The Boston Stranglers

by Susan Kelly

  ALBERT: I told her I was gonna do some work in the apartment and she says she didn’t hear nothin’ about it, but I says, “Well, look if you don’t wanna be bothered by me going in, then I won’t bother you.” She says, “Well I don’t know who you are.” And uh, we had—kept talking and I says to her, “Well, look, forget it. If you don’t want it, then I’ll just tell them that you told me you don’t want it done.” And I started to walk down. She says, “Well, never mind, come on.” And I went in, and I went in and first it was to your left was like a parlor and then to the right I went through a living room with the, uh, square type dark chairs they were, and there was a—uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Is that on the left, did you say, or the right?

  ALBERT: To the left was the parlor going in.

  BOTTOMLY: I see.

  ALBERT: And going through I went through a living room.

  BOTTOMLY: Through the parlor?

  ALBERT: No, I’m wrong then, I’m calling the wrong one—What do you call it, a dining room? Where there’s a table in there—

  BOTTOMLY: Chairs?

  ALBERT: Chairs: Right.

  ALBERT: And these chairs I believe had the—uh—cloth in the center.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh—straight-back chairs?

  ALBERT: Yes, they were straight-back chairs.

  BOTTOMLY: That’s the dining room. Which way is that?

  ALBERT: Uh—come in the door—

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh?

  ALBERT: Take a right turn.

  BOTTOMLY: That’s the dining room?

  ALBERT: Well, I took a right turn—

  BOTTOMLY: Yes?

  ALBERT: And I kept walking down the hallway and, right there, and you could look from the, where I was, it could have been the kitchen because there was the dining room right here and straight ahead I could look and I could see the bed, it was a dark-type bed and there wuz—uh—sheets—I could see the sheets and the pillow becuz I did take the pillowcase offa that—

  BOTTOMLY: Right.

  ALBERT: I did take the pillowcase offa that.

  BOTTOMLY: What did you do with it?

  ALBERT: Put it around her neck, but not before I saw the blood, uh

  BOTTOMLY: What did you do with the pillow?

  ALBERT: Uh, the pillow? I put it around her neck.

  BOTTOMLY: Not the pillow—

  ALBERT: Oh, the pillow?

  BOTTOMLY: The pillow, the pillow itself—?

  ALBERT: I think I took that out and put it underneath her.

  BOTTOMLY: Mmmmm-hmmmm.

  ALBERT: And then two chairs—

  BOTTOMLY: How did—how did—yuh—

  ALBERT: These two chairs, I remember taking them and laying them down on their backs and I put her legs up there.

  BOTTOMLY: Where’d you get the chairs? From the dining room?

  ALBERT: From the dining room—that’s why I saw that—the bedroom was right there—there was a door—’member the door, a door frame—I could see the bed.

  BOTTOMLY: This was on the other side of the dining room? You had to walk through the dining room to the bedroom?

  ALBERT: You see, to me right now it’s very easy. I can see this whole, I can see this whole thing the way it—the way it is.

  BOTTOMLY: Would it help you to draw?

  ALBERT: Uhhh, yuh, I can do it for you—it would be very easy.

  BOTTOMLY: I’ll get you a pen.

  ALBERT: All right.

  BOTTOMLY: Do you want to use yours?

  ALBERT: Right.

  BOTTOMLY: You like your pens better.

  ALBERT: No, uh—(Long pause while sketching) This could have been a, about a four-inch board on the bed there on the bottom like—probably a sideboard—?

  BOTTOMLY: Yes.

  ALBERT: Anyhow from the door from where she was right here, left right here, she was left here, not too far from this thing here—legs up on a chair—

  BOTTOMLY: What room did you leave her in?

  ALBERT: All I can tell you is that the bed was here and she wasn’t no more than, uh, no more than, uh, between five and ten feet from where the—the frame of the door.

  BOTTOMLY: I see.

  ALBERT: Over there—

  BOTTOMLY: Next room to the bedroom?

  ALBERT: Yes. The dining room chairs were in the other room.

  BOTTOMLY: I see.

  ALBERT: And they were dark, I remember that, straight-backs—

  BOTTOMLY: The room you left her in wasn’t the bedroom, wasn’t the dining room and it wasn’t the kitchen, so what was the kind of furniture in that room, do you recall, where you left her? (Pause) You don’t recall? You’re shaking your head no?

