Community Corner

Former Malden Man Recalls Connection to DeSalvo

Bernie Finer lives around the corner from the cemetery now in Peabody, but 50 years ago, he and his wife lived in Malden, not far from the alleged Boston Strangler.

Bernie Finer was riding his bicycle down Lake Street Friday afternoon, not far from his home, when he noticed all the television trucks at Puritan Lawn Memorial Park and news helicopters whirring overhead.

It clicked then that Albert DeSalvo was supposed to be exhumed from his gravesite at Puritan Lawn, so Finer stopped in at the cemetery to take some pictures himself.

It turns out Finer and his wife Lori moved to West Peabody in 1968 from Malden, and while they never met their fellow Malden resident while he was alive, they do have a connection of sorts.

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Finer says his wife used to walk by DeSalvo’s house in Malden on her way to the bus stop every day. She was understandably shocked to realize that fact when the Boston Strangler case against DeSalvo went to trial in 1967.

And while that was not the sole reason, it did play a part in the couple’s decision to move from the city the following year, Finer said. He added that his wife believes her pregnancy during the time of the murders saved her from being a target as well.

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“In those days, every girl your age was terrified,” he told a female reporter at the scene Friday afternoon.

“That was 50 years ago…I was a young man then,” Finer said, reflecting back on the case.

Will these latest developments finally bring closure to one of Boston’s most notorious and grisly crimes? It might give Mary Sullivan’s family some peace to, Finer said.

“I don’t think it does anything for the DeSalvos,” he added, referencing the family’s ire at investigators’ recent covert efforts to gain a DNA sample and recall public attention to the case.

Bernie Finer was riding his bicycle down Lake Street Friday afternoon, not far from his home, when he noticed all the television trucks at Puritan Lawn Memorial Park and news helicopters whirring overhead.

It clicked then that Albert DeSalvo was supposed to be exhumed from his gravesite at Puritan Lawn, so Finer stopped in at the cemetery to take some pictures himself.

It turns out Finer and his wife Lori moved to West Peabody in 1968 from Malden, and while they never met their fellow Malden resident while he was alive, they do have a connection of sorts.

Finer says his wife used to walk by DeSalvo’s house at Florence Street Park in Malden on her way to the bus stop every day. She was understandably shocked to realize that fact when the Boston Strangler case against DeSalvo went to trial in 1967.

And while that was not the sole reason, it did play a part in the couple’s decision to move from the city the following year, Finer said. He added that his wife believes her pregnancy during the time of the murders saved her from being a target as well.

“In those days, every girl your age was terrified,” he told a female reporter Friday afternoon.

“That was 50 years ago…I was a young man then,” he said, reflecting back on the case.

Will these latest developments finally bring closure to one of Boston’s most notorious and grisly crime sprees? It might give Mary Sullivan’s family some peace, Finer said.

“I don’t think it does anything for the DeSalvos,” he added, referencing the family’s ire at investigators’ recent covert efforts to gain a DNA sample and reopen the case.

Authorities brought a 49-year-old cold case back into the limelight Thursday with their announcement of a major breakthrough in the Boston Strangler murders of the 1960s, saying they found a new definitive link between DeSalvo and the 19-year-old Sullivan's murder in 1964.

DeSalvo's remains were then exhumed Friday afternoon in Peabody for DNA testing.


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