Serial Killer.  Known as the “Boston Strangler” for at least 11 murders of women around the Boston area.  He often tied a bow from the strangling cord around the woman’s neck as a “signature.”  He was also called “The Measuring Man” and “The Green Man” by the media for his numerous rapes, said to number almost 300 women. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to a plumber, Frank DeSalvo and his wife, Charlotte, into a family of six children.  His father regularly beat his wife and children, and would be twice jailed for mistreating his family, before being divorced in 1944. As a young teenage, Albert was arrested for breaking and entering homes to steal.  At age 17, he joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, where he married a German girl, identified only as Irmgard.  He would have two children with Irmgard, a daughter Judy and a son, Michael.  Reassigned to Fort Dix, NJ, DeSalvo was charged with molesting a 9-year-old girl in January 1955, but the charges were dropped when the girl’s mother failed to press charges.  DeSalvo was given an honorable discharge from the Army the next year.  He began his assaults on women until arrested in March 1960 for burglary, but was sentenced to two years for attempted breaking and entering.  Paroled after 11 months, he began a new campaign of rape, later claiming some 300 victims in all.  He would also begin killing some of the women he raped, the first being Anna Slessers, age 55, on June 14, 1962.  Most of the women to die were over age 65 and white, but some were young (mid-20s) and at least one was black.  Police brought him in for questioning when a surviving rape victim identified him.  He quickly confessed to that rape and to many others.  Police sent him to Bridgewater State Hospital for psychiatric observation, and while there, he confessed to several murders to fellow inmate George Nassar, also a convicted murderer.  Nassar informed his lawyer, who informed the police, and eventually, DeSalvo gave a full confession.  But DeSalvo never went to trial for homicide.  His lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, negotiated a deal in 1967 where DeSalvo drew a life term in prison for multiple rapes.  Following his conviction, Irmgard DeSalvo took the children and returned to Germany.  DeSalvo was stabbed six times to the heart by a fellow inmate at the Walpole State Prison during a prison brawl in November 1973; the inmate who killed him was never identified.  Since that time, numerous theories have been expressed that DeSalvo may not have been the Boston Strangler, but instead just took credit for the crimes.  None of the alternative theories have been widely accepted. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Cause of death: Stabbed to death by inmates