Trigger warning: Loss of a pregnant lady and her baby. I understand if this is a blog you need to skip.
Many times in life, girl sees boy, girl thinks boy is hot, girl and boy fall in love, girl and boy get married and start a family and live happily ever after. End of story...have a great day!
I guess I wouldn't be doing this blog if everything worked out so well for everyone! Unfortunately, for Carol Ann DiMaiti, she started out living the dream, spent years believing she was living the dream, but it turns out she was completely wrong...and never saw it coming.
Carol Ann DiMaiti was born on March 26, 1959, in Medford Massachusetts. While in college, Carol was working at a restaurant in Revere, Massachusetts, where she met Charles Stuart. He was a cook at the restaurant. In 1985, Carol and Charles married and moved to an affluent suburb in Reading, Massachusetts. What is an affluent suburb, you may ask? It's a place that my white trash ass will never be able to live in...because it's a place for people with money. I got stuck with a great personality...not money.
Anyway......Carol and Charles get married. In 1989, Carol was working as a tax attorney at a publishing company and Charles was the general manager at Edward F. Kakas & Sons, furriers on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. At that time, Carol was 30 and pregnant with their first child.
So far, so good! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage! In most situations...sadly, not in this one.
On October 23, Charles and Carol left a childbirth class at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Carol was seven months pregnant, preparing herself and Charles as best as possible for the upcoming delivery of their baby.
According to statements made by Charles Stuart, he stopped at a stoplight and a raspy voiced African-American man forced his way into their car with a gun, ordered them to drive to nearby Mission Hill, robbed them, and then shot Charles in the stomach and shot Carol in the head. Miraculously, Charles was able to drive away and call 9-1-1 on his car phone.
At the time of Charles' call to 9-1-1, the CBS reality television series Rescue 911 was riding along with Boston Emergency Medical Services personnel. They ended up getting very dramatic footage of Charles and Carol taken out of the car. Carol was seen "in profile, her pregnancy prominent, being wheeled to the ambulance". More video footage shows Charles straining to speak with the ambulance workers and showing Charles being rushed into the emergency room.
Doctors delivered Carol's baby prematurely via C-section and he was named named Christopher (which Charles and Carol picked out during the pregnancy), but Carol died of her injuries shortly after in the early morning hours of October 24, 1989. Christopher had been baptized in the intensive care unit. Christopher, sadly, had suffered trauma and oxygen deprivation during the shooting, and died seventeen days later. A private funeral service was held for Christopher on November 20, 1989. Both Carol and Christopher are buried under Carol's maiden name.
Charles ended up hospitalized for six weeks, requiring two operations. The surgeon did not feel that Charles' wounds were self-inflicted.
Police found a young man, William "Willie" Bennett, who fit Stuart's description. On December 28, Stuart identified Bennett as his attacker in a lineup.
Authorities began looking for the suspect based on Charles' description and came across Willie Bennett. Willie did have a criminal record, and Charles identified Willie in a lineup on December 28.
The Washington Post described the situation: “The city's anger seems inexhaustible. That may be because it is impossible not to feel sullied by the Stuart case. Either one was duped by a fabrication with racist overtones, or one was impotent as police focused their investigation on a succession of innocent black men.”
Charles' story was about to go to shit. On January 3, 1990, Charles' brother, Matthew, went to the police with a shocking story that no on expected to hear. Matthew claimed that Charles came to him asking for his help on the night of October 23. Matthew was to wait for Charles to stop the car at a specific location and Matthew was to get Carol's handbag and throw it in the Pines River in Revere. Matthew was under the impression that Charles was trying to pull an insurance scam. Some reports state that Matthew did not see Carol in the car, other reports state he knew she had been shot and Charles had shot himself in the abdomen. The handbag had a .38-caliber gun and Carol's jewelry.
Charles Stuart was now the #1 suspect in Carol's death. I'm sure many of you may be thinking - did they arrest him? did he go to trial? did he fry in the electric chair?
That will be 'no' to all of the above. After he found out that Matthew went to the police, Charles met with his lawyer. A short time after that meeting, Charles' car was found abandoned on the Tobin Bridge in Chelsea. A note was found in his car stating, in part, that he was "beaten" by the "new accusations" and was "sapped of [his] strength." Charles then apparently jumped to his death, his body being found in the Mystic River.
