warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
For Charles Stuart of Boston, the odds of a TV crew showing up at the crime scene were not in his favor. Come see why this true crime that shocked a nation still impacts communities today.
The Charles Stuart case, where a white man falsely claimed a Black man shot him and his pregnant wife, remains shocking due to the police and media’s biased response and the lasting impact on racial tensions in Boston. The incident highlighted systemic racism and the dangers of unchecked narratives fueled by fear and prejudice.
it was the middle of the evening in the mission Hills area of Boston Massachusetts,carol and charles stewart, expecting their first baby in a couple of mounths.
were leaving their child birthing class from nearby brigham and women’s hospital but they wouldn’t make it home that night.
they would both be shot before thay made it through the neighborhood.
charles stewart was able to call for help from his car phone ,but emergency responders had trouble locating the couple.
once they did ,they along with the television crew that was coincidentally accompanying them experienced and captured unprecedented dramatic footage. of the aftermath.
that footage and the circumstances surrounding the case would rock the city and the nation.
giving them front row seats to the aftermath of one of the most vicious and controversial attacks in the city’s history,one that continues to produce aftershocks to this day.
the charles stewart case made national headlines for months and created a devastating rippling affect that had lasted until present day.
carol stuart (DiMaiti) was born on march 26th, 1959 in medford, massachusetts.growing up,she was bright,kind ,and outgoing. she would go on to attend and graduate from boston college in 1981 and then earn a law degree from suffolk university law school in 1986.
afterward,she began working as a tax lawyer at a publishing company in a suburb of boston.
in 1980,while she was still a student at boston college, carol was working as a waitress at a resturant ,a city about 5 miles outside of boston.
it was there she met charles stuart, who was also working at the restaurant as a chef.charles, who went by chuck , was born on december 18th , 1959 to parents charles and dorothy stuart.
an insurance salesman and hospital switchboard operator, respectively.
according to a co-worker , chuck was rugged, handsome , and very popular with the women.
carol and chuck began to dating and fell in love. shortly after they met.chuck left his chef position and got a job at Kakas & Sons, furriers on Newbury Street. a prestigious first store on ritzy newbury street in boston. there he would eventually rise to the position of general manager.
the couples relationship continued to flourish.they got married in 1985 and bought a house in reading,which was an affluent town about 16 miles from boston.
neighbors of the couple recalled how they would seemingly spend all their spare time together, jogging together, and gardening together in their front yard.
and how chuck would graciously coach little leauge baseball and readily helped neigbors when needed.
by 1989 , carol was pregnant and due in december of that year.they appared to be the perfect couple until it all came crashing down .
october 23, 1989 8:43 p.m.
on october 23rd 1989, 30 year old carol and 29 year old chuck stuart were driving home after attending a childbirth class at nearby brigham and women’s hospital.
while they were passing through the roxbury neighborhood, they wer both shot.
according to chuck stuart, they were at a stoplight when a black man with a raspy voice forced his way into the backseat of their car at gunpoint.
he ordered them to ddrive to nearby mission hill, robbed them , then shut carol in the head and chuck in the abdomen.chuck managed to drive away and use his car phone to call 911.
all calls that are coming from a cell phone get routed to the massachusetts states police’s special cellular emergency line.
a sergeant immediately picked up to listen in on the call.recognizing the urgency ,he immediately contacted the local boston police departement,but they needed the stuart’s location to give to the local police.
but they still don’t have a location to get emergency responders to him and his wife.they’ve got a street name,but the street is a long one and they ned more information.
they hear body movement but cannot get a response from chuck minutes.he has blacked out. while they continue to try to solicit a response from chuck ,they hear sirens in the background of the call.they thell local police that they must be near the stuart’s because they can hear the sirens through the phone.
local police are not sure which of their cars is nearby.so, they have all patrol cars in the vicinity turn off their sirens,then turn them back on one by one until the sergeant and operator can hear them again.
