In Hulu’s true crime drama the boston strangler, Keira Knightley plays a journalist searching for the eponymous serial killer.
Her character, Loretta McLaughlin, does so with the help of her colleague Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), and the pair investigate the tragic deaths that are happening across town to uncover the truth.
Viewers watching the drama may wonder how much of the film is true, including whether Knightley’s character is real. Here’s everything you need to know.
Between 1962 and 1964, the Boston Strangler raped and killed eleven women across the city. The serial killer’s victims ranged in age from 19 to 85. His last known victim was Mary Sullivan, who was killed in January 1964.
McLaughlin and Cole were both real, and they actually worked together to write about the 1962 murders of four women. At the time, McLaughlin believed the deaths were connected and pushed for it, even when her editor thought the murders might not be interesting.
In an obituary the Boston Globe wrote for McLaughlin in November 2018, the publication shared how the journalist felt about writing about the women anyway.
The Boston Globe reported that 30 years after the article, she said, “An editor disputed the value of a series on the four dead women, stating that they were ‘nobody.’ That’s what it was, I felt.
“Why would anyone murder four obscure women. That’s what made them so interesting…Sisters in anonymity, like all of us.”
McLaughlin worked on the Boston Record American, where she focused on writing about Albert DeSalvo confessing to the Boston Strangler murders.
During her impressive career, McLaughlin also worked as a science writer at Harvard University and was part of the public relations team at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.
McLaughlin later became a medical reporter and she worked with the in that role Herald American. SHe then became a specialist in medical news for the Boston globe. In July 1992 she was appointed editor of the editorial page globe.
The award-winning journalist held the position for one year before reaching mandatory retirement age at the publication.
In addition to working as a journalist, McLaughlin wrote a book titled The Pill, John Rock and the Church: The Biography of a Revolutionwhich was published in 1983.
McLaughlin died on November 23, 2018 at the age of 90. She was survived by her three children and several grandchildren.
The Boston Strangler is out now on Hulu.
