The Boston Stranglers (22 page)

B
OTTOMLY
: The ground floor is—

A
LBERT
: Still doesn't go—

B
OTTOMLY
: You call the ground floor the first floor—

A
LBERT
: That's what messing me up.

B
OTTOMLY
: The first floor you call the second floor. A
LBERT
: Yah.

B
OTTOMLY
: And the second floor up from the ground floor, you call the third floor.

A
LBERT
: The way I can see it now—if it's all right with you—

B
OTTOMLY
: Sure.

A
LBERT
: The way I can see it—the elevator shaft—it's a nice one—the elevator went all the way up—and I think—to my knowledge—that these two old ladies—was not the next one up the second like I said—but the next one—and—

B
OTTOMLY
: That would be the third floor. A
LBERT
: Well maybe—to you it's—not the third floor—to me it's only—the second.

B
OTTOMLY
: To you—we'll use your system. A
LBERT
: No, I'm reverting back to yours, now. I'm forgetting the bottom, and I'm sayin, that one here, which would be the first to you, and the second one, which would be the third like I always said it was, right?

B
OTTOMLY
: But it's the second—it's the second floor above the ground floor.

A
LBERT
: Yah. So therefore I would say that I was going one more and forget that and then go another one and say that she was on the fourth floor. B
OTTOMLY
: Right—okay.

A
LBERT
: Becuz I was so high up—in Nina Nichols' apartment—and I would say she was on the fourth floor.

B
OTTOMLY
: Right.

Albert then described Nina.

 

A
LBERT
: All right. Now. Also, on her—she did have glasses. And—

B
OTTOMLY
: You've said that before.

A
LBERT
: But I know now—she had that—her hair wasn't bad at all—nice-tight-like—but it wuz gray. B
OTTOMLY
: Uh huh.

A
LBERT
: This is to me, seeing her now as she is—understand me? Her hair is gray—and she was a very frail woman between five five and a half and five-six, no more. Y'know there's sumthin funny about what she had on her feet—y' know that? B
OTTOMLY
: This is still Nichols?

A
LBERT
: This is Nina Nichols. She has sumpin on her feet—that was different. Y'know that? it wuz—ah—like—like tennis shoes or—

B
OTTOMLY
: Uh huh.

A
LBERT
: I could be wrong—

B
OTTOMLY
: Sneakers?

A
LBERT
: Sneakers, like—Rubber, they were rubber. B
OTTOMLY
: Uh huh.

B
OTTOMLY
: You mean Blake.

A
LBERT
: That's it. Blake, Helen Blake.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yes.

A
LBERT
: Ah, on her she had that pj they call em, pajama top and bottom too. I'd swear I left her she was the only one I left on her stomach.

B
OTTOMLY
: You did leave her on her stomach. A
LBERT
: Did leave her on her stomach. I remember

I did. I left her right on her stomach. When I first picked her up.

B
OTTOMLY
: Well, would you say you had, you described that before that she was facing the bed and then . . .

A
LBERT
: And then I picked her up. No when I, I remember this here, let's see like this over here and she went under my left arm and I picked her up. B
OTTOMLY
: Uhuh. She passed right out?

A
LBERT
: And then.

B
OTTOMLY
: She pretty heavy Albert?

A
LBERT
: She's heavy. She must been about 140 or 150 lbs. and ah I laid her facing me at first. B
OTTOMLY
: Right.

A
LBERT
: And I do remember playing with her busts, she had a very large bust and I did have intercourse with her.

B
OTTOMLY
: While she was facing you.

A
LBERT
: Ya. And I did remember, I remember putting a nylon stocking around her neck too and then there was a bra. It was on the dresser, ah, there was a bra there, a white bra and I remember taking the bra and also putting it and tying it around her neck too. And, ah, she was all blue in the face. I remember this. And I turned her over, I remember, before leaving. I turned her over on her stomach with her feet straight down.

B
OTTOMLY
: Do you remember any reason why you did it or you just did it? Were you thinking of anything when you did it?

A
LBERT
: No, but it's so clear, I thought of it last night. It all came to me last night. I went all the way back to the first day. You were asking me about dates. B
OTTOMLY
: Right.

B
OTTOMLY
: What happened in August?

A
LBERT
: There wuz two in August.

B
OTTOMLY
: How do you remember?

A
LBERT
: I remember because the first one was this—on Grove Street.

B
OTTOMLY
: Who was that?

A
LBERT
: Ida Orger—Ida Orger—uh—

B
OTTOMLY
: How do you—

A
LBERT
: Right back the Massachusetts General Hospital.

B
OTTOMLY
: Mmmm-hmmm.

A
LBERT
: There was a street, the main drag, going that way and then there was uh—on Grove there—I don't know how many floors were there, three or four floors or five floors, but to me, to me anyhow it was on the top floor.

B
OTTOMLY
: Uh-huh?

A
LBERT
: And this was uh—

B
OTTOMLY
: You went all the way to the top on this one?

