BOSTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- In a new twist to an already bizarre case, the relatives of confessed but never charged Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo plan to sue the state because his vital organs are missing.
The discovery was made when DeSalvo's family unearthed his body in October for a new autopsy as part of their campaign to prove he was not the serial killer of 13 women from 1962 to 1964, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.
"We're in the process right now of an independent investigation into Albert DeSalvo's murder, who killed him and, more importantly, why he was killed," said Casey Sherman, nephew of the last victim attributed to the Strangler.
"That investigation could be impeded because all of the vital organs were missing from his body," Sherman told WBZ radio.
An independent forensic team hired by the family found during the October autopsy that DeSalvo's heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and spleen were missing, perhaps taken as macabre trophies after the state's own autopsy in 1973.
"We always knew agents were stealing evidence in this case to be used a trophies," said Sherman, whose aunt, Mary Sullivan, was murdered in 1964. "I think it's extremely bizarre."
In a letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, lawyers Dan and Elaine Whitefield Sharp said the DeSalvo family intended to sue his office for negligence for losing or misplacing the organs under an 1897 law that prohibits the mutilation of a corpse.
The Sharps also raised the possibility the organs might be in a collector's jar somewhere.
"If possible, this case is getting even more bizarre," said Reilly spokesman Stephen Bilafer. He said the attorney general's office knows nothing about the missing organs.
The Sharps, who represent both the DeSalvo and Sullivan families, said medical examiners routinely remove organs during autopsies but usually replace them.
The families and the attorney general's office have been embroiled in a dispute over sharing DNA evidence in the case. A scientific team hired by the families said two weeks ago that DNA evidence taken from Sullivan's exhumed body did not link DeSalvo to Sullivan.
The families contend that raised doubts about whether DeSalvo killed Sullivan or any of the other women attributed to the Strangler.
DeSalvo's relatives have long believed he confessed to the crimes in order to cash in on movie and book rights to his story. He was never charged in any of the slayings, and there is no known physical evidence linking him to the crimes.
Reilly's office has refused to share its DNA evidence gathered during the Sullivan investigation with the DeSalvo family, but has asked that his brother, Richard, provide a blood sample to help resolve the dispute.
Richard DeSalvo said he would do so only if the family's independent forensics team is allowed to observe the state's DNA testing.
Reilly has refused, saying that could compromise the integrity of the case.
Richard DeSalvo has said he didn't trust the state to be truthful about its own DNA testing because "the government murdered him."
While serving a life sentence for rape at Walpole State Prison in 1973, DeSalvo was stabbed to death, allegedly over drugs. Several inmates were charged but not convicted in the case.
Richard DeSalvo has questioned how his brother's murderers could have passed through six to 11 locked doors and by prison guards unless someone higher up "gave the word." He said the government knew Albert DeSalvo was about to talk about things it didn't want made public, such as the alleged involvement of guards and the prison drug trade. "They wanted this whole case to go away."
