Murder in Boston Podcast

Days after this podcast wrapped, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called a press conference. She had a major announcement about the Stuart case. Of course, we were there. In this episode, we’ll tell you how the mayor’s news landed with a community still trying to make peace with this case… and about a surprise figure who appeared that day, a man the Globe team had been chasing for a long time. Now we are able to share that important story, and much more.

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We knew when we started out on this story, we were digging into something that would cause people pain. And we've tried to balance our jobs as fact-finders and journalists, with being humane and thoughtful. Two innocent people lost their lives. The suspect’s family had their world upended too. And countless others will never be the same. So, what now? How does this story end? Has anything changed? And is it too late for justice? Find out in the final episode.

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Thirty-four years later, many reporters are still dragging the sins of their Stuart coverage around, in one form or another. This includes your host, Globe columnist Adrian Walker. There’s no doubt, the media screwed up. Journalists moved on without any corrections or apologies, but not without a gnawing sense that something had broken down. And it’s time to reckon with that coverage.

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The main suspect might be dead, but this story is far from over. The long-told narrative – some kind of true-crime catnip – suggests the world was fooled by a master manipulator. But that’s not the case. More than 30 years later, Boston Globe investigative reporters dive into the case, unearth secret grand jury files, and obtain never-before-released recordings. The reporters find a conspiracy that was bigger than anybody knew and uncover evidence that suggests someone else may have pulled the trigger.

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Everything you know, everything you’ve heard, is flipped on its head when one morning a man walks to the edge of the Tobin Bridge and steps off, falling 145 feet into the frigid waters below. The death sends waves of disbelief, rage, and guilt through Boston. And it forces everyone to examine themselves and the role they’ve played in a terrible hoax.

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For so long it was their story – and only their story – that got any attention. Charles and Carol Stuart. The media dubbed them “The Camelot Couple,” and they became the picture of domesticity and purity. White folks could see themselves in their car. The Stuarts were pretty, popular, and on the cusp of starting a family. But really, who were Charles and Carol?

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Boston police have spent 12 days searching for the suspect. They’ve stopped countless Black people in Mission Hill, all to no avail. But now, there’s a tip about a notorious man in the neighborhood who's been bragging about shooting the Stuarts. The whole story starts with a few teens smoking weed one afternoon and takes off from there. In this episode, hear never-released police interrogation tapes and meet the suspect: “Wild Bill.”

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The shooting hits at the heart of Boston’s most bitter divisions and reopens a wound around race relations that was just beginning to heal. In 1974, the city was thrown into turmoil when a judge ordered the desegregation of Boston schools. Some parents revolted and attacked school buses carrying Black children. The Stuart shooting aftermath reignites unresolved anger and revives an ugly chapter of Boston's history.

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The shocking Stuart shooting incites a massive dragnet for a Black man in a striped track suit. Armed with “stop and frisk” powers, police tear through the Mission Hill neighborhood. Virtually every young Black male is a suspect. Boston is gripped by fear. Race, class, crime and punishment – the city's raw nerves are laid bare.

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Charles Stuart dials 911 from his car phone. He’s lost somewhere in Boston and bleeding out. His pregnant wife, Carol, is in the seat next to him, with a gunshot wound to the head. This white couple from the suburbs was just carjacked upon leaving a birthing class at a hospital and drawn deep into Mission Hill. They are the epitome of the urban nightmare of the late 1980s. And their terror is captured on tape.

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