Albert DeSalvo Forensic Investigation Began Oct. 26
Posted October 27, 2001FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
York, Pennsylvania—The body of the so-called “Boston Strangler” – Albert H. DeSalvo – was removed from its Massachusetts grave on Friday and taken to a forensic facility here at York College of Pennsylvania where some of the nation's top experts will re-investigate his 1973 stabbing death and collect DNA samples.
“Albert DeSalvo's brother, Richard E. DeSalvo, has serious questions about his brother's death – questions that only modern-day forensic science can answer,” said James E. Starrs, professor of forensic sciences at George Washington University who is heading the scientific team. DeSalvo was murdered in his cell at Walpole State Prison, Massachusetts, after he allegedly decided to reveal that he was not, in fact, the “Boston Strangler.” DeSalvo – who was never charged or convicted as the “Strangler” because there was no evidence linking him to any of the crime scenes – was murdered while in protective custody where he was serving a life sentence for convictions unrelated to the stranglings. The people of Boston breathed a sigh of relief when the so-called “Phantom Fiend” was finally caught. No one was ever convicted of DeSalvo's murder.
The scientific team includes: York College professor of forensic anthropology John S. Levisky; University of Florida professor of forensic anthropology Michael Warren; York-based forensic pathologist Patricia Aronica-Pollak; forensic pathologist Michael Baden (of O.J. Simpson fame), James L. Frost, West Virginia-based forensic pathologist, Mjr. Timothy M. Palmbach of the Connecticut State Police; criminalist Henry Lee, (also of O.J. Simpson fame); Spencerville, MD, forensic videographer Mitchell Calhoun; forensic radiographers Michael and Susan Calhoun of Shady Grove Hospital, Rockville, MD; York College criminal justice professor Barbara Hanbury; York College criminalistics professor Sherry T. Brown; and forensic geologist George Stevens, among others.
DeSalvo's re-autopsy comes just one year after that of Mary A. Sullivan, the last victim of the so-called “Boston Strangler.” Both members of Sullivan's and of DeSalvo's family have formed a powerful alliance in an attempt to have the case reinvestigated. Starrs headed a similar team to re-investigate her death. DeSalvo claimed he raped and manually strangled Sullivan, but his confession did not match the autopsy report: there was no semen in the vagina and no evidence she had been strangled by anything other than ligatures. Results of DNA testing from the Sullivan exhumation are pending, said Starrs.
The 23-member DeSalvo team “will re-autopsy and conduct a detailed examination of DeSalvo's body today at York College,” said Prof. Levisky. DeSalvo confessed in 1965 to committing 13 murders – the so-called “Boston Stranglings” – which occurred between June, 1962 and January, 1964 in and around Boston.
A press conference will be held on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. A media staging area will be set up outside of York College's Music, Art and Communications Center. (When entering the campus from Country Club Road, the MAC Center is the first building on the left.) No team members will be available for comment until that time.
For further information, call 617-899-1776 or 781-639-1862.
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