A
LBERT
: All to the top, yuh. There wuz a front door, right. As you walk up there's a bunch of stairs maybe, uh, maybe six stairs, right, and on the left was some bells and then, uh, this had a buzzer type door—

B
OTTOMLY
: Buzzer door?

A
LBERT
: Buzzer type—well there was a—uh.

B
OTTOMLY
: Street door and then an inside door?

A
LBERT
: No, uh, it was a double door meaning, uh, she hadda ring the bell for the buzzer, right.

B
OTTOMLY
: I see. Right.

A
LBERT
: And then the stairway would be right there. And you hadda pass quite a few apartments going up.

B
OTTOMLY
: Could she talk to you when you rang the bell? Was there a telephone—speaker?

A
LBERT
: Uhhh—I don't think so. No, becuz when I gut ta—when I gut all the way up the stairs, right?

B
OTTOMLY
: Yes?

A
LBERT
: She was already on top of the landing.

B
OTTOMLY
: She was waiting for you?

A
LBERT
: Oh, yes. She was already on the landing, on the stairs.

B
OTTOMLY
: Did you meet anybody going up?

A
LBERT
: Uhhh—Jeez, I think one door on the way up wuz maybe that much open, and about four or five inches where you can look in or more than that. It was open, but I went right back, right by it—

B
OTTOMLY
: You didn't see anybody in there?

A
LBERT
: No, and I went all the—she was on top of—on top of the landing—

B
OTTOMLY
: On the top floor?

A
LBERT
: On the top floor rather looking over the railing.

B
OTTOMLY
: Right.

A
LBERT
: And, uh, as I was coming up and make that little curve that goes to the apartments was the—on the left of the stairs on the top and I—I'm not sure if there was another place, another apartment, but I know that there was another set of stairs going up. I don't think it was an apartment but there was another set of stairs there, uhhh—

B
OTTOMLY
: Going to the roof?

A
LBERT
: Possibly, but there was a set of stairs there—she was to the left.

B
OTTOMLY
: Well did this other set of stairs look like the stairs you'd come up, the same kind of stairs? ALBERT: Somethin' like them, yes, same thing, about the same. But—uh—she was right there, she talked to me and uh—

B
OTTOMLY
: What line did you use there?

A
LBERT
: I told her I was gonna do some work in the apartment and she says she didn't hear nothin' about it, but I says, “Well, look if you don't wanna be bothered by me going in, then I won't bother you.” She says, “Well I don't know who you are.” And uh, we had—kept talking and I says to her, “Well, look, forget it. If you don't want it, then I'll just tell them that you told me you don't want it done.” And I started to walk down. She says, “Well, never mind, come on.” And I went in, and I went in and first it was to your left was like a parlor and then to the right I went through a living room with the, uh, square type dark chairs they were, and there was a—uh—

B
OTTOMLY
: Is that on the left, did you say, or the right?

A
LBERT
: To the left was the parlor going in.

B
OTTOMLY
: I see.

A
LBERT
: And going through I went through a living room.

B
OTTOMLY
: Through the parlor?

A
LBERT
: No, I'm wrong then, I'm calling the wrong one—What do you call it, a dining room? Where there's a table in there—

B
OTTOMLY
: Chairs?

A
LBERT
: Chairs: Right.

A
LBERT
: And these chairs I believe had the—uh—cloth in the center.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh—straight-back chairs?

A
LBERT
: Yes, they were straight-back chairs.

B
OTTOMLY
: That's the dining room. Which way is that?

A
LBERT
: Uh—come in the door—

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh?

A
LBERT
: Take a right turn.

B
OTTOMLY
: That's the dining room?

A
LBERT
: Well, I took a right turn—

B
OTTOMLY
: Yes?

ALBERT: And I kept walking down the hallway and, right there, and you could look from the, where I was, it could have been the kitchen because there was the dining room right here and straight ahead I could look and I could see the bed, it was a dark-type bed and there wuz—uh—sheets—I could see the sheets and the pillow becuz I did take the pillowcase offa that—

B
OTTOMLY
: Right.

A
LBERT
: I did take the pillowcase offa that.

B
OTTOMLY
: What did you do with it?

A
LBERT
: Put it around her neck, but not before I saw the blood, uh

B
OTTOMLY
: What did you do with the pillow?

A
LBERT
: Uh, the pillow? I put it around her neck.

B
OTTOMLY
: Not the pillow—

A
LBERT
: Oh, the pillow?

B
OTTOMLY
: The pillow, the pillow itself—?

A
LBERT
: I think I took that out and put it underneath her.

B
OTTOMLY
: Mmmmm-hmmmm.

A
LBERT
: And then two chairs—

B
OTTOMLY
: How did—how did—yuh—

A
LBERT
: These two chairs, I remember taking them and laying them down on their backs and I put her legs up there.

B
OTTOMLY
: Where'd you get the chairs? From the dining room?