Investigators talked with family and friends, finding out that Charles had made comments previously that he had a desire to kill his wife, making these statements well before October. It was discovered that Charles' three brothers and sisters had known about his involvement in Carol's death before Matthew went to the police. Ummmm...I'm not sure what to think about all of that information.
A close friend of Charles, David MacLean, said that Charles spoke to him in September 1989, saying that he was mad that Carol didn't get an abortion. David said that Charles claimed that he was worried that Carol would stop going to work after having the baby. Charles had asked David to help him in killing his wife. The investigation also discovered that Charles received a good amount of money as part of life insurance policies that were in Carol's name. What a dirty ass, greedy bastard!
Wait...there's more! Investigators also learned that weeks after he was released from the hospital, Charles bought women's jewelry. Now...why would he need to do that? He just buried his wife. Supposedly, the jewelry was bought for a lady named Deborah Allen, a lady who worked with Charles. So...sex and greed...get over yourself, Charles! Deborah's lawyer denied any romantic relationship between her and Charles. Okkkaaayyyy......
Overall, investigators believed that Charles probably needed the insurance money as he was a new restaurant owner. They believed that Charles killed Carol and then shot himself, trying to make everything look like a burglary.
In 1991, Matthew was indicted for obstruction of justice and insurance fraud for his role in covering up the crime. John McMahon, an associate of Matthew, was also indicted as an accessory to murder. Matthew pleaded guilty in November 1992 and was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. Matthew was released on parole in 1997, but was later arrested for drug trafficking. He was later released again after his case was appealed. On September 3, 2011, Matthew was found dead in a homeless shelter, Heading Home, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In November 1992, Matthew pled guilty to multiple counts that included conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. It is said that Matthew died of an apparent drug overdose.
In Carol's memory, her family established the Carol DiMaiti Stuart Foundation to provider scholarship aid to Mission Hill residents and Malden High School graduates. This foundation helps students from Mission Hill and Malden who show leadership ability, but would not be able to afford to go to college without significant financial help. This foundation provides mentors and helps people obtain appropriate summer internships. One of the benefits of this foundation was Willie Bennet's daughter.
The DiMaitis' attorney, Marvin Geller, explained to the press: "Carol would not want to be remembered as the victim of a sensational murder, but rather as a woman who left behind a legacy of healing and compassion."
The Law & Order episodes "Happily Ever After" and "Gaijin" are based on the Charles Stuart case. In "Happily Ever After", there are two apparent references to the initial suspect, Willie Bennett. David Brisbin plays Dr. Bennett and Kelly Neal appears as Willie Tivnan.
The 1990 made-for-television film Goodnight Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston is based on this case. Charles Stuart is played by Ken Olin and Carol Stuart is played by Annabella Price.
The song "Wildside" by Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch refers to the case.
American poet, Cornelius Eady, ends his poem "COMPOSITE" with a summary of this case.
The case is also on "The 1980s: The Deadliest Decade - The Yuppie Murder".
The documentary TV series City Confidential covered the Stuart murder in its episode titled Boston: Betrayal in Beantown, originally aired on December 19, 2000.
The 2019 TV series City on a Hill opens with a title describing the murder and frame-up, as context for the setting for the racially polarized content of the series.
The 2020 Netflix Documentary series Trial 4 episode number 2, "The Usual Suspects," features a segment about the Charles Stuart case as an example of wrongful arrests and police racism toward African-Americans in the late 1980s.
Martín Espada alludes to the case in his 2018 poem "Jumping Off the Mystic Tobin Bridge."
What a tragic loss of two lives...all because of probable sex and greed. Honestly people, just get a divorce....or fake your own death and move on. It's probably waaaaayyyyyyy cheaper and less traumatizing. If you consciously decide that you never want children, make sure you are upfront right away with the person you are with. If it's not agreeable to both of you, walk away. Let them find someone who wants kids while you continue your search for someone who doesn't. It can all work out in the end!
-- Audre
Photo by: findagrave.com
Photo by: findagrave.com
Photo by: Esquire
Sources:
wikipedia.org
thecinemaholic.com
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