  ALBERT: Shut that off so we won’t waste it, so we won’t waste so much tape.

  BOTTOMLY: Oh, no, that’s all right, it can be used again. O.K. now you recollect seeing something else before you left her. You could look into the bedroom and what could you see?

  ALBERT: Mmmm—In the bedroom, uh, coming from out of the bedroom from where she was in this room here—there was a—uh—a dark walnut, or—dresser draws and, uh, I’m almost positive they were empty. There was little if anything if anything in ‘em very little if anything maybe handkerchiefs or somethin’.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh?

  ALBERT: Let me see. Uh, if I think a little clearer, I’ll tell you what was in the top draw.

  BOTTOMLY: O.K.

  ALBERT: The top draw, uh, was very little of anything, if anything there was handkerchiefs in it, but that was all, very little—There was something there! There was something in there.

  BOTTOMLY: The top draw?

  ALBERT: The top draw there was little, but there was nothing to speak of, but it was there, you know what I mean? Nothing of any value. Uh, the top draws were empty, the draws were empty, just about all of them. There was little bit of anything in those draws. I’m tryin’ to figure out where the room was—

  BOTTOMLY: Well was she moving or something.

  ALBERT: No, she was uh, this woman,

  BOTTOMLY: She just moved in?

  ALBERT: This woman here, to me, weighed about 160.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh? Pretty heavy-set?

  ALBERT: Very heavy set. And she had a white hair with black, very dark, to me it looked like black stringy hair,

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh?

  ALBERT: And, uh—she

  BOTTOMLY: With white in it?

  ALBERT: Yes.

  BOTTOMLY: White and black?

  ALBERT: Yes, yes, but stringy, meaningly the black was going through it and from what I can see on her—she had like a—uh—a housecoat on, think it was black and something, black and white with some kind of marking on it and the—uh—like a print or squares or somethin’.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh?

  ALBERT: And, uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Was it cotton, wool?

  ALBERT: It was cotton.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh. Did she have any shoes on?

  ALBERT: I don’t know but I see socks or somethin’.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh—somethin’ on her feet—

  ALBERT: Socks.

  BOTTOMLY: What color, do you recall?

  ALBERT: Dark, I don’t know if they were black, dark and the, uh—this is very important, uh, uh, there was first blood came outa her ear.

  BOTTOMLY: Blood came out of her ear, you say?

  ALBERT: Yuh, wait, this is a—

  BOTTOMLY: How did you get her now? How did you maneuver her?

  ALBERT: The same way, uh, this way here. She went down—

  BOTTOMLY: You threw your right arm around her throat from behind.

  ALBERT: Right. I would say that—

  BOTTOMLY: Did she go down fast like Blake?

  ALBERT: She went right on top of me.

  BOTTOMLY: Was she out? Was she out?

  ALBERT: Naturally, she passed out.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh?

  ALBERT: Uh-huh—but something about her, the blood that I saw was real, purplish dark.

  BOTTOMLY: And that
came from where? Her ear, you say?

  ALBERT: Ear.

  BOTTOMLY: Which ear, do you remember?

  ALBERT: I’ll tell you in a second.

  BOTTOMLY: O.K.

  ALBERT: I’m tryin’ to see, the uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Take your time. Don’t press yourself.

  ALBERT: Blood came out of her ear I know.

  BOTTOMLY: O.K. You’re standing behind her and you fall over backwards?

  ALBERT: Right.

  BOTTOMLY: Did this blood fall on you?

  ALBERT: No, it—as a matter of fact, it stopped.

  BOTTOMLY: Did you see it come out at the time it came out?

  ALBERT: The blood came out the right ear.

  BOTTOMLY: Her right ear?

  ALBERT: Right ear.

  BOTTOMLY: And you saw it when it started coming out?

  ALBERT: Yes.

  BOTTOMLY: What’d you do, did you try to scramble out of the way of it?

  ALBERT: It didn’t come out like you’re trying to say.

  BOTTOMLY: Just sort of oozed out?

  ALBERT: It came out a little bit, enough for me to see it.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh—like Blake’s nose?

