"One Piece of Physical Evidence": CBS News on the DNA Link Between Albert DeSalvo and Mary Sullivan's Murder, 2013

Name: "One Piece of Physical Evidence": CBS News on the DNA Link Between Albert DeSalvo and Mary Sullivan's Murder, 2013
Uploaded: 2013-07-12T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 52 s
Description: CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown reports from Boston on July 12, 2013, as DNA from a preserved blanket links Albert DeSalvo to the 1964 murder of Mary Sullivan, the day his body was to be exhumed. DeSalvo is not heard.

CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown reports from Boston on July 12, 2013, as DNA from a preserved blanket links Albert DeSalvo to the 1964 murder of Mary Sullivan, the day his body was to be exhumed. DeSalvo is not heard.

Subject: Albert DeSalvo
Recorded: July 12, 2013
Runtime: 2:52

Content warning: Refers to the strangling murders of women, many of them sexually assaulted. No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Albert DeSalvo, who is not heard. It is a 2-minute-52-second CBS News report from July 12, 2013, in which correspondent Terrell Brown, standing outside the Boston apartment building where Mary Sullivan was killed in 1964, explains how DNA testing had linked DeSalvo to her murder. It includes short comments from a man describing DeSalvo (probably his former lawyer, F. Lee Bailey), an official, a forensic scientist and a member of Mary Sullivan's family. None of them is named in the audio.

Historical Context

Between June 1962 and January 1964, a series of women were strangled in their homes in and around Boston; the usual list has 13 victims, though counts of 11 are also used, as in this report. Albert DeSalvo, held from late 1964 for the "Green Man" sexual assaults, confessed to the stranglings, but he was never charged with them. He was sentenced to life in 1967 for the "Green Man" crimes, later recanted his confession, and was stabbed to death at Walpole state prison on November 25, 1973. Doubt about his guilt persisted for decades.

Circumstances

On July 11, 2013, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley announced a familial DNA match between evidence from Mary Sullivan's murder scene and a DeSalvo relative, obtained from a water bottle that police had collected covertly. DeSalvo's remains were exhumed in Peabody, Massachusetts, the next morning, July 12, 2013, the day of this report. Testing of his remains later confirmed the link to Sullivan's murder.

What the Recording Covers

The anchor recalls that the stranglings "went unsolved until one man confessed, but his words have always been suspect." Brown describes Mary Sullivan, 19, as "long considered the Boston Strangler's last victim," summarizes the killings, DeSalvo's confession and recantation, and his death in 1973. A man describes DeSalvo as not "polished or well educated" but "street smart." An official says "legitimate questions have lingered." Brown explains that semen found on a blanket in 1964 had been preserved, that two of six remaining samples were analyzed, and that police took a water bottle discarded by DeSalvo's nephew. A forensic scientist says testing methods are "much different than they were 10 years ago." A relative of Mary Sullivan says, "I've lived with Mary's memory every day, my whole life." Brown closes by saying investigators would exhume DeSalvo that day "to be 100 percent sure."

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is network coverage from the day of the exhumation, the point at which a case that had rested on a recanted confession gained its first physical evidence against DeSalvo, after 49 years.

Archival Importance

A CBS News report on the network's own channel.

Important Caveats

DeSalvo is not heard. The figure of 11 victims is the report's; the usual list has 13. The "99.9 percent certainty" refers to the familial match from the nephew's DNA; confirmation from DeSalvo's own remains came after this report. The report's sequence ("later that year ... already in prison") compresses events: DeSalvo was held from late 1964 and sentenced in 1967. The DNA evidence linked him to Mary Sullivan's murder only, not to the whole series. No soundbite speaker is named in the audio; the identifications in this handoff are inferences. The YouTube description's "was never identified" is inaccurate: DeSalvo confessed but was never charged.

Cbs News Anchor: In the early 1960s, 11 unmarried women in and around Boston were strangled to death. The crimes of the so-called Boston Strangler terrorized the area and captivated the nation. Well, they went unsolved until one man confessed, but his words have always been suspect, until now. Terrell Brown is in Boston with the break in this case. Terrell, good morning.

Terrell Brown: Nora, good morning. Nineteen-year-old Mary Sullivan had just moved into the apartment building behind me just days before she was murdered. She's long been considered the Boston Strangler's last victim, and there was also DNA evidence found here. And that evidence may solve her murder five decades later.

Terrell Brown: Between June 1962 and January 1964, 11 women, ranging in age from 19 to 85, were found brutally murdered in their homes, many of them sexually assaulted. Later that year, 33-year-old Albert DeSalvo, already in prison for robbery and sexual assault, confessed to the murders. Famed criminal attorney F. Lee Bailey represented DeSalvo.

Man Speaking About Desalvo: He wasn't polished or well educated. He wasn't bright, but he was street smart.

Terrell Brown: There was no physical evidence linking DeSalvo to the killings besides that confession, and he recanted it just before being stabbed to death by another inmate in 1973. But for many, DeSalvo was guilty.

Official: Now, in most people's eyes, Albert DeSalvo has been known as the Boston Strangler, but without direct evidence linking him, questions, and legitimate questions, have lingered about that perpetrator.

Terrell Brown: But one piece of physical evidence remains. In 1964, police found semen on a blanket where Mary Sullivan's body lay. DNA evidence was undreamt of in the 1960s, but even then, investigators believed that the killer had left biological evidence at the crime scene. That foresight led investigators to preserve the blanket. But DNA testing wasn't sophisticated enough to draw results until last year, when two of only six remaining samples were analyzed.

Forensic Scientist: They can do more with less of a sample, and the sensitivity and the techniques that [unclear: "I use" (captions) / "are used" (Whisper)] today are much different than they were 10 years ago.

Terrell Brown: Police secretly followed DeSalvo's nephew and grabbed a water bottle he'd thrown away. From that, a DNA match was made for the first time, confirming Albert DeSalvo as Sullivan's killer with 99.9 percent certainty. News that Mary Sullivan's family had waited decades to hear.

Mary Sullivan'S Relative: I've lived with Mary's memory every day, my whole life. And it's amazing to me today to understand that people really did care about what happened to my aunt.

Terrell Brown: Investigators will dig up the body of DeSalvo today to be 100 percent sure that he is the killer of Mary Sullivan. [Clip ends at 02:52.] ---