[announcer on radio] ...comes back now, the other way.
Strong defense by both teams so far in this game. Duncan to Derby.
Derby takes a quick shot from outside.
And the Bulldogs have two men pressed defensively. And he hits again.
Michigan back on top, by a score of 4-3.
Robinson quickly brings the ball up court. It's a shot.
Miss. But the rebound is scooped up by the Bulldogs.
[person] I'd rather not see you.
[announcer] His jump shot is good.
-Puts the Bulldogs back up... - [distant thud]
...5-4
Well, Matthews was tightly manned on Johnson.
But Michigan has managed to work through that
in the early stages of this game.
- [person] No! No! No! - [distant thud]
[person sobs]
- [screams] - [home intruder grunts]
- [person whimpers] No! - [clattering]
[distant thud]
Back off!
- [distant thud] - [person screams]
- [person crying] - [home intruder grunting]
- [clattering] - [person grunts, gasps]
- [person choking] - [home intruder grunting]
[thuds]
[footsteps approaching]
[thuds]
[singing on TV] ♪ Nowhere to run ♪
♪ Nowhere to hide ♪
[knocking]
[person 2] Claire, are you okay? Open up!
[knocking continues]
Claire, if you don't answer the door, I'm calling the cops.
[knocking continues]
[dispatcher on radio] We have a possible intruder at Oak Tower apartments.
Sixty-one, got it.
[tires squealing]
[keys jingling]
[door opens]
[detective] State police!
[Nowhere to Run (Nowhere to Hide) playing on TV]
State police! Open up!
[singing on TV continues]
- [keys jingling] - [door lock clicks]
[teakettle whistling]
♪ Nowhere to run ♪
♪ Nowhere to hide from ya ♪
-♪ Got nowhere to run to, baby ♪ -♪ Nowhere to run, no, baby ♪
♪ Nowhere to hide ♪
State police!
[singing on TV continues]
[officer gasps]
[music fades, ends]
[news anchor on radio] ...city increases.
Boston truck driver strike is still in progress.
Our direct reports of the morning take us to Washington, to Paris...
[child 1] I'm trying to eat as fast as I can.
Eat your cereal. Hurry up.
[sighs] Toast?
Yeah. That one.
[footsteps approaching]
- Morning, everybody. - [child 2] Morning.
- Where's Tommy? - [child 1] Morning.
Shoot. Tommy!
- [Tommy] Right here. - Come on. We gotta leave in two minutes.
[parent] Do you want toast?
[Tommy] Sure.
[church bells tolling]
[phone ringing]
- [receptionist] Record American. - [typing]
When I do the follow up, I-I'll give you a call back.
[receptionist] Record American.
Can't let one slide, can ya?
Not until they get me off the lifestyle desk.
- Jack, you got a second? - Not now.
Chelsea cops got caught running numbers again.
The Globe and the Herald ran it today. We got nothing.
Come on. Don't you have an assignment?
Okay, what about the new suspect in the mail truck robbery?
Every other paper covered it.
You see that? That's the crime desk. I got six guys working that beat.
Okay, Susan,
- you're on must-have housewares. - [Susan] Thank you.
Mary, you got the fashion and style feature for the Sunday edition.
- Twenty-inch feature with photos. - [Mary] Mmm.
Ellie, you're on candidates' wives. Basic life-on-the-trail stuff.
- What they're eating, wearing. - Who's yelling at who.
Loretta, you get this week's product review.
Sunbeam has a new toaster.
Okay, and Nancy, you're on diet tips, girl.
[broadcaster on radio] Tax reforms, dislodging and equity demand.
And he would made that cut in taxes
to take effect as of the start of next year, January 1963.
The billions of dollars that are still placed in the hands of...
[reporters chattering]
- [reporter] Hi, Phyllis. - [Phyllis] Mornin'.
Who's that?
Uh, that is Holland's girl, Jean Cole.
[Loretta] What, is she a reporter or a nurse?
She's working undercover. Got some story on nursing homes.
[Jean sighs]
Here. Use mine. I'll fix this one.
[Jean] Thanks.
What are you working on?
Story on patient abuse.
That sounds important. How'd you get it?
I asked for it.
And they just gave it to you?
That's usually how it works.
Not around here, it isn't.
Sorry.
[typing]
[presenter on TV] And there is the beautiful Monroe centerpiece...
What the hell is she gonna do with those?
- Ma, what did the doctor say? - I didn't go.
- What do you mean you didn't go? - Katie didn't show up.
What happened? You didn't call her?
I'm not gonna go around hounding people. She's not even family.
[sighs] She's married to your son.
If it was so damn important, you should've taken me yourself.
[Loretta] Yeah, yeah, I'm aware.
I'll see you in a couple days.
- Don't get up. I'll let myself out. - [breathing heavily]
- Gotta put the chain on. - Since when?
Since the neighbor got killed.
- You didn't hear? - No.
Mrs. Slesers, right around the corner.
It was in your paper.
[police radio chatter]
[door closes]
[phone ringing]
Jack? I think I found something.
Three women were strangled over the last two weeks.
I don't see the interest. These are nobodies.
[Loretta] Who do you think our readers are?
And that's just it. Why would anybody go around killing three nobody women?
And how do you plan to find that out?
Well, let me profile the victims. See if there's any connection.
Kid, you're not covering a homicide.
Why not?
Because you don't have the experience covering homicides.
How am I supposed to get any experience if you won't give me a shot?
No.
Oh, come on. It's slow.
I'll do it on my own time.
All right. But you're still on the lifestyle desk.
[church bells tolling]
[doorbell rings]
Uh, Loretta McLaughlin, with the Record American.
You're the super? You found Ida Irga?
Yeah, that's right.
Uh...
Did it look like someone broke in?
No. No, the door was locked. I had to use a master key.
Anything else unusual when you went in?
No. Those details don't belong in your paper.
No, no, I-- I'm not gonna print anything disrespectful.
I'm-- I'm just trying to get a sense.
You really wanna know?
I found her on the floor with her legs spread open,
ankles strapped to a chair.
There was a broom handle stuck between her legs.
- You mean-- - Yeah.
He tied her stockings in a bow around her neck.
A bow?
Like on a gift.
- [chattering] - [phone ringing]
Uh, you know who's working the Anna Slesers homicide?
I'm with the Record American.
They're out. Why I never seen ya before?
I was working a different desk. You know when they'll be back?
No clue. They're up to their eyeballs.
Yeah, I bet. Any suspects?
Talk to Corsetti. He already covered it.
I'm doing a different story about how the murders are connected.
You mean the bows?
All three had bows around their necks?
I didn't say that.
No, I already confirmed Ida Irga. Are you confirming Blake and Slesers?
I'm not confirmin' nothin'. Why don't you take a hike?
[Loretta] Only one I can confirm is Ida Irga.
What about the autopsy reports?
DA won't release them.
Wasn't one of them in Lynn?
Helen Blake.
Well, that's Es*** County. Different county, different DA.
Corsetti, you know the medical examiner in Lynn?