it works.boston police locate the couples car and coincidentally,the crew of the television show rescue 911 happened to be on a ride along with the emerengy medical crew that responded to the call.obtaining rare and dramatic footag of the actual aftermath.
the emergency medical crew along with the ride along TV crew arrived nearly instantly.
once chuck is settled in the ambulance,police try to obtain information about the perpetrator.he reports that their attacker was a black man with a raspy voice wearing a tracksuit.
the couple gts whisked off to separate hospitals. carol is in crictical condition. she’s rushed to nearby brigham and women’s hospital,the hospital they had taken birthing classes just moments before then.
the baby is delivered by C- section 2 months prematurely.chuck is taken to boston city hospital. he asks about his wife.chuck’s injuries are life- threatening. he undergoes 6 hours of surgery.
but survives and is expected to make a full recovery.
but that was not the case for carol. she died within hours arriving at the hospital.and although her baby,who would be named christopher,was succesfully delivered via C -section, he would also die 17 days later, turning the tragedy into double homicide.
and while the events of the evening seemed to be coming toward a sad and tragic ending,it was most definitely only the begining.
4 days after her death ,carol’s funeral was held.
still in the hospital, recovering from his wounds,chuck wrote a letter to be read at his wife’s funural.
but before that even took place, there was a murder to be solved.
on the heels of a surge in violence and crime that began the month prior,the city and it’s residents were fearful and outraged by the incident.
several public figures even called for the return of the death penalty in massachusetts.
the day after the shooting ,outraged boston mayor raymond flynn called for a massive manhunt to find the alleged killer.
ordering more than 100 extra police officers to support the search.
the manhunt began,but not just any manhunt.given the combination of the described asailant being a black man and boston’s not so secret reputation of bias and unfair treatment of people of color in the city, the manhunt resulted in what many…
including boston city councelor bruce bowling,described as:
“a war zone with every black man as the enemy”
police swarm the boston’s mission hill neighborhood ,stopping and aggressively frisking black men, a lot of them,looking for the vague black ma with a raspy voice.
the manhunt of this nondescript black man triggered a massiv uptick in the city’s practice of stop and frisk. a practice of stopping and searching citizens for weapons or prohibited items. when there is reasonable suspicion they commited a crime.
the practice and the law allowing it already existed prior to the incident.but after the stuart’s shooting , it skyrocketed to an unprecedented level.
during the month following incident ,it is estimated that there were over 150 stop and frisk searches per day in the neighborhood surrounding the shooting.
the searches was harsh,invasive, and demeaning.as would later be documented both in and out of court, the african. american community was under attack.
fredrick johnson ,a businessman and community advocate,likened it to a police riot,noting how in those first days, he saw dozens of young african – american men lined up on street corners with their pants pulled down as officers searched their pants and underwear for drugs,guns, or any other excuse to arrest them.
the week following the attack , he and a colleague who were dressed in suits were pulled over and told they fit the description of the suspect.
two weeks after the hooting ,he witnessed 30 young to middle aged men stripped naked,lying on the ground,hands cuffd behind their backs.
groups of women protested,but the police just gathered more and more of the men and haul them away like animals.
he said that he wanted to report the offense to the police departement until he learned that what they were doing was legal due to the stop and frisk law.
meanwhile, 4 days after the manhunt began ,police had arrested a potential suspect, a homeless man named alan swanson.
he had been squatting in an apartment near where the shooting had taken place.police found a black tracksuit where he was living matching chuck’s description of the asailant.
a few weeks later , on november 20th , swanson was replaced by a new suspect. william or willie bennet .willie was a resident of the same apartments where swanson was squatting.
he was initially arrested for a video store robbery, but with willie having served time for shooting a police officer,police moved to suspecting him of the stuart’s shooting.
then shortly after christmas,chuck reportedly had a strong physical reaction when he was shown willie bennett in a lineup.
asthe investigation proceeded, chuck was in the hospital recovering.he underwent two major surgeries and spent 6 weeks in the hospital before being released.
