Albert Henry DeSalvo, a criminal whose sexual obsession terrorized the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area between 1962 and 1964, was popularly known as the Boston Strangler. The Strangler's 19-month spree of rape and murder ended with DeSalvo's life sentence in the state prison, where he was stabbed to death by fellow inmates in 1973.

The mayhem began in mid-1962 when a 55-year-old woman was raped and strangled with the belt of her housecoat, tied in a bow around her neck. Over the next 19 months, thirteen such rapes and murders took place, the mostly white victims ranging in age from 19 to 85. The murders grew increasingly brutal, but the killer usually left a trademark, a bow tied around the victim's neck. Finally, in October 1964, a woman was raped but not murdered. Instead, the rapist said, "I'm sorry," and fled. The victim described him to police, and they arrested Albert DeSalvo.

DeSalvo had a troubled...