[Corsetti] Yeah, I play cards with him.
See if you can get the Helen Blake autopsy.
[Loretta] Thanks.
Okay. [sighs]
[sighs]
[phone ringing]
[officer 1] What's the one right next to... [laughs]
Excuse me, I'm looking for Officer Dougan.
[officer 2] Dougan? No, he's not here.
You know where he drinks?
You know where Foley's is?
[door creaks]
Officer Dougan?
Yeah.
Uh, Loretta McLaughlin with the Record American.
Uh, you took the call for Anna Slesers?
[Dougan] That's right.
I need to ask you a detail about the crime scene.
I don't think I'm supposed to be talking to the papers.
No, it's nothing like that.
Uh-- Just wanna ask about the stockings around her neck.
Did you see if they were tied in a single or a double-hitched knot?
There's no way I could tell by looking.
I would've had to roll her over, and-- I'm just a patrolman.
I don't touch the bodies.
Did it look decorative?
In a real sick kind of way, yeah.
Thank you.
I just confirmed Slesers. I've got confirmation on all three.
[Jack] All right. Get back here and write it up.
[Loretta] What do these three women have in common?
Three shadowy patterns of attack.
Three knotted loops that bind them together.
Strangers to one another in life, they became sisters in death.
Each coming to the same horror-filled moment of murder by strangulation
by a killer who came quietly, who is careful in his derangement,
and self-possessed enough to lock the door on his way out.
- [knocking] - [neighbor] Hey, you okay in there?
Open up! Hey, if you don't open the door, I'm gonna call the cops!
- Nice work, kid. - [Loretta chuckles]
- [chattering] - [phone ringing]
[announcer on radio] The city is buzzing today after a story in the Record American
claims that three elderly women were killed by one deranged individual.
There's nothing in the Globe or the Herald.
Or any of 'em.
You beat the whole damn city.
I can't believe it. This is incredible!
The story's bullshit.
Been getting calls all morning from my guys in the department.
- [buzzer sounds] - [Phyllis] DA's office for you.
Hold my calls, please.
[Corsetti] She's in way over her head.
- You never should've sent her out on this. - [buzzer sounds]
[Phyllis] I have Commissioner McNamara for you.
I told you to hold my calls.
No, he's here for you.
Jesus Christ.
**** 'em.
Send him in.
[drink pours]
Ah, what can I do for you, Commissioner?
Was it your idea to send some skirt down to the station house?
Well, her name's Loretta. She was workin' a story.
Is that what you're callin' it now?
Hanging around the bar, flirtin' with my guys?
Never even identified herself as a reporter.
Now I've got every old lady in the ****in' city tying up my phone lines!
Just tell me what we got wrong, and I'll print a correction.
It's barstool gossip, for Christ's sake!
Half the news in the city's barstool gossip.
What the hell did we get wrong?
Homicide has been workin' around the clock on this,
and we've got nothin' to connect the murders.
What about the stockings?
Only one of the victims in Boston had that.
The other one looks like a suicide.
- We got sources for both women-- - Sources!
It was a couple of dipshit beat cops trying to bed that girl you sent down!
I'm telling you this as a friend.
If you keep running this story, you're gonna end up embarrassing yourself.
- [chattering] - [phone ringing]
[Jack] Loretta!
Shut the door.
I am catching hell over this story.
Now, Commissioner McNamara says the whole thing's gossip.
Same with Corsetti's sources.
I confirmed every word of that story.
You identified yourself as a reporter?
Of course I did.
- Even at the bar? - Especially at the bar.
I'm killin' the follow-up.
We beat everyone in the whole damn city, and you're-- you're just gonna drop it?
Yes, I am.
The story is good.
The story is a headache I don't need right now.
And you're back on the lifestyle desk.
[Kelly] She shouldn't be working like this.
[Loretta's husband] Oh, come on, Kelly.
[Kelly] She should be home taking care of her own husband.
[Loretta's husband] You check in a few hours a day.
It's not the worst thing in the world.
[Kelly speaking, indistinct]
[Kelly] You don't see how selfish it is?
[Loretta's husband] What do you want me to say? We make it work.
[Kelly] Yeah, 'cause I watch your kids half the week.
[Loretta's husband] I appreciate your help--
[Kelly] She's going to ruin your children.
Hi, Kelly.
Hi, Loretta.
He offer you anything? Coffee? Tea?
I was just headin' out.
Tommy had a meltdown in the car. Gave Patrick a fat lip.
Class pictures are tomorrow. Might wanna ice it again.
Thank you.
[door opens]
- [sighs] - [door closes]
[melancholic singing on the radio]
So, why haven't you asked me to stay home?
'Cause I know better.
No, I'm serious. Why not?
'Cause you'd be miserable.
Well, so what?
Our lives would be easier. Kids would be better off.
- Says who? - Your sister.
My mother. The neighbor.
What the hell do they know?
You'd drive us all mad if you were sittin' around here all day.
[chuckles]
It was a great story.
Jack's probably just afraid to rock the boat. Don't take it personally.
[snickers]
[birds squawking, chirping]
[church bells toll]
[engine revving]
[water running]
[chattering on TV]
[knocking]
[door opens]
[resident] Yes? Can I help you?
[home intruder] Yeah, I got a call about a water leak.
[resident] I'm sorry, who are you?
- [home intruder] Super sent me. - [thuds]
- [resident] No! Oh, God. No! - [clattering]
- [resident straining, grunting] - [home intruder grunts]
[resident whimpers]
- [home intruder grunting] - [resident choking]
- [resident whimpers, grunts] - [metal thuds]
[metal rattles on floor]
- [footsteps approaching] - [dragging]
[phone ringing]
Hello?
Loretta, it's Phyllis.
Another woman was strangled. Just came over the wire.
- Thank you. - Who was that?
- They just found a fourth victim. - Go.
- You'll get the kids off to school? - Yeah, yeah. Go.
- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
- Dad's taking you to school today, okay? - Dad's taking us?
- [phone ringing] - [child] Where are you going?
- [children chattering] - Girls, hurry up! Let's go!
[ringing continues]
- I saw that. - Wasn't hiding it.
Maybe you should.
Hello?
It's Holland. I need you on the Strangler story.
Jack put some amateur on it.
That bad, huh?
Can you wrap up the nursing home story tonight?
- [Jean] Yeah, all right. - [handset settles in cradle]
What was that about?
[sighs] Holland wants me on those Strangler murders.
[Jean's husband] The hell's the matter with him?
What's that supposed to mean?
He's using you. Putting a girl on a story like that. It's a stunt.
I need you to get the girls off.
[children chattering]
Here, take a seat.
Jean's gonna be working with you on the Strangler story.
Oh, uh, no offense, but I-I don't need any help with this.
It's not up for debate.
[Loretta] What is she gonna cover that I can't?
The whole story, if you keep it up.
[smacks lips] Where are you at with the fourth victim?
She have a stocking around the neck?
Uh, I haven't got confirmation yet.
Not yet? It's 40 minutes to deadline.
Police won't confirm.