within two weeks being released, he began shopping.
he purchased a $ 1,000 pair of diamond earings and a $ 250 brooch ,reportedly paid from the proceeds of at least one of his wife’s life insurance payouts.more on that in a bit.
because what happened next turned the case upside down.
on january 3rd ,2 months after the shooting,police received a visit from chuck’s 23 year old younger brother.brother, matthew stuart.
he was there to drop a bombshell.he told police that he had conspired with chuck…
…to pick up the 38 caliber revolver used in the shooting along with carol’s purse and jewelry just after the shooting.
matthew’s lawyer asserted that matthew thought he was only participating in an insurance scam with his brother and that he did not know that his sister- in – law had been hot when he obtained the items then dumped them into a river .
police were uncertain whether that was true or not.
but what matthew made clear was that his brother, chuck stuart, was the person responsible for shootingand killing his wife and shooting and injuring himself, and it was not the fictitious black man that chuck had made up.
based on matthew’s statements and other evidence charles chuck suart became the prime suspect in carol’s death.police set out to arrest him the same day,but were not able to locate him until the following morning in the mystic river.
chuck stuart was dead.
meanwhile , it turned out that matthew was not the only stuart family member who knew that chuck killed carol. chuck’s other siblings. were also aware of their brother’s involvement. they agonized over what to tell their parents..
the day before matthew revealed th truth to the police, a phone call between two chuck’s other siblings,michael and shelley was automatic recorded by the river fire departement where michael worked.it went as follows.
shelley stated ,”we’re all meeting here right now . we’re going to mom’s”
michael replied ,” what are you going to tell them?”
shelley said,” we’re going to tell them we know that chuck was involved . we’re gnot going to say that he killed her.”
michael stated,” yeah, right.”
shelley stated,”okay,”
and michael ” wow”
shelley: i know , mike ,get ready.”
and then , michael jsut sighed.
michael stuart.
michael’slawyer claimed his client knew the call was being recorded and claimed the basis of the discussion was to deside how to alert their parents, given that chuck’s involvement was about to made public.but that didn’t align with the contents of the conversation.
but matthew coming forward. was the main break in the case.it’s wahat finally set investigators and prosecutors on the course ofdiscovering the shocking and devastating truth.
starting with chuck and carol. all was not well in the lives o f the picture perfect couple.
a neighbor reported how carol shared with her that once she got pregnant,chuck began staying out late on friday nights. chuck had become unhappy in his marriage and aproched a friend and his brother michael about killing his wife.
both refused. but then in october , according to matthew’s defense,chuck recruited him to help pull off an insurance scam by fake stealing carol’s jewelry.
they went through a dry run a few days before. then on october 23rd, as they planned after chuck and carol left their child birth class , matthew pulled up.chuck tossed in carol’s gucci bag,and matthew drove away,unaware that carol lay in the passenger seat, dying.
once matthew arrived home and learned about the shooting,he went to a house of a friend there ,the two opened the bad and found both jewelry and unexpetedly a gun.
they quickly realized what chuck had done. killed his wife, and shot himself to make it look like they wer attacked.
they dumped everything exept for carol’s diamond ring into the river.
the possibility of chuck’s woundsbeing self- inflicted did come up during the investigation.however , investigators were told by doctors that it was highly unlikely given the severity ofhis wounds.
matthew claimed that once he learned that chuckwas pinning the blame on bennett, he decided to come forward.
but the prosecutor contended that matthew had to have realized that chuck shot carol and only contacted authorities after their girlfriends and other members of the stuart family had threatened to do so.
both michael and matthew stuart were pall- bearers at carol’s funeral.
carol’s brother, reflected on the stuart brother’s actions ,stating.
