A Death in Belmont - P.S. Author:Sebastian Junger Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Belmont. — The quiet suburb of Belmont, Massacuusetts, is in the grip ... more »of fear. The Boston Strangler murders have taken place nearby, and now there is another shocking sex crime, right in Belmont. The victim is Bessie Goldberg, a middle-aged woman who had hired a cleaning man to help out around the house on that fall day in 1963. He is a black man named Roy Smith. He did the appointed chores, collected his money and left a receipt on the kitchen table. Neighbors will say that he looked furtive when he walked down the street, that he was in a hurry, that he stopped to buy cigarettes, that he looked over his shoulder. They didn't see a black man in Belmont very often, so, of course, they noticed him. So the story went, and on these slender threads, and his own checkered history, Roy Smith is convicted of the Belmont murder and sent to prison.
On the day of the murder, Albert DeSalvo, an Italian-American handyman, is also in Belmont, working as a carpenter in the Junger home, where the picture is taken. Two years after his work for the Jungers, he confesses in vivid detail to the crimes of which the Boston Strangler is accused, and sent to prison, where he is stabbed to death by an inmate. But he never confesses to the Bessie Goldberg murder. Could he have left the Junger home, committed the murder a few blocks away and calmly returned to finish his day's work? Could Roy Smith really have been the guilty party, even though his sentence was commuted after De Salvo confessed?« less
Don't miss this fantastic true crime story. This comes from Junger's own childhood and delves into how a crime impacts his family and relates to a much, much bigger crime spree circa 1960's in his own state of Massachusetts. Written in Junger's minute by minute action style, you can't put this book down. At once almost unbelievable and at the same time completely chilling.
I started reading this book, stopped and read the back cover and deicded I probably wouldn't like it since it is a true account of a real crime (not a fan of those types of books) Decided to give it my mandatory 50 pages - I'm glad I did. While I wouldn't say I'm enjoying the book --can you enjoy reading about a true murder?-- I am glad I decided to read it. Well written account that reads as though you were actually there. Recommended. A little graphic, but not too bad. (position of body and such)