Her cousin Arnold found the body, but there's, uh--
There's no listings for an Arnold Sullivan,
and no other relatives have come forward.
[editor] Jeanie, call around. See what you come up with.
[Jean] I already did. Police aren't talking. Corsetti tried too.
Never seen 'em this tight-lipped about anything.
[Jack] That's 'cause they're bracing for a shitstorm.
[editor] Find the cousin. Otherwise, pull it from page one.
[footsteps approaching]
[Loretta] What are you doing?
I'm calling everyone in the phone book with the same last name.
You know how many Sullivans there are?
Better get crackin' then.
Hello, I'm looking for a relative of Jane Sullivan.
Hello, is this Mr. Sullivan?
You're not?
- Mrs. Sullivan? - [person 1] This is the Howard residence.
- [person 2] Hello. - Hello, Mr. Sullivan?
Wrong number.
I'm looking for a relative of Jane Sullivan.
- [person 3] No relation. - Thank you.
[person 4] Who is this?
- I'm looking for a relative of Ja-- Hello? - [line clicks]
- Mr. Sullivan, please? - [person 5] Not interested.
- Jane. - [Loretta] Mrs. Sullivan?
Is this Roberta Sullivan?
- [person 6] She passed away. - Thank you.
- [person 7] Hello? - Hi, is this Walter?
Nobody here by that name.
Hi, I'm looking for a relative of, um, sorry, Jane Sullivan.
- [Loretta] Hello? - [line clicks]
You are? My name is Jean Cole, I'm a reporter with the Record American.
We were just calling to confirm some details.
They just confirmed number four.
All right. Phantom's going on page one.
[reporters clamoring]
[reporter] Are you confirming the story of the Record American?
Commissioner! Is there a story--
[McNamara] We are advising the people of Boston
to make sure they have proper locks on their doors, in good working order.
Is there only one killer?
[McNamara] They're not to allow any person into their home
till they are absolutely sure they are a proper person.
- Especially women living alone! - Are you confirming the story--
Keep your doors locked, and don't let strangers in your home!
Are you confirming the story in the Record American?
Is there only one killer?
I don't care if it's one killer or four. We're gonna catch whoever did this.
- [reporter] Do you have any suspects? - [reporters clamoring]
Commissioner, do you have any suspects?
[broadcaster 1 on radio] Extraordinary methods of investigation are needed
to deal with these highly abnormal and uncommon crimes.
I believe that the people of Massachusetts
have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
[broadcaster 2 on radio] We believe this is a man who's come here to kill people.
He is a terror to this city.
We need to get him into custody.
[knocking]
[footsteps approaching]
[door opens]
We're gonna be painting here next week. I gotta take a look around.
[resident] Who sent you?
Uh, super. It'll only take a minute.
[resident] Well, all right.
- [resident screams] - [home intruder grunts]
[resident straining, choking]
- [home intruder grunts] - [resident straining]
[crowd clamoring]
[Loretta] I'm with the Record American.
[officer on radio] Standby one second.
[knocking]
[detective] Hello, ma'am. How are you?
I wanted to ask you a few questions. You mind openin' the door?
[neighbor] You have ID?
How do I know that's real?
Ma'am, I'm a-- I'm a homicide detective for the Boston Police Department.
Yeah, well, I haven't met ya. And I'm not letting strangers in.
All right, let's go. Gotta wait outside.
- No, I'm with the Record American. - Doesn't matter. Let's go.
[crowd clamoring]
- [officer] People, please step back. - [onlooker 1] What's the big deal?
- [onlooker 2] What's going on here? - [officer] Back up. Make some space.
- They're not letting anyone in. - [Jean] Come on.
Hey, Joe.
Hey, Jeanie. How are ya?
- How's the old man doin'? - He's still goin'.
Any word on this? It lookin' like the others?
Yeah. Left her on the bed, stockings tied around her neck.
Did it look like he broke in?
No. No sign of forced entry. Looks like he took his time too.
- [chattering] - [typing]
[Phyllis] Record American. Please hold.
I gotta take pictures for your byline.
Since when do they do that?
[photographer] Since they got you two.
What does that mean?
What do you think it means? It's a circulation stunt.
I'm not doing it.
[photographer] Come on. Why else you think they got two girls on such a big story?
I don't do stunt reporting. Tell 'em I'm not doing it.
Tell 'em yourself. I don't make the rules around here.
- [chattering] - [phone rings]
[Phyllis] Record American.
You're gonna let that ***hole bother you?
You don't mind being called a fluke? By that jack***?
Let 'em sell their papers. You still got the biggest story in the city.
[sighs]
[Loretta] Five women have been strangled over the past three months.
By number and by nature, these stranglings are beyond anything
ever seen before in the criminal history of the city.
The murders are clearly premeditated. All elderly.
All lived alone. It's a pattern.
[Loretta] The crimes themselves are insane.
He ransacks the apartments but doesn't take anything.
He leaves his victims posed with a bizarre air of ceremony,
each left with a decorative garrote around her neck.
In every case, there is no evidence left behind,
no clue as to how he selects his victims.
He seems to come and go as he pleases, committing his crimes in broad daylight.
[professor] It's highly organized behavior.
Probably escalated over time, and now he's lost control.
Barriers are down. He'll almost certainly repeat.
[chattering]
What's this?
This is all for you two.
[Jean] "I'm one of the many who can't sleep.
I find myself awake all night and too frightened to leave during the day."
"Every day is an eternity, every night a horror.
Nobody knows what a woman alone feels."
"No one knows fear as we know it."
[Loretta] There is but one answer. The Boston Phantom...
The Boston Strangler must be caught.
Guess he's got a name now.
Shit.
- [chattering] - [chuckles]
- Mmm. - Thanks.
So, uh, how'd you become Holland's girl? He poach you from one of the other papers?
He got me a job when I graduated high school.
I was working at a lunch counter down by the courthouse.
He covered a trial the summer before my senior year.
I got to know him pretty well, and so he offered to get me a job when I turned 18.
Back then, just living through the day was an accomplishment.
I wore my school clothes when they first sent me out on assignments.
I didn't have money for anything else.
Holland took pity on me and lent me money for a new suit.
I never wanted to let him down after that.
I learned to hold my own,
and he started sending me out on bigger and bigger stories,
and it just became my life.
I really can't imagine doing anything else.
It's crazy to think your whole life can turn on a chance encounter.
My senior year, I, uh-- I lined up with all the other girls
to register for nursing school.
But my English teacher, Mrs. Welker, she-- she pulled me out of the line
and had me apply for a scholarship to go to college.
And that was it.
I'd be changing bedpans if it wasn't for her.
Thank God for Mrs. Welker.
[chuckles]
- [chattering] - [jazz music playing on radio]
[phone ringing]
[sighs] Hello?
-Hey, it's Jean. - Hey.
They found another victim. It was a young girl this time.
[gasps] I'll come in now.
What was that?
Oh. [sighs] Another woman turned up. I've gotta go in.
You gotta be kidding me. It's New Year's Eve for Christ's sakes.
