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Early in November of 1964, almost three years after he had been
released from jail, DeSalvo was arrested again. This time the
charges were more serious than breaking and entering and measuring
prospective models.
On October 27, a newly married woman lay in bed dozing just after
her husband left for work. Suddenly, there was a man in her room who
put a knife to her throat. "Not a sound or I’ll kill
you," he told her.
He stuffed her underwear in her mouth and tied her in a spread
eagle position to the bedposts with her clothes. He kissed her and
fondled her, and then he asked her how to get out of the apartment.
"You be quiet for ten minutes." Finally he apologized and
fled.
She got a very good look at his face. The police sketch reminded
the detectives of the Measuring Man.
They brought DeSalvo to the station where she was able to observe
him through a one-way mirror. There was no doubt about it. He was
the man. DeSalvo was released on bail. Routinely, his photo went
over the police teletype network and soon calls came in from
Connecticut where they were seeking a sexual assailant they called
the Green Man, because he wore green work pants.
Police arrested him at home and arranged for the victims to
identify him. He was mortified that his wife would see him in
handcuffs. His wife was not surprised. Albert was obsessed with sex.
No one woman would ever be enough for him. In fact, the Green Man
had assaulted four women in one day in different towns in
Connecticut. His wife told him to be completely truthful and not to
hold anything back.
He admitted to breaking into four hundred apartments and a couple
of rapes. He had assaulted some 300 women in a four-state area.
Given DeSalvo’s tendency to aggrandize, it was difficult to tell
if the number was really that high. Many of the instances had gone
unreported and in those that were, the women were reticent to
describe what all he did to them.
"If you knew the whole story you wouldn’t believe
it," he told one of the cops. "It’ll all come out. You’ll
find out."
DeSalvo was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for observation.
While the police did not believe that DeSalvo could be the
Strangler, they wanted the psychiatrist there to examine him.
Shortly after DeSalvo arrived at Bridgewater, a dangerous man
named George Nassar also became an inmate. He had been charged with
a vicious execution-style murder of a gas station attendant. Nassar
was no ordinary thug. His IQ approached genius level and his ability
to manipulate people was highly developed. While in prison for an
earlier murder, he had been studying Russian and other subjects. He
was put in the same ward with DeSalvo and became his confidant.
In early March of 1965, DeSalvo’s wife Irmgard got a call at
her sister’s house in Denver from a man named F. Lee Bailey who
said he was Albert’s attorney. He told her to assume a different
name, leave the area with her children and go into hiding at once to
avoid the deluge of publicity that was going to descend upon her if
she didn’t do what he said. "Something big is going to blow
up about Albert – it will be on the front pages of every newspaper
in 24 hours. I’m flying out to see you tomorrow so I can help you
myself."
The next day she was told that Albert had confessed to being the
Strangler. She hung up on the man in disbelief. She couldn’t
understand why he would confess to such a lie. There was no way that
she could believe that he was capable of such brutality. It had to
be another of Albert’s attempts to make himself seem important.
Some newspaper must be offering him money. That had to be the
reason.
What had brought all of this about? Well, Albert was starting to
think about money: money specifically to support his family while he
was in jail. He had a pretty good idea that with the charges against
him that he could end up spending the rest of his life in jail.
Somehow he had to take care of Irmgard and his two children. The
idea of selling a story and collecting reward money began to take
shape in his mind.
Some months earlier before Albert was sent to Bridgewater, his
lawyer Jon Asgiersson went to see Albert who asked him, "What
would you do if someone gave you the biggest story of the
century?"
"Do you mean the Boston Strangler?"
Albert said yes.
"Are you mixed up in all of them, Albert? Did you do some of
them?"
"All of them," Albert admitted. He thought the story
might bring some money for his family.
Asgiersson wasn’t quite sure what to do with this information
and seriously considered the possibility that Albert was insane. He
began a quiet inquiry.
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F. Lee Bailey (CORBIS) |
Meantime, Albert went to Bridgewater and struck up
his friendship with George Nassar. Regardless of whose idea it was,
the two discussed the reward money for information leading to the
conviction of the Strangler. Nassar and DeSalvo mistakenly assumed
that $10,000 would be paid for each victim of the Strangler or a
total of $110,000 for the eleven official victims. If Nassar turned
him in and DeSalvo confessed, they could work out a deal to split
the money. | 
