0:01

What

0:02

is going on true crime fans?

0:14

I'm your

0:16

host Heath and I'm your host Daphne and

0:18

you're listening to Going West. Hello

0:21

everybody. Oh my goodness. If

0:23

you're not following us on social media then you don't

0:25

know I've had the flu all week. It has

0:28

been so bad. That's why we didn't

0:30

come out with an episode on Tuesday which we've never done.

0:32

We always do come out with something eventually

0:34

if we are sick but we just decided to

0:36

take it off because I've never

0:38

been so sick in my life. It has been truly

0:40

miserable. Yeah we've literally

0:42

been sleeping in separate bedrooms

0:44

because she's just been miserable for the last week.

0:47

Self-isolation has been sad.

0:49

Right, yes. But she's finally been feeling a little

0:52

bit better, kind of on the mend, so we're

0:54

trying to get this done today for you guys. It's so weird

0:56

though because Heath and I are not looking at each other right

0:58

now like I'm trying to face the other direction

1:00

and he's facing the other direction so

1:02

this is really foreign, but here

1:04

we are. Thank you guys for tuning in. This

1:06

will be an interesting episode. But

1:08

we're here in spirit. I can see the back of your

1:11

head. Exactly. Perfect.

1:13

Alright well, let's not waste any more time

1:15

guys.

1:17

This is episode 357 of Going West, so let's get into it.

1:29

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3:08

In October of 1989, a

3:10

30-year-old pregnant woman

3:12

was murdered after being apprehended

3:15

at a stoplight in Boston. When

3:18

her injured husband called police

3:20

to explain what happened, an

3:22

intense investigation began,

3:25

revealing a surprising suspect.

3:35

This is the story of Carol

3:37

Stewart.

3:59

D'Madi was born on March 26,

4:03

1959 in Medford, Massachusetts, which

4:06

is a northwest suburb of Boston, to parents

4:08

Evelyn and Giusto D'Madi

4:11

and her older brother, Carl. She

4:13

is described as warm, intelligent,

4:16

and gregarious by her friends and family,

4:18

and her brother Carl

4:20

remembers glowingly, quote,

4:22

My sister really believed in the innate

4:24

goodness of every one of us. I

4:26

think the key word in describing Carol

4:29

is giving. She's spent every

4:31

day of her life giving herself to others.

4:34

She was perhaps the most unselfish

4:36

person that I've ever known. Carol

4:40

came from a tight-knit family, and even

4:42

after moving out, she would speak to her mother

4:45

every day on the phone. Her

4:47

dad, ever the proud father, kept Carol's

4:49

report card and his wallet for years

4:52

after she graduated from school, because

4:54

Carol was a very accomplished and motivated

4:56

student who dreamed of becoming

4:58

a lawyer. After graduating

5:01

from high school in 1977,

5:03

Carol headed to Boston College to obtain

5:05

her undergraduate degree, and upon

5:07

completion, she headed straight

5:10

into law school at Suffolk University,

5:12

graduating in 1985 at the age of 26. Though

5:17

Carol was laser focused on her

5:19

aspirations of becoming a lawyer, she

5:21

also made time during her pursuit of education

5:24

to fall in love and get married.

5:27

When she was still a teenager, she began working

5:29

at a restaurant called Driftwood in the nearby

5:31

suburb of Revere as a waitress,

5:34

and Charles Stewart,

5:35

known as Chuck to his friends

5:36

and family, was employed as

5:39

a line cook. Charles had grown

5:41

up in Revere and went on to attend Brown University

5:44

on a football scholarship, but when a knee injury

5:46

totally soiled his chances at a professional

5:49

career in sports, he transferred

5:51

to Salem State College. While

5:54

the young couple navigated their education,

5:56

they saw each other as much as they possibly could

5:59

and maintained

5:59

their relationship all the same. Then,

6:02

in 1985, so seven years after they met, they were

6:06

happily married. They purchased

6:08

a home in the quaint Boston suburb of

6:10

Reading, complete with a pool in the backyard,

6:13

which they would let the neighborhood teens use in

6:15

the summer. Which is very sweet. Exactly,

6:17

and friends remember that Carol was really excited

6:20

to fill the house with kids, but that she

6:22

wanted to fulfill her career aspirations first.

6:25

So, the stewards busied themselves

6:27

laying the groundwork for successful futures

6:30

and in the meantime, maintained an active

6:32

social life in their community. And they would often

6:35

take their black labs that they had out in the neighborhood

6:37

for walks, like every day.

6:39

Charles started working for a fur

6:41

coat store called Edward Caucus

6:44

Furs, managing a branch of the store

6:46

and did pretty well for himself. Like I guess

6:48

you could kind of consider them, at this

6:51

point,

6:51

middle to upper class.

6:54

Now, Ted Caucus, who was the president of Edward

6:56

Caucus at the time, said, quote, he

6:58

was just an all around terrific guy.

7:01

I think I can say that he was loved by all

7:03

of our employees. He was just

7:05

terrific. We cherished him. Charles

7:09

was known as an absolute pillar

7:11

in his workplace, and also

7:13

in his community, even organizing a charity

7:15

food drive at Thanksgiving and a charity

7:18

toy drive at Christmas.