Who's gonna take your mother home?
[stammers] I can take her now, I guess.
Go. I'll deal with it.
[footsteps departing]
[sighs]
Mom had to go to work.
[chattering]
There's Joe.
[shutter clicks]
Hey, hey, ***hole. Come on. Come on.
That's enough.
[scoffs]
[resident] That guy came to my door earlier today.
He said he was here to paint the apartment, so I let him in.
All of a sudden, he tells me I'm pretty and asks me if I thought about modeling.
I got nervous, told him my husband was home.
I pretended to go back and get him, and when I came back, he was gone.
What time was this?
Uh, this afternoon. Three o'clock.
Could you describe him for me?
Uh, normal. White guy, dark hair.
He had workman's clothes on.
He just looked regular.
[professor on phone] She doesn't fit the pattern.
To switch from all elderly women to a young girl is unheard of.
When these guys establish a type,
it usually comes from a trauma that's been years in the making.
It doesn't just change all of a sudden.
How sure are you?
That's the going theory with this type of killer.
But no one really knows.
Did you know they were gonna do this?
You really think this is smart? With that lunatic still out there?
I don't know what to say. All right?
Stanley was supposed to shoot the damn crime scene.
[phone rings]
Hello?
[person breathing heavily on phone]
Hello?
[sighs]
Who was that?
It's just a wrong number.
[phone ringing]
Hello?
Who is this?
[phone rings]
Who is this?
Stop calling here!
[footsteps departing]
- [organ music playing] - [chattering]
Are you having any problems with people calling your house?
You gettin' hang-ups and the, uh, heavy breathers?
- Yeah. They called you too? - Mmm.
Nope. We unlisted our number years ago after I covered my first mayor's race.
Yeah. Right.
I'm gonna go have a cigarette.
I'll be right back.
Hey.
Got a smoke?
Been reading your stories. They've been pretty good.
Well, have you got any leads?
Off the record.
Off the record? More than we can handle.
Are you close to making an arrest?
These people have no idea what they're up against.
[Loretta] What people?
Uh, the whole department, as far as I'm concerned.
The whole police department?
[detective] The usual rules don't apply.
There's no motive, and then he takes off without leaving a shred of evidence.
Guy's as careful as he is deranged.
Nice talking to you.
I'm Jim, by the way.
You can call me at the paper anytime.
I'll give you whatever I have.
[wind howling]
[thunderclap]
[knocking]
- Yes? - [mechanic] Yeah,
the super sent me to check the radiator.
It'll only take a second.
[resident] Do you want some coffee?
[mechanic] Yeah, sure.
[thunderclap]
[thunder rumbling]
[shrieks]
- [mug clatters] - [chokes]
[grunting]
[gasping, grunting]
[whimpering, grunting]
[reporter on TV] The city is, for some, glamorous, stimulating, prosperous.
Only recently has it become dangerous.
Five young girls have been strangled in the Boston area.
A young girl was strangled in her Lawrence apartment.
Stockings and a leotard wrapped tightly about her neck.
A 21-year-old Boston University student was found by her two roommates,
strangled with a silk stocking in her Back Bay apartment.
And most recent, Patricia Bissette, a 24-year-old secretary,
was also found strangled in her Back Bay apartment where she lived alone.
[person on PA, indistinct]
- [nurse] Jeanie. Hi. - [Jean] Yeah, yeah.
You okay?
Yeah. [stammers] Um, tough morning.
[Jean] You guys do the Patricia Bissette autopsy?
It's a bad one.
She was pregnant.
Pregnant? Was she married?
[nurse] Single.
How far along was she?
[nurse] A few months.
[receptionist] Nielson's Electronics.
One moment.
Mr. Nielson, please.
He's not in today. Could I give him a message?
Jean Cole with the Record American.
Patricia Bissette was his secretary?
That's right.
You know her well?
Pretty well. It's a small office.
Do you know if she was dating anyone?
I'm not sure.
Did you know she was pregnant?
I take lunch at noon.
[chattering]
What's this?
[receptionist] Pull the string on the back.
[doll] Please take me with you.
That's Patricia's voice.
Mr. Nielson used her to record the prototype for the latest model.
[doll] Please take me with you.
Jesus.
Mr. Nielson and Patricia were having an affair.
Everyone in the office knew.
Did he know she was pregnant?
He was helping her sort it out.
Sort it out? How?
[receptionist] He found a convent in New Hampshire.
They were supposed to arrange for an adoption.
Do you know if Patricia wanted to keep the baby?
Maybe.
But Mr. Nielson has a wife and kids.
So that was that.
[parent] Beverly came over every week no matter what.
She'd bring supper and we'd watch the stories on the TV together.
Do you know if she had a boyfriend?
I don't think so. School took up most of her time.
And the choir. It's where a lot of her friends were from.
At church?
[parent] No. At BU, where she was studying.
Oh. That's where I went.
[scoffs]
I always thought she'd end up being someone like you.
You know, with a job she loved, living on her own terms.
I admired that about her.
She was doin' all the things I wish I could've done with my own life.
You have kids?
Yeah. Uh, three.
Maggie's nine. The boys are seven and five.
[parent] Beverly was terrified of the dark when she was that age.
Only way I could get her to calm down was by singing to her.
[sobs]
I'm sorry, I just-- I just can't stop thinking about it.
What he did to her. What that must have been like for her.
[sobbing]
[choir vocalizing]
[friend] Beverly had just broken up with her boyfriend.
She was taking advantage of her freedom.
Did you meet any of the guys she was seeing?
Yeah, but they were all harmless.
It's her ex that she was afraid of.
Uh-- Sorry, who is that?
Daniel Marsh.
Why was she afraid of him?
He was harassing her.
He had just gotten kicked out of Harvard, was acting really erratic.
He'd call in the middle of the night, show up unannounced. Things like that.
And when was this?
Right up until around when it happened.
[doorbell buzzes]
Daniel Marsh?
Yes?
Loretta McLaughlin with the Record American.
You knew Beverly Samans?
Come inside.
[door closes]
Come in. Come in.
[machine rattling]
We can talk just back here.
Uh, I've just remembered that I've got, uh, another appointment.
I'm gonna have to-- I'm gonna have to come back another time.
[door slams]
[Loretta pants]
[doll] Please take me with you.
- [footsteps approaching] - [doll] Please take me with you.
Here's everything on Patricia and Nielson.
[doll] Please take me with you.
You okay?
Yeah.
Don't stay here all night.
I'm serious.
I won't.
[doll] Please take me with you.
Wait, what did you say his name was?
No, you called me.
- Runnin' a hotline for the mentally unfit. - [Loretta chuckles]
That's everything.
All right. Give me some time. I gotta wade through this pile of shit first.
Don't wait on these.
They're good leads.
[door lock clicks]
[chattering on TV]
[door lock clicks]
- [detective] Boston Police Department! - [gasps]
Gordon Nielson?
- [Nielson] Yes. - [detective] Hands on the wall.
[examiner] Your name is Gordon Nielson?
[Nielson] Yes.
