Beacon Hill is home to narrow streets, old, restored brick houses, modern galleries, and attractions. And if you have been here a while, you will also recognize the Paramount restaurant at 44 Charles Street.
Mary Sullivan, a 19-year-old nurse at MGH moved into her new apartment at this address 62 years ago. She was found dead four days later.
Her roommates had been working at a local Filene’s and came home to find Sullivan in her bed. They did not bother her at first, thinking she was fast asleep.
It was only later that evening that Sullivan’s roommates discovered that she had been raped and killed by the infamous Boston Strangler.
"It's quite apparent that this little girl was strangled," Lt. John Donovan told the reporters at the time.
The Boston Strangler terrorized Boston between 1962 and 1964 and is believed to have claimed 13 lives.
The case of the Boston Strangler was one of the most notorious in American history.
It
had an overwhelming impact on the city of Boston, leading to a
widespread sense of fear and paranoia. It prompted a massive manhunt for
the killer.
The
Beacon Hill victim, Mary Sullivan, had an important role in the
decades-long investigation to ascertain the killer’s identity.
In
2014 the DNA evidence collected from Sullivan’s apartment on 44 Charles
Street decades ago matched with that of the suspect Albert Henry
DeSalvo who earlier confessed to the murders but recanted his statement
and went free.
“I hope this brings some measure of finality to Mary Sullivan’s family,” Attorney General Martha Coakley said at the time.
"Questions
that Mary’s family asked for almost 50 years have finally been
answered. They, and the families of all homicide victims, should know
that we will never stop working to find justice, accountability and
closure on their behalf.”
Though
DeSalvo was later imprisoned and died in jail, there persists an air of
controversy and speculation around the killer’s identity until this
date.
A movie on Hulu, titled The Boston Strangler focused on the investigation done by two female reporters that shone a light on the killer’s identity.
