Albert DeSalvo in jail, showing his choker jewelry (AP)

Albert DeSalvo was serving out his life sentence at Walpole State Prison, now called MCI-Cedar Junction, when he was stabbed to death in the infirmary in November of 1973. The night before he was murdered, he telephoned Dr. Ames Robey and asked him to meet with him urgently. DeSalvo was very frightened. Robey promised to meet with him the next morning, but Albert was murdered that night.

Albert had asked one other person to meet with him and Robey – a reporter. Robey explained," He was going to tell us who the Boston Strangler really was, 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. There were people in the prison, including guards, that were not happy with him…Somebody had to leave an awful lot of doors open, which meant, because there were several guards one would have to go by, there had to be a fair number of people paid or asked to turn their backs or something. But somebody put a knife into Albert DeSalvo’s heart sometime between evening check and the morning."

Officials believed that Albert’s death was related to his involvement in a prison drug operation. 3 men were tried, but twice the trials ended in hung juries.

Albert wrote this poem a few years before his death:

Here is the story of the Strangler, yet untold,
The man who claims he murdered thirteen women,
young and old.
The elusive Strangler, there he goes,
Where his wanderlust sends him, no one knows
He struck within the light of day,
Leaving not one clue astray.
Young and old, their lips are sealed,
Their secret of death never revealed.
Even though he is sick in mind,
He’s much too clever for the police to find.
To reveal his secret will bring him fame,
But burden his family with unwanted shame.
Today he sits in a prison cell,
Deep inside only a secret he can tell.
People everywhere are still in doubt,
Is the Strangler in prison or roaming about?