[examiner] You've been divorced once?
[Nielson] Yes.
[examiner] Patricia Bissette worked as your secretary?
[Nielson] Yes.
[examiner] Did you have a relationship with her outside of work?
Yes.
[examiner] Did you see Patricia the night she was murdered?
No.
Can I have an update, Detective?
We caught Nielson removing evidence from Patricia's apartment.
He failed two polygraph tests,
but the DA still doesn't think he has a case,
and there's nothing tying him to the other murders.
So, what about Daniel Marsh?
Who? The Harvard psycho?
He's batshit crazy, I'll give you that, but we got nothin' on him.
Well, he was harassing Beverly the week before she was killed.
Uh, you can't charge a guy for getting high
and calling his ex-girlfriend in the middle of the night.
What, so that's it?
I-I don't think you understand what I'm dealin' with here.
I'm gettin' a hundred tips a day,
I got thousands of *** offenders to screen,
and now the commissioner just ordered a raid on every *** bar in the city.
I'm doing all I can, but I'm not playing with a full deck.
I'll see ya later.
[car door opens]
How many *** bars in Boston are there anyway?
There can't be that many.
Way to miss the point, Jack.
The point is Commissioner McNamara's not up to the job.
What does that mean, exactly?
His head's shoved up his ***.
They won't coordinate with other police departments,
connections are being missed,
and good leads are falling through the cracks.
Isn't some of that to be expected?
[Loretta] We are way beyond that.
Oh, I'm sorry, Jack, am I keeping you up?
Will you cut the shit already? What's the story?
- The city can't protect its women. - Come on.
What? You don't think it's true, or you don't think it's a story?
[Jack] What is it with you?
You can't go after someone's livelihood because you're impatient.
Ten women are dead, and these ***holes don't have a clue!
You don't have a story. You have a grudge.
How many women have to die before it's a story?
That's enough.
These are good men busting their ***es.
I'm not waging a war on the police department.
[footsteps departing]
[chattering on TV]
Where you been?
I had to work late.
Oh, my God. Get a plate. You're gonna make a mess.
I'm not gonna make a mess.
Sit down. I gotta talk to you anyway.
Look, I've had a long day. Can't it wait?
Loretta, sit down.
I took a new position at work.
It's better pay, but I have to be in the Connecticut office part-time.
Part-time?
A few days a week.
How long's this been in the works?
Couple weeks.
And when were you gonna tell me about it?
A lot of long days lately. Hasn't exactly been a good time.
How are we supposed to manage with you gone half the week?
You're gonna have to do your share.
What more could I possibly do short of quit my job?
Is this your way of telling me to stay home? Is that what this is?
Come on. Have I ever asked you to stay home?
No, you just do something like this instead.
What, I'm free to do what I want as long as it's on your terms, isn't that right?
You are unbelievable, you know that?
My-- My sister's right about you. You're just--
What?
Say it. Say it.
Most people would be happy their husband got a promotion.
[slams table]
[line rings]
[Phyllis on phone] Record American.
[detective] Yeah, I'm looking for Loretta McLaughlin or Jean Cole.
One minute, please.
[phone rings]
Loretta.
My name's Detective Linski, I'm with the New York City Police Department.
I'm calling about a murder we had down here couple of weeks ago.
Looks like it could be linked to the stranglings.
Older lady.
Yeah, she turned up dead in a hotel room,
strangled with stockings tied around her neck.
People from the hotel saw the guy she was with.
Couple of nights later he shows up at the hotel bar, so I pick him up...
[scoffs] ...find her cigarette case still in his pocket.
Only took me 45 minutes to get a confession.
His name is Paul Dempsey.
Lives up in Maine, but I can place him in Boston
at the time of the first five murders.
Uh, I'm assuming you went to Boston Homicide with this?
First call I made. Couldn't get anyone to call me back.
Couple of weeks go by, so I make the trip up there myself.
Figure I'll just tell 'em in person.
Couldn't get anyone to meet with me. Can you believe that?
Detective drove four hours for a homicide I'm working,
I'd walk out of my kid's christening for that.
I don't know what the hell they're doin' up there.
Turns out Paul Dempsey was a suspect in a murder in Maine
four years before the first Strangler murder.
The victim was an elderly woman found strangled
with her stockings tied around her neck.
It could be the original Strangler murder,
but no one can get Boston Homicide to look into it.
And this cop in New York will go on the record?
Already did.
We're not running a hit job on the police department.
They're blowing the investigation. How long can we keep ignoring it?
I don't know how many times we have to tell you, but we're not doing it.
I don't know, Eddie.
I mean, she's right. We can't keep looking the other way.
You really wanna use this paper to tear down the police department?
If anyone else was blowing it this badly,
we'd have put it on the front page a long time ago.
All right.
You want to run with this? I'm not gonna stand in your way.
But it's your neck on the block. You understand?
All right.
[thunder rumbling]
[Loretta] The Boston Police Department is conducting the largest manhunt
in the city's history,
and yet no trace, no trail, no trip up has been detected.
Without sharing evidence, police may overlook a common denominator,
a missing link, a clue that could identify the killer.
Unless a centralized effort is set up to catch the Strangler,
he will remain today as he did one year ago,
a faceless, formless, flawless executioner.
Holy shit.
Tomorrow's gonna be interesting.
Nice knowin' ya. Fun while it lasted.
[newscaster on TV] The attorney general held a press conference today
to announce that he is assuming command of the Boston Strangler investigation
after a critical story in the Record American.
He has appointed Deputy Attorney General John Bottomly
to oversee the investigation.
[commentator on radio] To suggest the Boston Police Department
is leaving any stone unturned is absurd.
And all this because a couple girl reporters question
the credentials of our police department.
- [scoffs] -I mean, what the hell do they know
about police work?
[crickets chirping]
[wind howling]
[gasps]
[wind whistling]
[sighs]
[breathing shakily]
[screen door bangs]
[dog barking]
[wind whistling]
- [screen door bangs] - [gasps]
[panting]
[sighs]
[Tommy] What is that?
- [Loretta] No, don't touch that! - [gasps]
Go back to bed.
[footsteps running]
Oh.
Someone came to the house?
They put it in the mail slot. It was just me and the kids home.
You think it was a deranged cop or some deranged ***hole?
Well, I'm not exactly pleased about it either way.
Where are you going?
Now, I didn't say anything when you put our pictures in the paper,
but you and I both know what that was. That was a stunt.
- And I know you wanna sell your papers... - Calm down.
...but at what cost?
There's more than one lunatic out there, and you're gonna get us both killed!
- You take it out! - I'll handle it.
They're not puttin' our picture in the paper anymore.
I need a drink.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore.
- [Jean] About what? - About everything.
You know, it's like I get to do half of everything I really want
and everyone around me still feels shortchanged.
James has had enough.
And my-- my poor kids are spooked.
You know, most of my paycheck goes to the babysitter now?
Who cares?
You're gonna make yourself crazy worrying about everyone else all the time.
[chuckles]
You can't be apologetic, not about the things that are important to you.
