I saw an intersting documentary on the case a few days ago, and it led me to believe that Alberto DeSalvo was the wrong man, mainly because of the pattern of crime he would had to follow to be the killer. DeSalvo would have had to have gone from someone who measured women for a phony modeling school, to a brutal, sadistic rapist and killer, then back to a non violent molester, something that everyone who has ever studied these types agree has never happened, and is impossible to imagine, psychologically. The infamous “he knew facts only the killer knew” was used here, and is always laughable- if truly only the killer knew something, then there would be no way to corroborate it, right? But many cops had to know, probably newspapermen, etc., and someone could easily have fed him “inside” facts. Add to that the comically leading questions the interrogator asked him (“so then you ties her hands with the red scarf, right?”), his prison death and the like and I say they got the wrong man, probably knowingly so. What do you guys think?
I agree. DiSalvo was not capable of committing this number of murders-it was physically impossible to be at all of these places. There is a very good book out (by the nephew of the last victim), who does a very good analysis of the case. His conclusion: there were three (possibly four) murderers, and the last one (who murdered his aunt) is still alive and at large.
From the beginning, the Boston PD (and MA ATTY General Ed Brooke) bungled the case-the idea that there was one “Boston Strangler” was planted in the press, and people believed it. Not that DiSalvo was any angel-he was a thrice-convicted criminal. but he was not a sadistic murderer, and not capable of these crimes. I think he (DiSalvo) imagined himself as making a lot of money from his story-so he was very deluded as well.