View source for Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo was an animal abuser

{{Infobox Person of Interest
| name = Albert Henry DeSalvo
| status = Confessed serial killer, rapist
| age = 31-32 (during Strangler murders)
| involvement = Confessed to being the Boston Strangler, who murdered 13 women. Before the murders, he had a long history of escalating crimes, including a documented pattern of animal cruelty, and a series of sexual assaults as the "Measuring Man" and the "Green Man".
| punitive_measure = Sentenced to life in prison for earlier rapes; stabbed to death by a fellow inmate in 1973. Posthumously linked by DNA to the final Strangler murder.
| image = Albert DeSalvo.jpg
| caption = Albert DeSalvo was never convicted for the Boston Strangler's murders.
| title = Serial killer and animal abuser
| occupation = Maintenance worker and handyman
}}
'''Albert Henry DeSalvo''' was an American criminal and the confessed '''Boston Strangler''', who terrorized the Boston area between 1962 and 1964.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo">{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_DeSalvo |title=Albert DeSalvo - Wikipedia |website=Wikipedia |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref> His violent trajectory was the culmination of a life forged in extreme childhood trauma, with his well-documented history of animal cruelty serving as a critical "rehearsal" phase for his escalation to serial sexual assault and homicide.<ref name="NVleg">{{cite web |url=https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Exhibits/Senate/NR/SNR564J.pdf |title=Exploring the Link Between Animal Cruelty and Other Violence |website=leg.state.nv.us |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref> While the full extent of his responsibility for all thirteen Strangler murders was debated for decades, a 2013 DNA match definitively linked him to the final victim, cementing his identity as a sexual homicide offender.<ref name="OJPdna">{{cite web |url=https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/solving-cold-cases-dna-boston-strangler-case |title=Solving Cold Cases with DNA: The Boston Strangler Case |website=Office of Justice Programs |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref>

== A childhood forged in violence ==
Born on September 3, 1931, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, DeSalvo was raised in a household defined by the brutality of his violent alcoholic father, Frank DeSalvo.<ref name="AETVchildhood">{{cite web |url=https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/boston-strangler-abusive-childhood |title=Did an Abusive Childhood Turn Albert DeSalvo Into the 'Boston Strangler' Serial Killer? |website=A&E True Crime |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref> DeSalvo endured and witnessed relentless physical and psychological abuse, including being beaten with a pipe and witnessing his father knock out his mother's teeth and break her fingers.<ref name="AETVchildhood" /> This environment normalized extreme violence against women and, due to his father frequently bringing prostitutes home, inextricably linked sexuality with power, humiliation, and degradation in DeSalvo's developing mind.<ref name="AETVchildhood" />

== Early delinquency and escalating sex crimes ==
DeSalvo's criminal career began at age six and escalated to battery and robbery by age 12, resulting in his institutionalization at a reform school.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo" /> After serving in the U.S. Army, he began a series of escalating sex crimes that served as clear precursors to the Strangler murders.<ref name="HistoryStrangler">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/january-4/boston-strangler-strikes-again |title=Boston Strangler commits his final known murder |website=History.com |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref>
* '''"The Measuring Man" (late 1950s):''' Posing as a modeling agency scout, he would gain access to women's apartments to fondle them under the guise of taking their measurements.<ref name="HistoryStrangler" />
* '''"The Green Man" (1961-1962):''' After being imprisoned for the "Measuring Man" offenses, his crimes escalated upon his release. He broke into hundreds of apartments, tied up the female occupants, and sexually assaulted them.<ref name="HistoryStrangler" />

== Animal cruelty as a rehearsal for murder ==
Long before his violence was directed at humans, DeSalvo engaged in brutal acts of animal cruelty that served as a critical "rehearsal" for the lethal violence that would later define his identity.<ref name="NVleg" /> During his youth, he would trap neighborhood cats and dogs in orange crates or other boxes. Once the animals were confined and helpless, he would shoot arrows through the boxes, injuring and killing them.<ref name="NVleg" />

