Charles "Chuck" Stuart (December 18, 1959–January 4, 1990) was a Boston man who murdered his pregnant wife and inflamed racial tension by concocting a fictitious African-American assailant.

Murders

On October 23, 1989, Stuart, manager of the upscale Kakas Furs on Newbury Street, and his pregnant wife Carol (born Carol DiMaiti, March 26, 1959), a lawyer, got into their car after attending childbirth classes at Brigham and Women's Hospital. According to Stuart's subsequent statement, a black gunman with a raspy voice forced his way into their car at a stoplight, ordered them to drive to Mission Hill, robbed them, then opened fire, shooting Charles in the stomach and Carol in the head. Stuart then drove away to escape, calling 911 on his car phone.

A film crew for the CBS Reality television series Rescue 911 happened to be riding with Boston Emergency Medical Services personnel and was able to capture the scene as police and paramedics assisted Stuart.

Carol Stuart died that night, after her son, Christopher, was delivered two months early by caesarean section. The infant suffered seizures due to oxygen deprivation and died 17 days later after his father authorized discontinuing life support.

Boston police searched for suspects matching Stuart's description of the assailant. Police suspected a man named Willie Bennett and on December 28, Stuart picked him out of a lineup. Though investigating officers did ask doctors whether Stuart's wounds could have been self-inflicted, they were told that this was very unlikely given the severity of the injuries.

The case against Bennett abruptly collapsed when Charles Stuart's brother, Matthew, identified Stuart as the killer. Matthew admitted that he had driven to meet Stuart that night to help him commit what he'd been told was to be an insurance fraud.

Upon arrival, Matthew said that he had seen that Carol had been shot, and that his brother, also wounded, had apparently shot himself to support his mendacious story. Matthew took the gun and a bag of valuables, including Carol's wedding rings, and threw them off the Pines River Bridge in Revere. The items were later recovered.

Police later learned that Stuart had been interested in (but allegedly not involved with) an intern at the fur salon and was also having financial difficulties. An article in The Boston Globe alleged that a $480,000 check was issued to Charles Stuart in payment for a life insurance policy on his wife, but this was later found to be false, as no such check was ever found.

Suicide

On January 4, 1990, Charles Stuart committed suicide by leaping to his death from the Tobin Bridge. A note was found in Stuart's car stating that he could not deal with the allegations against him.

Carol Stuart Memorial Scholarship

In Carol Stuart's memory, her family established the Carol DiMaiti Stuart Foundation to provide scholarship aid to Mission Hill residents. By early 2006, the foundation had awarded $1.2 million to 220 students.

One scholarship recipient, 24 year old Mission Hill graduate Imette St. Guillen, was murdered in New York City in 2006.

Cultural references

Stuart was portrayed by Thirtysomething star Ken Olin in the 1990 CBS TV movie Good Night Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston.

Mark Wahlberg and his former group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch referred to this story in their song "Wildside."

Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs refer to this story in the song "Speak Upon It" from the album Life of a Kid in the Ghetto.

The Law & Order episode "Happily Ever After" is based on the Charles Stuart case.

The plot of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novel Small Vices revolves around a case where a black man is framed for the murder of white woman. The Stuart case is also referred to by name during the novel as example of how effective blaming a non-existent minority perpetrator can be in distracting the police.

The play "Drive" by playwright and actor Neal Bell, is based upon the Stuart murder.

Referenced in the Dennis Lehane novel " A Drink Before The War".

References

External links

• The forgotten victim
• Bizarro Boston
• Boston Globe article on William Bennett, ten years later
• Illusion and tragedy coexist after a couple dies, New York Times, January 7, 1990
• Charles Stuart at Find A Grave

Select Bibliography

• Sharkey, Joe (1991). Deadly Greed: The Riveting True Story of the Stuart Murder Case That Rocked Boston and Shocked the Nation. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-13-584178-X.