How come you're so calm about everything?
Now, you've got kids. It must be crazy for you too.
How do you keep everything so under control?
My life's a three-ring circus.
The wheels have been about to fall off since our youngest was born.
So, what do you want to do about this story?
You sure you want to keep going with this?
[cash register dings]
[detective] Boston Police are keeping us in the dark.
They won't talk to any of the other departments.
And they sure as hell don't want our help.
Would you go on the record with that?
Yeah. Go ahead, print my name.
Print this too.
Couple weeks ago, we get a call about this guy,
was harassing these girls in their apartment.
Then Boston won't share any information with us.
So we just let him go.
I come to find out he's one of their prime suspects.
We had him, and we just let him walk away.
What was his name?
Off the record...
Albert DeSalvo.
He's famous over in Cambridge.
- Famous for what? - [sighs]
Making himself unwanted.
[chattering]
- Brian, coffee? - Thank you.
Guys, coffee?
[desk officer] All right, whose file you need?
[Loretta] Uh, DeSalvo.
- Which one? - Sorry?
All the DeSalvo brothers graduated from jail.
- Which one ya need? - Albert.
- [desk officer] Figures. - What, you know him?
Every cop in Cambridge knows him. Al's a world-class creep.
Just got nabbed on rape charges over in Malden.
- He's in custody? - Yeah.
They got him up in Bridgewater right now. Have fun.
[sergeant] DeSalvo had two cons, the Green Man and the Measuring Man.
They called him the Green Man 'cause he put on green workman's clothes
and posed as the maintenance guy,
say he needed to check something inside their apartments.
[Loretta] And, uh, what about the Measuring Man?
[sergeant] I don't know where he came up with this one,
but he'd pretend to be a modeling scout.
And he'd convince these girls to let him in so he could take their measurements.
You wouldn't believe how many people let him do it.
He told me I had a nice figure. He said his agency would hire me.
He just needed to take some measurements.
But he didn't have a measuring tape.
[church bells tolling]
[sighs]
[chattering]
- You remember Sophie's neighbor? - [Jean] Mm-hmm.
Uh, she said a man came to her apartment the day Sophie was killed.
Now, first he said he was there to paint the apartment,
and then he asked her if she ever thought about modeling.
The Green Man slipped into the Measuring Man. It's DeSalvo.
[chattering]
[host] Right this way.
I can't be caught dead talking to you right now.
- That bad, huh? - No, I'm serious.
If you gotta call me at the station, you say you're my sister Sally, all right?
What do you have for me?
- It's not him. - Well, it has to be him. Look--
I mean, Sophie's neighbor said he came to paint the apartment,
but then he slipped up and started talking to her about modeling.
I mean, those are the two cons DeSalvo is famous for.
I worked DeSalvo for weeks. I loved him for it. It's not him.
What makes you so sure?
He was in prison for the first six murders,
didn't get out until after Sophie was killed.
Whoever was in that lady's apartment wasn't DeSalvo.
[sighs]
What you're feeling right now, that's every day for me.
You know how many people I've gone down the rabbit hole with?
It's a dead-end every time with this case.
You get your teeth into something
and then your bottom falls out at three in the morning, and you got nothin'.
And while I'm making myself crazy...
he's out there somewhere...
laughing at us.
[thunderclap]
[rain pattering]
[sighs]
[rain continues]
[chattering]
You still stuck on DeSalvo?
Everything lines up with him.
His history, the progression of the crimes, everything.
[Jean] Except for the part where he was in prison for the first six murders.
Have you seen the actual release records?
[sighs]
Look at this.
Oh, my God.
DeSalvo petitioned the judge for early release.
He said he had to get back to his wife and kids.
The judge let him out for good behavior.
So, he was out in time?
Two months before the first murder.
A 33-year-old father of two is considered a prime suspect
in the Boston Strangler case.
The suspect is presently confined in a state mental hospital
for allegedly assaulting a woman last December.
We got beat.
[Loretta] Who the hell is F. Lee Bailey?
A hotshot defense lawyer. One of those press hounds.
How the hell did DeSalvo get a hotshot lawyer?
I don't know. You want me to go do your job for ya?
[chattering]
What's on the docket tonight?
[Loretta] I'm writing a story about how Albert DeSalvo
got a high-priced defense lawyer.
Would someone familiar with the investigation care to comment?
No.
[Loretta] So, what happened when you went to question him?
[birds squawking]
[Jim] Bailey got to him first. Wouldn't let us interview him.
So, I brought Sophie Clark's neighbor in to ID DeSalvo.
She didn't recognize him?
Not only did she not recognize him, she ID'd someone else.
Who?
George Nassar.
Murdered a gas station attendant during a robbery.
[scoffs] Real piece of work. Schizophrenic with a genius IQ.
And?
It's not him. Been in custody for over a year.
[reporters clamoring]
[Bailey] People can breathe a sigh of relief tonight.
The career of the Boston Strangler is over.
- [reporter 1] Is it true Mr. Bailey? - [reporter 2] He's telling the truth?
[Bailey] I obtained five details only the killer could know.
When I quizzed DeSalvo, he went five for five.
[reporter 3] Mr. Bailey!
When you've done as many interrogations as I have, you develop an ear for bullshit.
[reporters laughing]
And was law enforcement a part of this process?
That's all I'm gonna say right now.
We're still negotiating his confession. If you'll excuse me.
- [shutter clicks] - [reporters clamoring]
[reporter 4] Will he confess?
[Bottomly] This is John Bottomly.
The date is February 14th, 1964.
Albert, please state your full name.
Albert Henry DeSalvo.
[Bottomly] Mr. DeSalvo, we are here today
because you intend to confess to all 13 Boston Strangler murders.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Tell me about your first victim.
How did you pick Anna Slesers?
I didn't pick her in advance.
There was a parking spot in front of the house.
If there hadn't been a spot, I never would have got her.
[Bottomly] Albert, what color robe was she wearing?
[DeSalvo] Yellow.
Hear about DeSalvo?
No. What?
They sent Bottomly to take his confession last night.
Bottomly interviewed him for five hours.
And?
No one knows. He hasn't said a word.
Can I have a word, please?
I'll catch up.
What's going on with DeSalvo?
Nothing.
If he confessed, why haven't they charged him?
Bailey used you guys to pressure the attorney general,
and then he set one condition for DeSalvo's confession.
- Yeah, and what's that? - They're not allowed to use it in court.
They didn't agree to that.
They didn't have a choice after you put DeSalvo on the front page.
But they think they can get life on the rape charges.
And they're just gonna ignore the fact that 13 women were killed?
That's all I got.
And I haven't even told you the punch line yet.
You know how Bailey's gettin' paid?
He got DeSalvo a five-figure book deal.
A tell-all from the Boston Strangler.
Everyone just wants it to be over.
[footsteps departing]
[Loretta] They're washing their hands of it,
and that headline you're about to run makes it easy for them.
Come on. The murders stopped. The guy's in jail.
What the hell else you want?
