Sebastian Junger

Journalist Sebastian Junger has just returned from Afghanistan, where he was traveling with the Northern Alliance. Last year he was also in Afghanistan following Ahmad Shah Massoud, (known as the "Lion of Panjshir"), the legendary leader of the guerrilla war against the Soviets, who had been fighting the Taliban. Massoud was assassinated by Osama bin Laden's associates in September. Junger is also the author of the bestseller The Perfect Storm, and his new book, Fire. (Shortride)… (more)

Sebastian Junger set out to write a book about a murder that occurred in the quiet neighborhood where he grew up. For Junger, author of the best-selling The Perfect Storm, the story of who killed Bessie Goldberg hit close to home in more than one way.

Goldberg's 1963 strangulation occurred at a time of a series of brutal murders that were blamed on the Boston Strangler. At the time, Junger's family lived in the idyllic Boston suburb of Belmont.

A black man named Roy Smith, who had worked cleaning the victim's house in the predominantly white neighborhood that day, was arrested and charged with Goldberg's murder. He had left Goldberg's house less than an hour before her husband came home and found her strangled on the living room floor. Smith was convicted of the murder.

In 1963, when Junger was a year old, his parents' house was being renovated. One of the workmen was Al DeSalvo, who in 1965 confessed to killing 13 women and being the Boston Strangler.

In A Death in Belmont, Junger set out to investigate whether Smith or DeSalvo killed Goldberg. He says he's still struggling to answer that question. (Shortride)… (more)