In the latest suspenseful offering from Hulu, “Boston Strangler,” viewers are transported into a newsroom to learn how the unfolding murder spree was initially identified. In addition to being a recreation of a real-life murder, the film “Boston Strangler” also tells the narrative of women in the workplace who make strides toward equality in a field that was formerly controlled by men. Yet, the events of this novel took place in the 1960s, when the Boston Strangler was at the height of his criminal career. So Who were Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole? Are they Based on a Real Boston Reporter? Check out the details of McLaughlin and Cole at www.tvacute.com.
Who were Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole?
If you consider yourself to be a fan of real crime in any capacity, you might already be familiar with the material that we have shared thus far concerning the Boston Strangler. Did you know that the Boston Strangler story was broken by two female reporters working for the Boston Record-American? Hulu has finally released the much-anticipated film about the Boston Strangler, but the true narrative is about the journalists who were the ones who broke the news: Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole. Keira Knightley’s character, Loretta, is the one who came up with the name “Boston Strangler” and was the first person to attribute the series of murders to a single individual. After that, Loretta recruited Jean, whose role was performed by Carrie Coon, to assist her in investigating the stories and breaking them.
What happened to Loretta McLaughlin?
Loretta McLaughlin chronicled the Strangler killings in 1962, which occurred in the middle of the minefield of misogyny that was the 1960s. She linked the murders together with her coworker Jean Cole Harris, and the two of them were successful in persuading their superiors that these slayings were the work of a single assailant. She recounted that it was the fourth murder committed by the Strangler, which was that of 75-year-old Ida Irga, that prompted her to take action and motivate her to discuss the possibility of writing a series with her editor. McLaughlin and Cole persisted in their investigation despite the fact that he believed the story did not warrant coverage in more than one piece.
After the events of “Boston Strangler,” Loretta McLaughlin stopped working at the Boston Record American. She went back to journalism in the 1970s when the Record American and The Boston Herald Traveler merged to form the Herald American, where she worked as a medical reporter. In 1976, she began covering the AIDS epidemic for the Boston Globe, where she harshly criticized the federal government’s response to the pandemic. McLaughlin wrote a book in 1982 called “The Pill, John Rock, and the Church: The Biography of a Revolution,” which is about the development of the birth control pill. As the Boston Globe’s Editorial Page editor in 1992, she made history as only the paper’s second female editor. She left the workforce in late 1993 and passed away twenty years later.
What happened to Jean Cole?
Jean Cole Harris passed away at the age of 89 on August 8, 2015, from unanticipated causes. Her innovative exposé of Massachusetts nursing facilities was cited in her obituary, alongside her work as a criminal investigator. A journalist since she was just 18 years old, she entered the field in 1944 after being born in 1926. Her first job was as a “copy boy” for the Boston Daily Record.
It took her a while, but she eventually made it to the top and is now regarded as a prominent journalist. Although she was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, she ultimately passed away in Anna Maria, Florida. Frank P. Harris, her spouse and a journalist with the Boston Globe, died in 2001. She left behind two daughters: Julie Harris Donovan and Jane Harris Coleman, both of Anna Maria, Florida; ten grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. We can visit Jean Cole’s gravesite at Greenlawn Cemetery in Housatonic, Massachusetts.
