DNA FOR THE WIN

Big Break in Boston Strangler Case

Evidence ties DeSalvo to final victim.

DNA evidence undreamt of in the 1960s has produced a major development in the 1964 rape and murder of 19-year-old Mary Sullivan—the final of 11 possible victims attributed to the notorious Boston Strangler. At a press conference Thursday, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced that a test of DNA samples taken from stains on Sullivan's blanket had resulted in a "familial match" to Albert DeSalvo, the prime suspect in the case. Experts used DNA from a bottle discarded by one of DeSalvo's nephews to make the match. DeSalvo was never charged for the murders because a recanted confession had been ruled inadmissible in court. In 1973, he was stabbed to death in a Massachusetts prison while serving a life sentence for unrelated charges.