This methodology is psychologically revealing. The act of trapping the animal served to depersonalize the victim, turning a living creature into an objectified target, mirroring the methods he would later use on his human victims whom he tied up before assaulting them.<ref name="NVleg" /> The use of a bow and arrow suggests a need for psychological distance at this early stage of his violent development, allowing him to practice the act of killing and become desensitized to suffering before escalating to the intimate, hands-on violence of strangulation.<ref name="NVleg" /> This behavior places him squarely among a cohort of infamous serial killers—such as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer—whose violent careers were foreshadowed by the torture of animals.<ref name="PETAkillers">{{cite web |url=https://www.peta.org/features/dahmer-bundy-and-other-killers-who-hurt-animals/ |title=Who Were the First Victims of Jeffrey Dahmer? |website=PETA |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref><ref name="IDAUSA" >{{cite web |url=https://www.idausa.org/animal-abuse-serial-killers/ |title=Animal Abuse and Serial Killers |website=In Defense of Animals |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref>

== The Boston Strangler: Murders and confession ==
Between June 1962 and January 1964, thirteen women in the Boston area were murdered by a serial killer dubbed the "Boston Strangler."<ref name="WikipediaStrangler">{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Strangler |title=Boston Strangler - Wikipedia |website=Wikipedia |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref> Most victims were sexually assaulted and then strangled, often with an article of their own clothing tied in a distinctive bow.<ref name="WikipediaStrangler" />

In 1965, while imprisoned for the "Green Man" rapes, DeSalvo confessed to being the Boston Strangler.<ref name="BiographyDeSalvo">{{cite web |url=https://www.biography.com/crime/albert-de-salvo |title=Albert DeSalvo: Biography, Boston Strangler, Serial Killer |website=Biography.com |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref> However, his confession contained numerous factual inconsistencies, leading many, including some psychiatrists and investigators, to believe he was a "compulsive confessor" who took credit for crimes he did not commit out of a pathological need for notoriety.<ref name="PenguinKelly">{{cite web |url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-boston-stranglers-9780806542669 |title=The Boston Stranglers by Susan Kelly |website=Penguin Books Australia |access-date=2025-08-12}}</ref>

== Legal outcome and DNA confirmation ==
Albert DeSalvo was never formally tried for the Boston Strangler murders.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo" /> He was convicted in 1967 for his earlier "Green Man" rapes and sentenced to life in prison.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo" /> He was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate on November 25, 1973.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo" />

For decades, his guilt remained a subject of intense debate. The controversy was resolved in July 2013, when forensic investigators used a preserved DNA sample from the crime scene of the final victim, Mary Sullivan, to definitively link DeSalvo to her rape and murder.<ref name="OJPdna" /> After exhuming his body for a direct comparison, the match was confirmed, with odds of it being another person calculated at one in 220 billion.<ref name="NIJdna">{{cite web | url = https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/solving-cold-cases-dna-boston-strangler-case | title = Solving Cold Cases with DNA: The Boston Strangler Case | website = National Institute of Justice | access-date = 2025-08-12}}</ref> This irrefutably proved he was a sexual homicide offender who used the Strangler's modus operandi, anchoring at least part of his confession in fact.<ref name="OJPdna" />

{| class="wikitable"
! Date/Period
! Event
! Psychological/Criminological Significance
|-
| Youth
| Animal Cruelty
| Trapped cats and dogs in boxes and shot them with arrows. A critical "rehearsal" phase for violence.<ref name="NVleg" />
|-
| Late 1950s
| "The Measuring Man" Crimes
| A non-violent rehearsal of deception to gain access to victims.<ref name="HistoryStrangler" />
|-
| 1961-1962
| "The Green Man" Crimes
| Escalated to breaking in, tying up, and sexually assaulting women.<ref name="HistoryStrangler" />
|-
| June 1962 - Jan 1964
| "The Boston Strangler" Murders
| Escalated to sexual homicide, killing 13 women.
|-
| 1967
| Conviction and Sentencing
| Convicted of the "Green Man" rapes and sentenced to life in prison.
|-
| Nov 1973
| Death
| Stabbed to death by a fellow inmate in prison.<ref name="WikipediaDeSalvo" />
|-
| July 2013
| Posthumous DNA Match
| DNA evidence definitively linked DeSalvo to the rape and murder of the final Strangler victim, Mary Sullivan.<ref name="OJPdna" />
|}

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Long-term_Incidents]]
[[Category:Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Dogs]]
[[Category:HumanVictims]]