Seeking Truth in the Shadow of the Boston Strangler

Casey Sherman has spent decades searching for answers about the murder of his aunt Mary Sullivan, officially recognized as the final victim of the Boston Strangler. As the nephew of the youngest known victim in the notorious killing spree that terrorized Boston between 1962 and 1964, Sherman has come to a controversial conclusion that challenges the official narrative: “I honestly don’t believe Albert DeSalvo did it,” he told Fox News Digital. This bold statement forms the foundation of a new Oxygen documentary, “The Boston Strangler: Unheard Confession,” which features previously unreleased audio recordings of DeSalvo’s confessions. Sherman’s journey began with childhood whispers about his aunt’s murder and a poignant moment with his mother, who was just 17 when her 19-year-old sister Mary was killed. When Sherman assured his mother that at least authorities had caught the killer, she replied with a haunting uncertainty: “Casey, I don’t know if they ever did.” It wasn’t just a grieving sister’s doubt—it was an intuition that would set Sherman on a lifelong quest for truth in a case that has become American criminal folklore.

The official history tells us that thirteen women between 19 and 85 years old were sexually assaulted and killed during a two-year reign of terror, with each victim strangled using their own clothing. The press dubbed the perpetrator “America’s Jack the Ripper,” and the city lived in fear. In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, a blue-collar worker and Army veteran with a wife and children, confessed to the killings while institutionalized at Bridgewater State Hospital. However, lacking physical evidence, authorities couldn’t bring him to trial for the murders. Instead, DeSalvo was sentenced to life imprisonment for unrelated sexual assaults. Before his death in 1973—when he was stabbed to death in prison—DeSalvo recanted his confession. The case seemed closed in 2013 when DNA testing on DeSalvo’s exhumed remains supposedly confirmed his guilt in Sullivan’s murder and, by extension, implicated him in the other killings. Sherman initially supported these findings but grew increasingly skeptical about the presentation and interpretation of the evidence.

Sherman’s investigation led him to interview approximately fifty witnesses and Boston Strangler task force members, including one original investigator who maintained throughout his career that authorities had pinned the murders on the wrong man. The documentary features excerpts from sixty hours of DeSalvo’s confession tapes, which Sherman describes as the “holy grail” of the case. After building a relationship with the investigator who had preserved these recordings, Sherman gained access to materials that further fueled his doubts. “Albert DeSalvo confessed to events that never happened,” Sherman claims. “There were glaring mistakes in these confessions.” He criticizes the interrogation technique of John Bottomley, who led the questioning despite having “no experience in criminal investigations” as a real estate lawyer. Sherman points out that Bottomley asked leading questions and showed DeSalvo crime scene photographs—practices that experienced homicide detectives told Sherman were shocking departures from proper interrogation procedures.

Through his research, Sherman uncovered forty letters DeSalvo wrote to a Massachusetts family who regularly visited prisoners. In these letters, DeSalvo allegedly expressed his intention to recant his confession to a New York Times reporter—an opportunity he never received before his murder in prison. Sherman, like other skeptics, believes there were at least two killers responsible for the Boston Strangler murders, possibly more. Critics of the official narrative point to inconsistencies such as DeSalvo not matching witness descriptions, his absence from the list of over 300 initial suspects, and contradictions in his statements. Sherman suggests that DeSalvo’s cellmate George Nassar, a convicted murderer who died in 2018, may have manipulated DeSalvo into confessing to divert suspicion from himself. Although Nassar denied any involvement, saying, “If I had been, theoretically, on a score with Al, and we were in a criminal conspiracy together, and I found out that he was murdering women and getting away with it, I’d have given him a quick and painless death, right there,” Sherman remains convinced there was a financial motive behind DeSalvo’s confession.

Not everyone shares Sherman’s conviction about DeSalvo’s innocence. Several key investigators, law enforcement officials, and forensic experts maintain that DeSalvo was indeed the Boston Strangler, or at least responsible for most of the murders attributed to the serial killer. DeSalvo’s attorney, F. Lee Bailey, previously stated, “They had the right guy, beyond question,” adding, “No one has ever come up with anything meaningful to contradict that.” The conflicting perspectives highlight the enduring complexity of the case and the challenges in definitively resolving decades-old murders. Despite the opposing viewpoints, Sherman advocates for a reexamination of the evidence—even if it ultimately proves him wrong. “The victims’ families deserve answers and the truth behind the tragic murders of their loved ones,” he emphasized, noting that “there’s no statute of limitations on murder in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Sherman remains optimistic that answers exist, though many directly connected to the case have passed away. “I’ve presented my theories on the case, and others have as well. The killers are dead, and many who were connected to the case are gone. Now it’s up to the public to keep raising questions and debating the answers,” he reflected. His commitment to the truth transcends personal theories: “I’m not beholden to any single theory, and even in 2025, reexamining these murders may reveal new information that wasn’t available just a few years ago. It’s an ongoing quest to find the truth.” As “The Boston Strangler: Unheard Confessions” streams on Oxygen, it invites viewers to reconsider one of America’s most infamous crime sprees and the possibility that the full story remains untold. For Sherman, this isn’t just about historical accuracy—it’s about justice for his aunt Mary and the twelve other women whose lives were brutally cut short, leaving families like his forever changed by violence and uncertainty.