  ALBERT: Yuh, that was the same way as hers. Hers came out on the right side I would think and, uh, I saw it more clearly when I put the pillowcase around her neck.

  BOTTOMLY: Saw the blood more clearly.

  ALBERT: Yuh, that’s—

  BOTTOMLY: That’s when you got out from under her, though?

  ALBERT: I was—I was already out from under her.

  BOTTOMLY: So you got out from under her and then what did you—

  ALBERT: Came outa her right ear.

  BOTTOMLY: All right. You got out from under her and what did you do then?

  ALBERT: Took the—uh—took the pillow from the bed—

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh?

  ALBERT: From the bed, she had black-white housecoat, housedress on, took the pillow. I think she—I’m almost positive she had underwear on, took it off and, uh, I ripped—there’s something about it—BOTTOMLY: You ripped something?

  ALBERT: I’m almost positive I ripped it open—

  BOTTOMLY: Ripped open the dress?

  ALBERT: The clothes, yuh, she was nude, I remember this here.

  BOTTOMLY: You tore her dress?

  ALBERT: Tore it open.

  BOTTOMLY: And she was nude underneath?

  ALBERT: No, I think she had pants on; I may have ripped them off her.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh? But no bra?

  ALBERT: Uhhh—yes, she had a bra.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh.

  ALBERT: But—uh—I did it—I don’t know if I left that pillow under her, her bottom.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh-huh?

  ALBERT: With her legs on these two chairs—

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh?

  ALBERT: Opened.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh? Do you remember, do you remember, were you thinking of anything when you did this?

  ALBERT: No.

  BOTTOMLY: Just did it. What kind of a sex act did you perform with her, any?

  ALBERT: No, nothing on her.

  BOTTOMLY: Nothing at all.

  ALBERT: I—I had intercourse with her but when you say, you said to me “sex act” right, I know what you’re trying to have me—

  BOTTOMLY: No, no. No, I’m not—any kind—normal or abnormal—?

  ALBERT: Yuh, I had a—I think I had intercourse with her.

  BOTTOMLY: Well what do you mean by intercourse? We’ve talked about this before. Does that mean you ejaculated in some manner?

  ALBERT: Inside her—

  BOTTOMLY: Was it inside her outside or what?

  ALBERT: This is the most baffling thing. This is what bothers me.

  BOTTOMLY: Do you specifically remember having intercourse with her or do you just want to remember it now?

  ALBERT: I know how, how I set her up. I remember taking her clothes apart, ripping them right?

  BOTTOMLY: Yes.

  ALBERT: And, uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Oh you set her up after you strangled her with the pillowcase?

  ALBERT: Yes, after I strangled her with the pillowcase.

  BOTTOMLY: Did you strangle her with your hands or with the pillowcase?

  ALBERT: First, I put my arm around backwards, right?

  BOTTOMLY: Right.

  ALBERT: And then I put the pillowcase around her neck.

  BOTTOMLY: Uh, did you, real tight?

  ALBERT: I think so.

  BOTTOMLY: Do you remember tying any knots in it?

  ALBERT: Yes, I did, I did.

  BOTTOMLY: How many?

  ALBERT: Uhhh—

  BOTTOMLY: Can you see that?

  ALBERT: I can’t see it, but uh—I’m almost positive, well, ya, I think I only made it one tight and then one more.

  BOTTOMLY: Right.

  ALBERT: Makes it two.

  BOTTOMLY: Right. Were you standing over her while you did this?

  ALBERT: Uhhh—this was tied uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Where was the knot, in front or back?

  ALBERT: No, it was tied in front. The knot should have been anywhere on the side or the front of her. BOTTOMLY: So you’re standing right over her? ALBERT: Uh—

  BOTTOMLY: Or beside her?

  ALBERT: Yes, over her.

  BOTTOMLY: Well, then you fixed her legs? You didn’t have time to, you didn’t do any sex act with her, did you? Can you specifically remember having intercourse with her? You’re shaking your head which means no?

  ALBERT: I—I’m trying to be sure about everything I say.

  BOTTOMLY: Right.

  ALBERT: Uhhh—

  BOTTOMLY: Well you can remember so much here—

  ALBERT: I—I would say yes, I have inserted my penis inside her and ejaculated I would say.