” can youy believe that they came over to our house to comfort my parents?it is just mind-boggling that they could sit with us, or allow us to visit chuck. to cry over him and pray for his recovery , knowing that chuck was responsible for what happened to carol”
the invetigation also uncovered chuck’potential motives, including a love interest. allthough there have been conflicting reports about wether there was a romantic relationship or not chuck is said to have been interested in a 22 year old graduate student he worked with at the first store.
before the shooting they would dine together.and her birthday fell just after the purchase of one of chuck’s expensive jewelry purchases that we mentioned previously.
after the shooting , she called him regularly in the hospital,but is reported to have broken things off once he tried to take their relationship in a romantic direction.
a financial incentive. according to a friend, chuck was upset that his wife refused to get an abortion and was worried that she would not return to work after the baby was born,reducing their income.
he had taken out multiple life insurance policies on his wife.
reportedly totaling around $ 182,000.carol had even commented to friends that she couldn’t understand why chuck had taken out so much life insurance on her.
and he wanted to open a resturant. it’s reported that he intended to use the life insurance payouts to finance opening his own resturant.
the investigation also revealed that chuck lied about having a college educaction,he claimed that he went to brown university on fotball scholorship and said he dropped out due to a knee injuriy. he also claimed that he eventually graduated from salem state college instead.
but in reality, he never even applied to brown and he dropped out of salem after just 2 months.
with chuck stuart now dead,the investigation resulted in charges against his brother matthew stuart and matthew’s friend .no charges were ever brought against any of stuart’s other family members.
2 years after the shooting ,matthew stuart accepted a plea deal .
and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, insurance fraud,possesion of a firearm, and other charges in exchanges for a 3 to 5 year prison sentence.
the friend , john McMahon also accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to be an accessory to murder after the fact, conspiracy, and two counts of illegally carrying a firearm in exchange for one- year prison sentence.
both carol andbaby christopher, who survived 17 days after his mother was shot,are buried under carol’s maiden name DiMaiti.
after having served 3 years in prison,matthew stuart was released and placed on probation.
2 years later ,he was arrested on drug charges and parole violation,but his attorney was able to get them overturned, and he was released.
chuck’s other brother , michael , wuld nater note how once he learned of the shooting and matthew’s involvement, he urged matthew to protect himself by secretely taping himself and chuck before he went to the police.
matthew did not do that and turned himself in without any incriminating tape by the advice ofhis lawyer.michael ,reflected,
if i could save one brother , that was the plan.i knew we were going to lose chuck, regardless- eitheer to death or jail.i didn’t want to lose matthew”
michael went on to note that after that,matthew never could shake his battle with the bottle.he fought for 22 years to save his tortured young brother from the demons of that night. but in 2011 ,matthew stuart was found dead in a homeless shelter in cambridge of a drug overdose.
while willie bennett was serving his 12 to 25 year sentence for holding up the video store, a crime he states he also not commit,he filed acivil rights lawsuit against three of the the boston police departement,claiming they coerced a witnesss into giving false statements against him.
a federal jury rejected the case.
since chuck died before he could be prosecuted, there are obviously no updates related to him…
the stuart case continues to have a ripple effect on race relations in the city of boston.
the misuse of stop and frisk on such a mass scale initially outraged the african-american community,but it was heightened even further when the practice continued after they had a suspect in custody.
and then it still continued even after it was cleared that chuck stuart was the aisalant.
after the truth about the shooting came to light, the city’safircan-american leaders protested police actions and media reports that criminalized the black community.
a commission was formed to investigate police coercing witness statements and illegally stopping and strip searching black men. a year later , attorney generl james shannon announced the findings that the police coerces witnesses and other findings.
he recommended a formation of a police civilian review board to monitor police policies and tacticts in the future.despite the findings,the police did not do away with stop and frisk.
in 2015 , over two decade later, the massachusetts ACLU reported that the practice was still being used to discriminate against african -american and latino men in boston.
the case of charles and carol stuart received widespread national coverage.
over the past yearsand has been reported,repoduced,orreferenced in new specials,
television shows,movies and more. far too many to name here….