A
LBERT
: From the dining room—that's why I saw that—the bedroom was right there—there was a door—'member the door, a door frame—I could see the bed.

B
OTTOMLY
: This was on the other side of the dining room? You had to walk through the dining room to the bedroom?

A
LBERT
: You see, to me right now it's very easy. I can see this whole, I can see this whole thing the way it—the way it is.

B
OTTOMLY
: Would it help you to draw?

A
LBERT
: Uhhh, yuh, I can do it for you—it would be very easy.

B
OTTOMLY
: I'll get you a pen.

A
LBERT
: All right.

B
OTTOMLY
: Do you want to use yours?

A
LBERT
: Right.

B
OTTOMLY
: You like your pens better.

A
LBERT
: No, uh—(Long pause while sketching) This could have been a, about a four-inch board on the bed there on the bottom like—probably a sideboard—?

B
OTTOMLY
: Yes.

A
LBERT
: Anyhow from the door from where she was right here, left right here, she was left here, not too far from this thing here—legs up on a chair—

B
OTTOMLY
: What room did you leave her in?

A
LBERT
: All I can tell you is that the bed was here and she wasn't no more than, uh, no more than, uh, between five and ten feet from where the—the frame of the door.

B
OTTOMLY
: I see.

A
LBERT
: Over there—

B
OTTOMLY
: Next room to the bedroom?

A
LBERT
: Yes. The dining room chairs were in the other room.

B
OTTOMLY
: I see.

A
LBERT
: And they were dark, I remember that, straight-backs—

B
OTTOMLY
: The room you left her in wasn't the bedroom, wasn't the dining room and it wasn't the kitchen, so what was the kind of furniture in that room, do you recall, where you left her? (Pause) You don't recall? You're shaking your head no?

A
LBERT
: Shut that off so we won't waste it, so we won't waste so much tape.

B
OTTOMLY
: Oh, no, that's all right, it can be used again. O.K. now you recollect seeing something else before you left her. You could look into the bedroom and what could you see?

A
LBERT
: Mmmm—In the bedroom, uh, coming from out of the bedroom from where she was in this room here—there was a—uh—a dark walnut, or—dresser draws and, uh, I'm almost positive they were empty. There was little if anything if anything in ‘em very little if anything maybe handkerchiefs or somethin'.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh?

A
LBERT
: Let me see. Uh, if I think a little clearer, I'll tell you what was in the top draw.

B
OTTOMLY
: O.K.

A
LBERT
: The top draw, uh, was very little of anything, if anything there was handkerchiefs in it, but that was all, very little—There was something there! There was something in there.

B
OTTOMLY
: The top draw?

A
LBERT
: The top draw there was little, but there was nothing to speak of, but it was there, you know what I mean? Nothing of any value. Uh, the top draws were empty, the draws were empty, just about all of them. There was little bit of anything in those draws. I'm tryin' to figure out where the room was—

B
OTTOMLY
: Well was she moving or something.

A
LBERT
: No, she was uh, this woman,

B
OTTOMLY
: She just moved in?

A
LBERT
: This woman here, to me, weighed about 160.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh? Pretty heavy-set?

A
LBERT
: Very heavy set. And she had a white hair with black, very dark, to me it looked like black stringy hair,

B
OTTOMLY
: Uh-huh?

A
LBERT
: And, uh—she

B
OTTOMLY
: With white in it?

A
LBERT
: Yes.

B
OTTOMLY
: White and black?

A
LBERT
: Yes, yes, but stringy, meaningly the black was going through it and from what I can see on her—she had like a—uh—a housecoat on, think it was black and something, black and white with some kind of marking on it and the—uh—like a print or squares or somethin'.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh?

A
LBERT
: And, uh—

B
OTTOMLY
: Was it cotton, wool?

A
LBERT
: It was cotton.

B
OTTOMLY
: Yuh. Did she have any shoes on?

A
LBERT
: I don't know but I see socks or somethin'.

B
OTTOMLY
: Uh-huh—somethin' on her feet—

A
LBERT
: Socks.

B
OTTOMLY
: What color, do you recall?

A
LBERT
: Dark, I don't know if they were black, dark and the, uh—this is very important, uh, uh, there was first blood came outa her ear.

B
OTTOMLY
: Blood came out of her ear, you say?

A
LBERT
: Yuh, wait, this is a—

B
OTTOMLY
: How did you get her now? How did you maneuver her?

A
LBERT
: The same way, uh, this way here. She went down—

B
OTTOMLY
: You threw your right arm around her throat from behind.

A
LBERT
: Right. I would say that—

B
OTTOMLY
: Did she go down fast like Blake?

A
LBERT
: She went right on top of me.

B
OTTOMLY
: Was she out? Was she out?

A
LBERT
: Naturally, she passed out.

B
OTTOMLY
: Uh-huh?

A
LBERT
: Uh-huh—but something about her, the blood that I saw was real, purplish dark.