They botched the biggest investigation in the city's history,
and you're just gonna let them sweep it under the rug.
Aw, come on, Loretta. How much trouble you gonna cause me today?
Well, clearly not enough.
Get outta here. Just take the week off.
- I'm not taking the week off. - I'm not asking.
The police are washing their hands of it, and you expect us to move on.
- Loretta. - We're not doing it.
I took a new assignment.
You've gotta be kidding me.
[scoffs] You never see the knife with you people.
Don't get it twisted. If there's another murder, I'll drop everything.
But until then, we cover the news. We don't make it.
[footsteps departing]
[footsteps approaching]
Place looks nice.
[Beverly's parent] Oh. Sunlight always helps. [chuckles]
Been reading your stories. You think they're finally gonna charge him?
[sighing] Uh, yeah.
That's what I want to talk to you about.
There's gonna be a story in the papers tomorrow.
They're not gonna charge Albert with Beverly's murder.
Or any of the murders for that matter.
I don't understand. If he confessed...
They made a deal with his lawyer, and they can't use his confession in court.
But they have him on other charges.
And-- And they're gonna make sure that he never gets out of prison.
[Beverly's parent] But what about my daughter?
It's not right to just give up on her like this.
How can they do that?
[actor 1 on TV] The price is £20,000. English pounds sterling.
- [actor 2 on TV] £20,000? - [actor 1] Before I state my proposition,
let me warn you not to breathe a word of it to anyone except your chief.
My life will depend upon your discretion.
Hey, the kids asleep?
[Loretta's husband] Yeah.
[actor 2] State your proposition.
[actor 1] Very well.
Seven British documents classified as most secret have come into my possession.
Military and political documents of utmost value to your government.
I'm prepared to sell.
[dispatcher] We have a possible intruder at Oak Tower apartments.
Sixty-one, got it.
[engine starts]
[tires squealing]
[keys jingling]
[Nowhere to Run (Nowhere to Hide) playing on TV]
[teakettle whistling]
♪ Nowhere to run ♪
♪ Nowhere to hide from ya ♪
[detective] State police!
[singing on TV continues]
[phone rings]
Yes?
[detective] Loretta McLaughlin.
Speaking. Who's this?
Detective DeLine, Michigan State Police.
I don't know if you're aware, but we had six women strangled near Ann Arbor.
When was this?
We found the sixth victim last night.
Uh, you said they were strangled. Anything else in common?
All the crime scenes were damn near identical to the Boston Strangler.
I've read your stories.
I think it's safe to say that you're an expert on the case.
So, I wanted to ask you, do you still think that Albert DeSalvo is the guy?
What are you doing?
What do you think you're gonna find out there?
When is this gonna stop, Loretta? When are you gonna let this go?
Be careful, will you?
[footsteps departing]
Thanks. So, uh, have you got any suspects?
If I did, I wouldn't be telling a reporter.
Off the record.
Off the record, I wouldn't be telling a reporter.
You could've saved a lot of trouble if you'd just called first.
Well, how about the case files? Mind if I take a look?
How many cops let you look at open case files?
Not many.
[DeLine grunts]
[DeLine sighs]
[DeLine] You got 20 minutes.
[sighing]
[sighs]
[meteorologist on radio] ...also like snow.
We're gonna have quite a bit, according to the latest forecast.
Looks like we'll have snow continuing overnight.
We can expect at least several more inches ending later in the day tomorrow.
Then, clearing tomorrow night, becoming mostly...
[DeLine] Well, I do appreciate that.
Yeah.
I'm gonna have to call you back.
Daniel Marsh's ex-girlfriend was killed by the Boston Strangler.
He was my favorite suspect for her murder, and he's here in Ann Arbor.
Won't you have a seat?
Off the record, he's our prime suspect right now.
You're the second person from Boston to report him.
Are you gonna charge him?
[DeLine] We don't have enough yet.
Why didn't you say something earlier?
Because we're not having this conversation.
Who was the other person who reported him?
The medical director from Bridgewater.
Uh, Dr. Robey please.
[operator] Hold, please.
[Robey] Hello?
Uh, Loretta McLaughlin with the Record American.
What can I do for you?
Uh...
Why did you report Daniel Marsh to the Michigan State Police?
I'm sorry. I can't discuss one of my patients.
He was a patient of yours?
Yes.
At Bridgewater?
Well, yes. That's where my patients are.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
No. Thank you.
[line rings]
[Jean] Hello?
I need you to call in a favor.
I thought you weren't speaking to me.
I'm not.
All right, what?
I'm Jean Cole, Deb McNulty's expecting me.
Be quick. I don't wanna get fired tonight.
[muttering]
He was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend.
Dr. Robey evaluated him at Bridgewater and had him committed.
[Loretta] Did he overlap with DeSalvo?
They were in there together for three months in the same ward.
[knocking]
[DeLine] Daniel Marsh, we know you're in there!
Come out with your hands up!
[floorboards creaking]
All right, Daniel. Just write down where you were on each of these days.
Just answer the question, Daniel.
Where were you when these women were murdered?
I was going to school in Boston. You know that.
What about Bridgewater?
You ever spend any time with Albert DeSalvo?
Are you charging me?
Just answer the ****ing question, Daniel.
If you are not charging me, I want to leave.
You want to leave?
There's a dozen reporters out there that just got tipped off. Go ahead.
If they put my name in the paper, I'll just start over somewhere else.
[reporters clamoring]
[car door opens]
[officer on phone] Homicide.
Uh, Detective Conley, please. It's his sister Sally.
Loretta, he quit. Try him at home.
[line clicks]
[examiner] You killed all of 'em, all 13.
Admit it. Admit it!
I did.
I did. I did.
[director] Cut!
[bell rings]
[director muttering]
[crew member] Right behind you.
[director] So, what do you think?
Well, he's got-- he's got to lay into him a little more.
- It was pretty close. - [footsteps approaching]
Detective Conley, your sister Sally's here.
Cashing in, huh?
Oh, why don't you save it? You've been cashing in since the beginning.
Oh, that's pretty damn cynical, even for you.
So, what do you want?
I just got back from Michigan.
I heard.
You don't care to know?
No, I don't.
I need DeSalvo's confession.
You gotta go see Bottomly for that.
I know you made a copy.
- [Jim] How do you know that? - Oh, come on.
I bet you stayed up every night listening to those tapes.
If we were right about DeSalvo, what are you so afraid of?
Go home. Spend some time with your kids.
How do you just stop caring after all this?
When you realize you could give up your whole life for it,
and no one would give a shit.
Go home.
[bell rings]
[Phyllis] Record American.
[Bottomly on headphones] This is John Bottomly.
The date is February 14th, 1964.
Albert, please state your full name.
[DeSalvo] Albert Henry DeSalvo.
[Bottomly] Mr. DeSalvo, tell me about your first victim.
How did you pick Anna Slesers?
[DeSalvo] I didn't pick her in advance.
There was a parking spot in front of the house.
It makes you think about what goes into this kind of selection.
Like, why is this girl home and that one's not?
What is it? Is it fate?
