On this day - 18 January

Thirteen women were strangled to death in the Boston area across an 18 month period in 1962-1964. It was reported that all of these were done by the same individual, who was dubbed the Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo was convicted of the murders and on January 19th 1967 he was sentenced to life in prison.

There remains controversy over whether DeSalvo was actually responsible for all of the murders. He was believed to be involved having been identified by a victim of an unrelated sexual assault, and some of the murder victims were also sexually assualted. DNA evidence has linked DeSalvo to Mary Sullivan, the final victim, but many experts believe at least one other perpetrator was involved with or committed some of the other murders.