The Boston Strangler (1968) on Netflix
Approved19681h 56mCrimeDramaMystery
In 1962, elderly women are strangled in their homes across the Boston area. Edward W. Brooke appoints John S. Bottomly to lead a Strangler Bureau coordinating the investigations.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.0/1012,141 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
Trailer
Plot summary
After three elderly women are found strangled in their homes, Boston police conclude that a serial killer is at work. The murders fall across several police jurisdictions, so no single department can carry the case alone. Edward W. Brooke, the Massachusetts attorney general, appoints John S. Bottomly, a law professor, to head a Strangler Bureau that coordinates the separate investigations. Bottomly doubts he is equipped for the job. Panic spreads through the general population and inside the police departments themselves, and officers begin rounding up and questioning known sexual offenders. When the victims come to include younger women, the Bureau works with very few clues to build a case.
Cast
- Carolyn Conwellas Irmgard DeSalvo
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Boston Strangler (1968)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Boston Police Commissioner Edward McNamara thought it highly improper to cooperate on a story about a murder rampage that had not been officially resolved: producer Robert Fryer was refused the use of Boston police cars, and a letter from McNamara ruled out police personnel working as extras.
- Although DeSalvo's real attorney F. Lee Bailey did attempt an insanity defense, neither he nor the prosecution suggested DeSalvo suffered from dissociative identity disorder and he was never diagnosed with it; he confessed under hypnosis and without it, then recanted both confessions.
- DeSalvo was never prosecuted for the Strangler murders, though he was tried on separate charges of sexual assault and robbery, and a 2013 DNA test definitively linked him to at least one of the victims.