[Bottomly] Okay, Albert. I'd like to ask you about her clothing.
Can you tell me what color robe she was wearing?
Aren't you on a new story?
Get over yourself. Let me listen.
[Bottomly] Albert, what color robe was she wearing?
[DeSalvo] Yellow. Or maybe it was, uh, red.
[Bottomly] You-- You sure?
[DeSalvo] No. It was blue.
[Bottomly] That's right. Let's move on.
So, when you entered the apartment, can you tell me what you saw?
[DeSalvo] Well, the kitchen was on the left.
[Bottomly] Wait-- It was on the left?
[DeSalvo] Um, maybe...
[Bottomly] Well, here. Um...
[paper rustles on recording]
[DeSalvo] That's right. The kitchen was on the right,
and the bedroom was down that hall.
[Bottomly] That hall?
[DeSalvo] That-- Yeah. Down that hall.
Bottomly just showed him the crime scene photo.
[DeSalvo] Um, maybe...
[Bottomly] Well, here. Um...
[paper rustles on recording]
[DeSalvo] That's right. The kitchen was on the right,
and the bedroom was down that hall.
[Bottomly] That hall?
[DeSalvo] That-- Yeah. Down that hall.
Any lawyer worth a dime would pick this apart.
[Loretta] Excuse me, I'm-- I'm looking for Richard DeSalvo.
[foreman] He's back there.
Look, Al's not talkin' to reporters anymore.
Al's had it tough.
Whatever my brother did, he never meant to harm nobody.
He loves his family, always been good to them.
Look, I know there's more to his story.
But there's nothing I can do if he won't talk to me.
I'll float it by him, but I'm not making any promises.
[phone rings]
Record American.
[DeSalvo] Yeah, this is Albert DeSalvo.
Is, uh, Loretta there?
One minute, please.
Albert DeSalvo's on line two. [sighs]
Uh, this is Loretta.
Hi, Loretta. It's Albert.
You know, my brother said you come to see him.
I told him that I knew you from the papers.
[chuckles] It's funny, I always said you girls knew more than the police.
Uh, why don't I come down there so we can talk in person?
The thing is, I'm not giving my story away for free anymore.
I got really screwed over on that book deal.
[Loretta] I listened to your confession, Albert,
and, uh, I think there's more to your story.
Well, like I said, I'm not talking to reporters anymore.
Don't you want people to know the truth?
I don't give a damn about that.
I've got a family to support.
I don't think you understand how screwed over I got.
Well, what are you holding out for, Albert?
If everybody already screwed you over, then what've you got left to lose?
Why would you let them get away with it?
Come here tomorrow at visiting hours.
[grunting]
[groans]
[metal clanks]
[phone ringing]
[gasps]
Hello?
Hey, it's Jack. A report just came over the wire.
DeSalvo was killed in his cell. [sighs]
I'm sorry, kid.
[birds squawking]
[chattering]
You get anything?
[Stanley] No official statement yet.
My guys at the Herald said he got killed over drugs, but--
No, that doesn't make any sense.
[reporters clamoring]
He was in there with them. He knew what they were up to.
[phone rings]
Hello.
I need you to take down an address.
If I don't call back in an hour, give it to the police.
What the hell are you doing?
426 Columbia Road. Got it?
Got it.
Loretta--
Shit.
[doorbell buzzes]
[footsteps approaching]
I'm lookin' for Harrison.
He's down at the end of the hall.
[resident 1 coughing]
- [resident 2 moaning] - [muffled thudding]
[Loretta] Harrison?
Yeah.
I-I'm a reporter with the Record American.
I want to ask you some questions about Bridgewater.
Me and DeSalvo were in the same ward. I saw him every day.
And what about... him?
Yeah. He was in my ward too.
They were always together.
Marsh and DeSalvo?
And Nassar.
George Nassar?
Yeah, the three of them were always working on DeSalvo's confession.
W-What do you mean working on?
They coached him. They were at it every day for weeks.
They had a stack of newspaper clippings,
and they would quiz DeSalvo about the details.
I remember Marsh sayin',
"You gotta get it so deep in your brain that you believe it yourself."
But what did they care if DeSalvo confessed?
Reward money. That's why Nassar got his lawyer involved.
I'm not shittin' you.
He's willing to confess to the whole thing.
[Harrison] His lawyer organized the whole thing.
You mean F. Lee Bailey?
That's right.
He told Albert that he could get him a book deal, make him rich and famous.
Albert thought he was gonna make a million bucks off it
and support his family.
You got a smoke?
So, you wanna know about Albert.
How did you know each other?
We were cellmates.
[Loretta] Before he confessed?
Yeah, for a couple months.
It's an awfully strange coincidence, don't you think?
You're the one who gets picked out of the lineup,
and you just happen to be DeSalvo's cellmate?
Maybe I just got one of those faces.
Were you in Sophie Clark's building the day she was killed?
No.
I don't kill women.
And I got no reason to lie about that now. I'm doin' a life sentence.
[Loretta] Then why did you coach DeSalvo?
I wouldn't exactly call it that.
I was just helpin' him remember.
Thirteen murders, that's a lot to keep straight.
Why were you helping him?
Reward money. Ten grand a victim.
So, the more murders he confessed to, the more money you'd make?
Well, might as well take credit for all of them.
Make a little extra money.
It was a lot of extra money.
And regardless of what you think, Albert convinced me he killed those women.
Was it all 13?
What does it really matter?
See, you all created a myth, and it needed to be stopped.
People wanted to believe it was Al,
but they needed to believe that it was Albert.
The alternative was just too disturbin'.
What's that?
There are many Albert DeSalvos out there.
And your safe little world is just a delusion.
Men kill women.
It didn't start with Albert.
Sure as hell doesn't end with him either.
[Loretta] If Dr. Grayson was right about these killers having a type--
The first five murders were all elderly women.
-And if Paul Dempsey had a type... - [shutter clicks]
It was elderly women.
[Loretta] DeSalvo was a pathological liar.
Everything he knew about the first five murders had either been in the papers,
or it was given to him by Bottomly.
But of the hundreds of women DeSalvo assaulted,
all his victims were young.
And then Paul Dempsey moves on to New York,
and the Strangler starts killing younger women.
Then other men use the Strangler as cover to get rid of women
they didn't want around anymore.
The boss who got his secretary pregnant.
The psychotic ex-boyfriend.
Then DeSalvo ends up at Bridgewater with Nassar and Marsh.
They use DeSalvo.
Nassar gets F. Lee Bailey involved so he can claim the reward money.
And they coached DeSalvo before he confessed.
He just became a convenient way out for everybody else.
The entire city just wanted to move on.
Nobody bothered to get to the truth.
[engine starts]
And people got away with murder.
[Jack] It's nice work, kid.
Commissioner, Commissioner!
What is your response to the story in the Record American today?
Commissioner, what is your response?
All the Strangler murders are still open cases.
I'll leave it at that.
[reporters clamoring]
[reporter] Commissioner!
How many suspects do you have?
[sighs]
[chattering]