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In Search of the Boston Strangler: Genetic evidence from the exhumation of Mary Sullivan

2004; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1258/rsmmsl.44.1.47

2042-1818

David R. Foran, James E. Starrs,

Forensic and Genetic Research

The Boston Strangler was one of the United States' most notorious serial killers, raping and strangling with decorative ligatures thirteen woman in Boston during the early 1960s. Albert DeSalvo, never a suspect in the slayings, confessed in prison (where he was later murdered) to being the Boston Strangler, and the investigation largely ended. Mary Sullivan was the last victim of the Boston Strangler, found sexually assaulted and strangled in her Boston apartment in 1964. Recently, a team of forensic scientists undertook the exhumation and subsequent scientific analysis of Mary Sullivan's remains, in hope of finding consistencies or inconsistencies between DeSalvo's confessed description of the murder and any evidence left behind. Included in these analyses was extensive DNA testing of all UV fluorescent material associated with the body. The large majority of results were negative, however, fluorescent material located on the underwear and entwined in her pubic hair generated two human mitochondrial DNA sequences. Neither of these matched the victim nor members of the forensic team who worked on the evidence. Most importantly, neither DNA sequence could have originated from Albert DeSalvo.