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BOSTON, Updated 7:24 p.m. EDT May 12, 2000 -- Relatives of Albert H. DeSalvo and the family of one of the women he confessed to killing are calling on officials to hand over evidence in the hopes of proving DeSalvo was not the Boston Strangler.
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Marblehead attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp, who was a member of the defense team for British au pair Louise Woodward, is representing DeSalvo's family and the family of Mary Sullivan, a 19-year-old who was killed in 1964 during a string of killings that terrorized the city in the early 1960s.
"We're not asking the government to do this, and we're not asking the taxpayer to do this," Sharp said Thursday. "Before, there wasn't the science to solve this case. Today we have it."
Sharp is asking officials to release any evidence from the 30-year-old investigation, including blankets, clothing, and taped confessions by DeSalvo.
If necessary, Starrs and his team would exhume the bodies of both DeSalvo and Sullivan to do further testing, Sharp said.
Boston Police spokesman Thomas Sexton refused to comment on the request.
Findings from a private investigation by Casey Sherman, Sullivan's nephew, and details in the 1995 book "The Boston Stranglers" convinced the two families that evidence still exists which could not only exonerate DeSalvo, but possibly identify Sullivan's killer, she said.
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DeSalvo confessed to those killings and the killings of two other women, but was never charged. He was murdered in prison in 1973 while serving time for an unrelated crime.
But the details he gave in his taped confession to Sullivan's murder did not match the evidence found at the scene, Sharp said.
For example, he told police he left a knife by the side of the bed, but there was no knife. He also told police he pulled a wool sweater over her head during the attack, but no sweater was ever found.
Sharp said DeSalvo's family believes the prospect of selling the book and movie rights about the story enticed DeSalvo to confess to the killings.
Sullivan's family has been convinced for years that her killer was never found, said Diane Dodd, Sullivan's sister.
"My family was victimized by a law enforcement community that turned a blind eye to justice by closing the file on the unsolved murder of my sister," Dodd said in a statement.
DeSalvo's family has endured similar grief, said Richard DeSalvo, Albert's brother.
"We want to know the truth," he said in a statement. "I am elderly. I am tired. But one thing I am not is willing to go to my grave without doing what I can to uncover the facts."
Copyright 2000 by TheBostonChannel. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Boston Strangler Evidence