De Salvo
I can't help thinking if I should just stick to watching documentaries instead of movies. Whenever I get my little greedy hands on a serial killer movie based on facts, I get so excited. And then so disappointed.
Yesterday I watched The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis as Albert De Salvo (the strangler suspect). Curtis plays brilliantly but I thought the movie was very, very loosely based on the facts of the crimes.
A little about this figure known as The Boston Strangler:
Albert De Salvo did confess to the crimes but he never stood trial for them due to lack of evidence. In fact there is still speculation whether De Salvo really was the strangler. The crimes may in fact have been committed by different people because the victims varied so much in age, appearances and even race.
A little about the crimes:
From the summer of 1962 to the beginning of 1964, 11 women were strangled in their apartments in the Boston area. The victims were between 19 and 80.
The murderer's signature was to leave a big bow around the neck of his victim.
Victim number 11, 19 year old Mary Sullivan, was left in a sexual position, had a bow around her neck made of stockings and scarfs and between the toes of her left foot was a New Year's card.
When the police had been on the case for 19 months, they were no closer to solving the case so they brought in a psychic called Peter Hurkos who arrived in January '64 (after the last murder) and he gave the police a description of the killer. They arrested a suspect who proved not to be the killer and Hurgos left the country.
Albert De Salvo:
De Salvo was arrested in november 1964 for a series of sexual assaults committed by The Green Man (De Salvo wore green work trousers) and he was committed to Bridgewater State Hospital and then to Cambridge Prison where his mental health grew worse. He then was sent back to Bridgewater in February 1965, mentally ill, and waited to stand trial for the Green Man crimes.
It was while he was there that he boasted to another prisoner, George Nassar, about how he had killed 13 women in the Boston area and Nassar then contacted his lawyer Lee Bailey claiming that De Salvo wanted to talk to him.
During the interview between Bailey and De Salvo, Bailey became convinced that De Salvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. It seemed they had their man but there was no evidence, only a confession from a mentally ill man. The prosecution were unwilling to let De Salvo confess pleading insanity and so the case was dropped.
De Salvo was sentenced to life for the Green Man crimes (the series of sexual assaults) and was committed to Bridgewater again. De Salvo managed to escape once together with other prisoners and he claimed it was because he wanted people to notice that he wasn't receiving enough psychiatric help.
He was transferred to Massachussets Walpole maximum security prison where he died six years later (in 1973) in a prison brawl.
The movie "The Boston Strangler" has him depicted as a sufferer of multiple personality disorder. De Salvo didn't suffer from that.
And about this case, former FBI profiler Robert Ressler has said that "You're putting together so many different patterns that it's inconceivable behaviorally that all these could fit one individual."
Yesterday I watched The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis as Albert De Salvo (the strangler suspect). Curtis plays brilliantly but I thought the movie was very, very loosely based on the facts of the crimes.
A little about this figure known as The Boston Strangler:
Albert De Salvo did confess to the crimes but he never stood trial for them due to lack of evidence. In fact there is still speculation whether De Salvo really was the strangler. The crimes may in fact have been committed by different people because the victims varied so much in age, appearances and even race.
A little about the crimes:
From the summer of 1962 to the beginning of 1964, 11 women were strangled in their apartments in the Boston area. The victims were between 19 and 80.
The murderer's signature was to leave a big bow around the neck of his victim.
Victim number 11, 19 year old Mary Sullivan, was left in a sexual position, had a bow around her neck made of stockings and scarfs and between the toes of her left foot was a New Year's card.
When the police had been on the case for 19 months, they were no closer to solving the case so they brought in a psychic called Peter Hurkos who arrived in January '64 (after the last murder) and he gave the police a description of the killer. They arrested a suspect who proved not to be the killer and Hurgos left the country.
Albert De Salvo:
De Salvo was arrested in november 1964 for a series of sexual assaults committed by The Green Man (De Salvo wore green work trousers) and he was committed to Bridgewater State Hospital and then to Cambridge Prison where his mental health grew worse. He then was sent back to Bridgewater in February 1965, mentally ill, and waited to stand trial for the Green Man crimes.
It was while he was there that he boasted to another prisoner, George Nassar, about how he had killed 13 women in the Boston area and Nassar then contacted his lawyer Lee Bailey claiming that De Salvo wanted to talk to him.
During the interview between Bailey and De Salvo, Bailey became convinced that De Salvo was indeed the Boston Strangler. It seemed they had their man but there was no evidence, only a confession from a mentally ill man. The prosecution were unwilling to let De Salvo confess pleading insanity and so the case was dropped.
De Salvo was sentenced to life for the Green Man crimes (the series of sexual assaults) and was committed to Bridgewater again. De Salvo managed to escape once together with other prisoners and he claimed it was because he wanted people to notice that he wasn't receiving enough psychiatric help.
He was transferred to Massachussets Walpole maximum security prison where he died six years later (in 1973) in a prison brawl.
The movie "The Boston Strangler" has him depicted as a sufferer of multiple personality disorder. De Salvo didn't suffer from that.
And about this case, former FBI profiler Robert Ressler has said that "You're putting together so many different patterns that it's inconceivable behaviorally that all these could fit one individual."
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Comment
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Comment by Troy Acree on January 17, 2009 at 11:34am
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This is an interesting post. Too bad they didn't have a little more knowledge of profiling when they were chasing the Boston Strangler. Ressler's work is very interesting. I'm sure you know all the good books. I just ordered Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream from Amazon. My psychiatrist friend who works with criminals in prisons recommends it as the best book on the subject of killer's motivations. I read the first chapter online and it is stunning. Thanks for the summary on the Boston Strangler.
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