'Boston strangler's body' to face DNA tests

Tests were today under way on the body of the man dubbed the Boston Strangler in a bid by his family to clear his name.

Albert DeSalvo confessed to the brutal murders of 11 women in Boston between 1962 and 1964, but was never put on trial and was stabbed to death in prison.

His family have protested his innocence ever since and today were waiting anxiously as scientists started tests on his exhumed body to try to solve the 39-year-old murder mystery.

DeSalvo’s murderer was never caught and scientists hope the DNA tests and other procedures being carried out will find who stabbed him as he awaited trial.

His body was exhumed from his grave in Boston this weekend, and taken to York College in Pennsylvania, where forensic science professor James Starrs has begun tests.

Professor Starrs said the remains, which had been stored in a metal coffin and a concrete vault, are in ‘‘pristine condition’’ and include bones, flesh and possibly dried blood.

And he promised his final report would be a ‘‘blockbuster’’ and said it would contain ‘‘more than you ever anticipated’’, although he refused to say if it would clear DeSalvo.

The professor funded the exhumation himself and has already exhumed the body of the strangler’s last victim, Mary Sullivan, whose family have backed DeSalvo’s family in their belief he is innocent.

Results of the tests on Ms Sullivan’s body are due in December, but already lawyer Dan Sharp, who represents both the Sullivans and the DeSalvos, said they pointed to DeSalvo not being responsible.

‘‘Albert was not Mary Sullivan’s murderer, and we have great reason to believe he was not the Boston Strangler,’’ Mr Sharp told the Boston Herald.

‘‘Albert’s confessions are at odds with every murder. There is some large discrepancy between every DeSalvo confession and every crime scene the more you learn, the more you know this just isn’t the guy.’’

DeSalvo was serving life for an unrelated rape when he told authorities he was responsible for 11 of the 13 sexually-motivated murders which had caused panic and horror across America, causing police to close their investigation.

He was never charged and in 1973 was killed in prison amid reports he was about to recant the confessions.

Both the DeSalvo and Sullivan families believe he was insane and confessed because he thought he could cash in on film and book deals, while authorities never checked if he was the real culprit.

And author Susan Kelly, who wrote a book in 1995 claiming the Boston Strangler had never existed as the 13 attacks were the work of more than one man, said DeSalvo could not have committed the crimes.

‘‘DeSalvo pleaded guilty to crimes he didn’t commit,’’ said Ms Kelly.

‘‘He didn’t know the weapons. He claimed to have raped people that were not raped.’’

The Sullivan family believe authorities know who killed their 19-year-old relative in her flat, and plan to sue the person once the tests on her body are released.

And both families are suing Boston’s chief prosecutor Tom Reilly, local police and Massachusetts state police to get them to open their files on the case, which include DNA evidence.

Mr Sharp said: ‘‘It might be possible to test some of that material if we could get it.

‘‘At this point two families have had to go through the trauma of opening graves and opening old wounds simply because Tom Reilly would not open old files related to the Boston Strangler case.’’