeSalvo.

He told reporters a judge is allowing investigators to exhume DeSalvo's remains to confirm the finding.

Conley said no forensic evidence linked DeSalvo to Sullivan's murder until now. He cautioned that no other DNA evidence is believed to exist at the other crime scenes - evidence that is needed to try to solve the other 10 murders.



The murders have become one of America's most infamous criminal cases. A 1966 book titled The Boston Strangler by Gerald Frank was made into a movie starring Tony Curtis as DeSalvo and Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective who obtained DeSalvo's confession.
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