Crime & Safety
DeSalvo's Remains Still to be Exhumed at Peabody Cemetery
The body of Albert DeSalvo, believed to be the notorious "Boston Strangler" of the 1960s, will be exhumed from Puritan Lawn Memorial Park in Peabody.
Patch editor John Castelluccio contributed to this report.
The row of photographers and reporters stationed in the parking lot of the Puritan Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Peabody Thursday afternoon were all waiting to find out if Albert DeSalvo's body would be exhumed.
Authorities have long believed DeSalvo was the infamous Boston Strangler of the 1960s, and he confessed to the murders at one point while in prison on an unrelated conviction, but DeSalvo later recanted his confession before he was stabbed to death in prison in 1973.
Despite the brief appearance of several state police and Boston police vehicles just after noon on Thursday, Lawrence Glynn III, who is the Director of Family Services at Puritan Lawn, told reporters that an exhuming would be unlikely that day.
Police were still blocking the entrance to the cemetery shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday when unmarked cars with what appeared to be detectives were guided through the front gate.
Peabody police spokesman Michael Crane said he did not receive a timetable from Boston or state authorities on when the remains would be exhumed, but likewise anticipated it would not happen until Friday.
This would also not be the first time DeSalvo's remains were dug up -- the first time occurred in 2001 in front of multiple reporters at the cemetery, according to the Salem News. The body was exhumed then at the request of his family for DNA testing, but the results were not considered conclusive.
Glynn told the Salem News that DeSalvo's family had a standing request not to divulge the location of his grave to cemetery visitors. He said numerous people have come to Puritan Lawn over the years looking for the gravesite.
While most of the 13 murders DeSalvo confessed to occurred in Boston, two of them were up on the North Shore, in Salem and Lynn, a short drive from where DeSalvo's remains are buried.
More on the new developments in the Boston Strangler case:
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
