Criminal evidence
The article under study is called “DNA evidence links Boston Strangler suspect to killing”. Analysis of this article lets us once more get convinced of the importance of criminal evidence and achievements of forensic science for criminal investigation and impleading of a person, who committed the crime. Up-to-date technologies, which are used in forensic biology and medicine, allow identifying people by DNA, which is extracted from such biological materials as blood, saliva and seminal fluid. However, in 1964 biologists were unable to conduct such kind of analysis, so nobody knew for sure, who had strangled and raped young Mary Sullivan in her Beacon Hill apartment in Boston. The set of evidence, collected at the scene of crime, contained seminal fluid of the rapist.
Being unable to identify him, using it, specialists decided to froze the fluid, so that one day it will be possible to analyze DNA of the criminal. Recently it was announced that the investigation of the nearly half-a-century-old evidence led experts to the conclusion that the fluid belonged to Albert De Salvo, who was long suspected to be Boston Strangler, responsible for 11 violent murders. In fact, he had confessed to the killings, but was never charged or convicted with regard to them. To get the sample for comparison, authorities needed to find DeSalvo living male relative as Y chromosomes are known to pass directly from father to son. After having traced the history of DeSalvo family, police found his nephew, who was stabbed to death in prison. The sample was taken from saliva from the envelopes younger DeSalvo sent from prison. It is worth emphasizing the evidence, collected by forensic biologists, was applicable only to the slaying of Mary Sullivan as no biological materials from other scenes of crime preserved.
The case under study once more testifies to the importance of usage of DNA analysis and significance of modern developments in forensic biology.
