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Timeline: Main Events In The Case Of The Boston Strangler

Jan. 4, 1964: Mary Sullivan, 19, the last of the 11 victims, found murdered in her apartment in the Beacon Hill section of Boston.

1965: Albert DeSalvo, a factory worker being held on unrelated charges, confesses to the Strangler's 11 killings and two others. He never is charged with them.

1973: DeSalvo killed in prison by another inmate.

July 1999: Boston police reopen the Strangler case, hoping to use DNA technology to analyze evidence from the crimes.

Sept. 14, 2000: The DeSalvo and Sullivan families sue local and state authorities in Massachusetts to force investigators to turn over crime scene evidence they say will prove DeSalvo's innocence.

Oct. 14, 2000: Sullivan's remains exhumed for DNA testing.

Oct. 20, 2000: Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly says his office will do new DNA tests on evidence from Sullivan's slaying.

Oct. 26, 2001: DeSalvo's body exhumed for DNA testing.

Dec. 6, 2001: Forensic scientists announce that DNA evidence taken from Sullivan's body does not match DeSalvo's DNA.

Dec. 24, 2001: Judge says state doesn't need to share forensic evidence with the DeSalvo and Sullivan families because the investigation into the killings remains open.

July 11, 2013: Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley says advances in DNA technology have allowed investigators to link DeSalvo to Sullivan's killing. Conley says the DNA produced a "familial match" with DeSalvo, and he expects an exact match once DeSalvo's remains are re-exhumed.

This program aired on July 11, 2013. The audio for this program is not available.

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