In 1944, she graduated from Scituate High School and was accepted to the United States Army Nurse Corps at Quincy City Hospital.
[1] In the early 1950s she carried out undercover work investigating nursing homes in the Boston area, publishing a series of stories about the conditions in these.
Between 1962 and 1964, she was assigned, with Loretta McLaughlin, to investigate the case of a number of women who had been strangled around the Boston area.
[3][4] Cole would also coin the term Combat Zone for a district of Boston with adult entertainment and a reputation for crime.
[2] In March 2023, Hulu released Boston Strangler, a film starring Keira Knightley as McLaughlin, and Carrie Coon as Cole, following the story of their work connecting the series of murders and breaking the story of the Boston Strangler.