The Psychiatrist and the Strangler

Boston Strangler, a new Hulu film about a team of female reporters who broke the story about the murder series in Boston during the early 1960s, alters some key facts. Notably, in order to boost one character’s prominence, the film downplays a psychiatrist’s role. But the psychiatrist, Ames Robey, shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed. He had ideas about who the killer was…and was not.

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon portray the investigative journalists Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, who one-upped the cops to identify a link among several murders of older women. The murders continued.

The Crimes

Between June 1962 and January 1964, 13 single women in the Boston area were strangled. Most were thought to be victims of a single perpetrator, whom the reporters dubbed "the Boston Strangler." The first wave, lasting ten weeks, involved older women. A second, more extended, wave targeted mostly younger women. Most of the victims were murdered in their apartments, sexually molested, and strangled with articles of clothing.

On November 5, 1964, Albert DeSalvo was arrested for entering women’s homes by using a ruse as a maintenance man to gain their trust and rape them. He’d once been arrested as a sexual deviant, the “Measuring Man.” On February 4, 1965, DeSalvo was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for those deemed criminally insane, for observation. There, he met George Nassar, who roped in his attorney, F. Lee Bailey. DeSalvo confessed to Bailey that he was the Boston Strangler. Yet, thanks to a deal, he was never tried for these crimes.

Doubts

Many people who examine the Boston murder series today think there were several killers. DeSalvo’s reason for confessing to them all might have been financial gain. He’d mistakenly believed that a $10,000 reward was attached to each victim. "If I could tell my story to somebody who could write it,” he told Bailey, “maybe I could make some money for my family.” He also thought he’d end up in a psychiatric hospital, the subject of study by esteemed professionals. They’d “fix my head,” allowing him to eventually get out.

Yet a Bridgewater psychiatrist, Ames Robey, doubted DeSalvo’s confession. He claimed that DeSalvo had admitted he knew details about the victims’ residences because he’d been so fascinated by the press accounts that he’d gained entry into the apartments to look around. He’d also admitted that his lawyer had suggested symptoms of mental illness that he should feign for an insanity defense.

Robey testified at DeSalvo’s rape trial in 1967. He said DeSalvo’s personality showed an undifferentiated schizophrenic pattern. He was highly insecure and needed to identify himself as a notorious character. He craved attention: “Albert so badly wanted to be the Strangler.” He had an overwhelming compulsion to confess: “He was a very clever, very smooth, compulsive confessor who desperately needed to be recognized.” Robey believed that DeSalvo had lied about his involvement.

To explain how DeSalvo had gotten so many details right in his confession, Robey gave examples of DeSalvo’s “absolute, complete, one hundred percent total photographic recall.” He thought DeSalvo had read the news accounts and been told about the crimes. DeSalvo did get a few significant details wrong.

Another Suspect

To Robey’s mind, another Bridgewater patient, Peter Howard Denton, was a better suspect. A former Harvard student, Denton had a history of drug abuse and petty crimes. His wife claimed he abused her and had nearly strangled her. He told Robey he felt that women should be punished and that he’d often roam the streets looking for women “to destroy.” Robey had seen Denton tie his shoe with a knot that was characteristic of the Strangler’s unique method.

Robey’s analysis was ignored. He left to set up the Center of Forensic Psychiatry in the Ypsilanti State Hospital just outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. Soon after he arrived, a series of brutal sex slayings of young women commenced between 1967 and 1969. Two of the incidents resembled features of the Boston murders. Robey noticed a photo in the Ann Arbor News of people forming a protest. The group leader was Peter Howard Denton, apparently freed from custody. Denton was now a graduate student at the University of Michigan. Interestingly, several victims were found near Denton Road. Robey took this information to the police, with the result that they suspected him in both sets of murders.

The Cliff-Hanger Ending

Boston Strangler raises questions about DeSalvo’s involvement in all of the murders to which he confessed, including something learned later: DeSalvo allegedly told a cellmate he’d been tutored on the crime scenes and was not himself the Strangler.

In November 1973, Robey made a trip back to Massachusetts. DeSalvo called him and an unidentified reporter to invite them to Walpole prison, where he’d been sent after his rape convictions. He was scared and he had something important to reveal. “He was going to tell us who the Boston Strangler really was,” said Robey, “and what the whole thing was about. He had asked to be placed in the infirmary under special lockup about a week before. Something was going on within the prison, and I think he felt he had to talk quickly.”

That night, DeSalvo was stabbed to death. His then-lawyer, Thomas Troy, confirmed that DeSalvo had hinted that he was not the Strangler but knew who was. The manuscript DeSalvo had told his brother he was writing to set the record straight was never found.

Ames Robey’s sense of DeSalvo’s possible ploy might have been more insightful than anyone acknowledged. Even this film fails to give him his due.