'Compelled to tell their stories': South Shore reporters are focus of 'Boston Strangler'

Long before Woodward and Bernstein or the Globe Spotlight team, two South Shore journalists were doing groundbreaking investigative reporting. It might surprise you to know that both of them were women.

One of the cases they reported on during the early 1960s involved one of the most notorious crime sprees in the nation’s history, one which had females − young and old − terrified. Thirteen Boston-area women, ages 19 to 67, were sexually assaulted and killed between 1962 and 1964, crimes that terrorized the region and grabbed national headlines. All the victims were strangled with articles of their own clothing; one also was stabbed repeatedly.

For a long while, police were unable to find the killer who later would be dubbed the Boston Strangler.

Not only did Milton’s Loretta McLaughlin and Scituate’s Jean Cole coin the killer’s catchy nickname, the Boston Record American reporters also connected prime suspect Albert DeSalvo to the case. DeSalvo confessed to the killings, but was never convicted of them, and decades later a DNA investigation raised doubts about his confession.

History has largely forgotten both women and the role they played in investigating the deaths of women who were not only viciously murdered, but also used as props in a macabre display in which the killer used the women’s stockings to fashion a decorative bow around their necks.

Rescuing McLaughlin and Cole from anonymity is Watertown native Matt Ruskin, the writer-director of a new Hulu movie concisely titled “Boston Strangler.” The film, which debuts March 17, not only gives the duo their due but also establishes the disturbing theory that there was more than one killer.

Ruskin says the latter component was part of his effort to correct the record in the wake of the fact-bending 1968 “Boston Strangler” starring Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. But he’s quick to add that championing McLaughlin and Cole, as well as the victims, was always his priority.

“I grew up in Boston, and I had always heard about the Boston Strangler, but I really didn't know anything about the case,” Ruskin said during a pair of Zoom calls last week. “Then several years ago, I started reading all that I could and discovered this incredibly layered mystery that was full of twists and turns, and in many ways was as much a story about the city. I was just completely gripped by the case, and when I discovered the contributions of these reporters, Loretta Mclaughlin and Jean Cole, I felt it was a really compelling way to revisit the case.”

In a nifty bit of casting, Ruskin called on Keira Knightley and “Gone Girl’s” Carrie Coon to portray McLaughlin and Cole, respectively. And both reach deep into the darkest recesses of a story that’s as much about their characters as it is about the crime. Ruskin says he was most intrigued by McLaughlin, who died in 2018 at age 90.

“When I started researching the story, I was immediately grabbed by Loretta and Jean's stories,” Ruskin said. “But I was particularly inspired by Loretta and her commitment to doing the work that was so important to her. And how difficult it was for her to pursue the career that she wanted in the male-dominated 1960s. At that time, there were not a lot of women in those positions. So it was really important to show that dimension of her life.”

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As the movie illustrates through numerous confrontations at home and at work, it wasn’t just the flustered husband, sexist cops and skeptical male superiors McLaughlin had to deal with, it was also a great deal of friendly fire.

“I was surprised to learn that Loretta felt judged as much by the women in her life as by the men,” he said. “They thought that she didn't belong in the workplace either.”

You sense the resulting exasperation in every inch of Knightley’s performance, as McLaughlin engages in a constant battle to defend her credibility as a serious journalist. Even her editor, played by Kingston’s Chris Cooper with a fatherly sense of protectiveness toward his young charge, believes McLaughlin is better served remaining on “the women’s pages,” reporting on lifestyle topics, not the gritty, sometimes dangerous, police beat.

Ruskin said it was that same sort of veiled sexism that’s largely responsible for McLaughlin and Cole being all but erased from history. In fact, if not for a fortuitous search on Facebook, “Boston Strangler” might not have become a reality.

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“There was very little information available about them,” Ruskin said of McLaughlin and Cole. “Then I read Jean Cole's obituary, and it mentioned that she had two daughters, and I looked them up, and one of them had a Facebook profile with a photograph of her with an arm around an old friend of mine. So I called up my friend … and through her, I was introduced to both (the McLaughlin and Cole) families. And the more I got to know about these women, the more I grew to admire them and felt incredibly compelled to tell their stories.”

Ruskin also saw it as an opportunity to pay homage to his home city and the people and places that so endear him to it. As such, he insisted that it be filmed in and around Boston’s array of distinct neighborhoods, including Back Bay and Beacon Hill.

“I just love Boston, I love being there,” Ruskin said. “So much of it has changed, but some of those neighborhoods, like the South End and the Back Bay − those beautiful old brownstones, those streets − haven't changed in well over 100 years. And to be able to line those streets with old cars from the 1950s and early ’60s, and dress the actors in a wardrobe from that time period, it was amazing to witness the neighborhoods returned to a period that was before my time.”

Ruskin said another asset the city afforded was “an incredible pool of actors” from Boston’s vibrant theater scene.

“There's just no shortage of great actors in the Boston area,” he said. “In that sense, I feel very lucky to be able to bring the film back to Boston.”

There’s an element of disappointment in his voice, however, when asked how he feels about the reality that most people will view his film on TV, not in theaters.

“I love watching movies in the theater,” he said with a touch of resignation. “I think there's no substitute for sitting in a sold-out movie theater watching a film with 200 other people. But the world is changing, the models of distribution are changing, and you have to adapt. I'm just grateful that I got to tell this story at the level that we got to tell it. It was truly a labor of love.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Director Ruskin focuses on South Shore reporters Boston in 'Strangler'