  BOTTOMLY: But you don’t sound very positive to me.

  ALBERT: It’s—to me, it’s sickening even to talk about this.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh.

  ALBERT: It’s so damn real—I can see that blood coming outa her ear.

  BOTTOMLY: Yuh, you can see that very clearly but you’re not as positive when you’re talking about the sex act. Are you saying you had intercourse with her because you think you did or because you remember you did?

  ALBERT: I know I did.

  BOTTOMLY: You positively remember it now? ALBERT: Yes.

  BOTTOMLY: Are you positive you ejaculated inside her?

  ALBERT: Coulda pulled out.

  BOTTOMLY: You could have pulled out? Do you remember what time of the day this was now?

  ALBERT: (Long pause) This happened to be around uh—around two something.

  BOTTOMLY: Well when you pulled out, you ejaculated, you fixed her legs up, you propped her legs up. Did you then go through the apartment again to make it look as if it was messed up or did you just get out?

  ALBERT: I just went out.

  BOTTOMLY: You swung out. O.K. Downstairs? Did you meet anybody?

  ALBERT: No sir.

  BOTTOMLY: In a hurry? Took your time?

  ALBERT: Walked out.

  Perhaps nowhere in the entire confession is Albert’s need to please Bottomly by giving him the “right” answers to his questions more urgently expressed than in this account of Ida Irga’s murder. And Bottomly’s maneuverings to elicit those appropriate responses from Albert are equally blatant, particularly in the passage dealing with the purported rape of the victim.

  In fact, Ida had not been raped—at least, there were no spermatozoa found in either her vagina or rectum, which is why Bottomly had to attack Albert’s initial confident assertion that he’d had full intercourse with the victim. No one had, although the slight injury to her external genitalia discovered during the autopsy indicated that she might have been assaulted with an object. Albert was insistent that he had committed no such brutal perversion.

  Albert was entirely correct in claiming that Ida had been strangled by a pillowcase tied tightly around her neck; that t
he pillow itself had been placed beneath her body; that she had salt and pepper hair (it was actually brown and gray rather than black and white as he said); that she was found supine with her feet propped up on two chairs; and that her bedroom furniture was made of dark wood.

  All those details had been printed—more than once—in the Record.

  So had the fact that there was blood on Ida’s head.

  So had the fact that she had been assaulted in the bedroom.

  Albert said twice that Ida had been wearing a black and white housecoat with “squares” on it.

  The “Strangle Worksheet” claimed she wore a “polka dot duster.”

  The police report, written by the first officer to arrive at the crime scene, stated that Ida’s body was clad in a torn light brown nightgown.

  Albert said he had placed the chairs on which he propped the victim’s feet on their backs.

  The crime scene photo shows them standing upright.

  But Albert made his worst mistake when—after a long hesitation—he told Bottomly that he’d assaulted the victim around 2:00 P.M.

  If Albert was in Ida Irga’s apartment at that time, he was there by himself. She was in the Public Garden with a friend—until shortly before six o’clock.

  23

  The Confessions of Albert DeSalvo, III

  It was August 19, 1965, and George McGrath, Albert’s legal guardian, had joined Bottomly in the small room at Bridgewater.

  “Okay,” Bottomly said. “Now—so when you grabbed her, you probably fell back into the kitchen, into the kitchen area, I mean—”

  “In the kitchen area,” Albert repeated.

  “Boy, there must have been a thud when the two of you hit the ground,” Bottomly commented.

  “Oh, yeah,” Albert agreed.

  “And she gave you a good struggle, huh?”

  “No struggle,” Albert said. “She just didn’t move, but I mean she couldn’t do nothin’ about it.”

  “But it took a long time to knock her out, though?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say too long. It was just another—” Albert paused.

  They were talking about the murder of sixty-seven-year-old Jane Sullivan, who, like fifty-six-year-old Anna Sleser, sixty-five-year-old Helen Blake, sixty-eight-year-old Nina Nichols, and seventy-five-year-old Ida Irga, had died in the summer of 1962.

  Jane’s body was not found until nine days after her death, and its state of decomposition was well along, making the medical examiner’s task a more difficult one. He was, however, able to establish that she had been strangled with a ligature of two stockings. There was no evidence of trauma to her vagina or anus.