7:20

So, he and Carol were both just incredibly

7:22

giving people together, and everyone

7:24

thought that they were absolute soulmates.

7:28

Carol's best friend, Kimberly, remembered, quote,

7:30

they're

7:31

the best type of people, really

7:33

unusual people.

7:34

They would do anything for you. They had a huge

7:36

number of friends, and I think you can really say that

7:39

everybody loved them. So,

7:41

after finishing law school, Carol

7:43

started working as a lawyer for a publishing

7:45

company, and both Carol and Charles

7:47

were regarded as hard working and were

7:49

well liked and respected by all of their

7:51

colleagues.

7:53

So, after holding off

7:54

on starting a family in order to, you know,

7:56

bankroll more money, Carol became

7:58

pregnant in 1980. at the

8:00

age of 30. Both Carol

8:03

and Charles seemed pretty thrilled by this and

8:05

were excitedly decorating the nursery,

8:07

just prepping for the baby to arrive.

8:11

On Monday, October 23, 1989, Carol

8:15

was about two months away from giving birth to

8:17

a baby boy around the holiday

8:19

season, and the stewards were enrolled

8:21

in a birthing class at Brigham and Woman's

8:24

Hospital in Boston. So

8:26

that late October night, they were

8:29

driving in for the evening to attend this class.

8:31

And sometime between 8 and 8.30 p.m.,

8:34

the class concluded, and the couple

8:36

began their 20-minute drive back to Reading.

8:40

Then at 8.35 p.m. that night,

8:42

police received a call from Charles on

8:44

his car telephone. The first

8:47

thing he said was, my wife's

8:49

been shot, I've been shot. The

8:51

dispatcher, Gary McLaughlin, was desperate

8:54

to pin down their location, but Charles

8:56

was fading quickly. When

8:59

asked where he was, Charles said, quote, I

9:01

have no idea. I have no idea. So

9:03

Gary just tried to glean context clues

9:05

from what Charles could see from the car and

9:08

offer anything that would give away his location.

9:11

But at 8.44 p.m., while still

9:14

on the phone with the operator, Charles

9:16

succumbed to the severity of his injury

9:18

and passed out behind the wheel of the

9:21

car, coming to a stop on

9:23

the side of the road. Gary

9:25

pleaded with him over the phone, quote,

9:28

hang on, Chuck, come on with me. You can't blank out,

9:30

man. I need you. Then

9:32

all he could hear was Charles's muffled

9:34

breathing as the phone slipped

9:37

out of his hand. Gary

9:39

was so frustrated that he could be heard

9:41

saying, Chuck, Chuck, pick up the phone and

9:44

then damn. Gary Leader

9:46

remarked, quote, he was very, very

9:48

articulate to the things he could be. In

9:51

my opinion, Mr. Stewart is

9:53

a hero in all of this. Believe

9:55

me, squad cars flooded

9:57

the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. alternating

10:00

their sirens on and off so that Gary could

10:03

communicate with the officers when

10:05

they sounded close or farther away.

10:08

Now using this method, they were

10:10

able to locate the stewards six agonizing

10:12

minutes later. The couple

10:15

were in their car on St. Alphonsa Street

10:17

near the intersection of McGreevey Way and Mission

10:19

Hill, only about three minutes

10:21

away from the hospital that they had just

10:24

left. They

10:26

were rushed to separate hospitals with Carol

10:28

arriving back at Brigham and Women's Hospital

10:30

at 9.12 p.m. Which she had

10:33

just left less than an hour earlier.

10:35

Exactly. So she was admitted

10:37

to an operating room for an emergency

10:40

cesarean section immediately

10:42

upon arrival.

10:43

As Charles was loaded into an ambulance

10:46

to be taken to a separate hospital, he

10:48

was asked who this culprit was.

10:51

With such a horrific crime, the shooting

10:53

of a pregnant woman, police needed

10:55

to get ahead of the media attention and public

10:57

outcry, hoping to catch this person

11:00

quickly. So eager to begin

11:02

their investigation, before they even

11:04

knew if Carol, Charles, or the

11:06

baby were going to make it, police ardently

11:08

took down Charles's description of their attacker.

11:12

Charles recounted an African-American

11:14

man believed to be about 30 years old

11:17

and six feet tall. He

11:19

was said to be clad in a dark colored

11:21

tracksuit and had a raspy voice

11:24

and a beard. Now upon

11:26

arrival at the hospital, Charles was sent

11:28

into emergency surgery that lasted 10

11:30

hours. And by

11:33

the time he was out, his wife

11:35

Carol was gone. After

11:38

too much blood loss, too little oxygen

11:40

to her brain, and a traumatic c-section,

11:43

Carol's body had sustained far too much

11:45

damage, and she was pronounced dead

11:47

at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, October

11:50

24th, 1989. Over 800

11:54

mourners showed up to memorialize 30-year-old

11:57

Carol at her funeral, Although

12:00

Charles was still in critical condition and bound

12:02

to his hospital bed, he wrote a tribute

12:05

to his late wife. His best

12:07

friend Brian, who was actually married to Carol's best

12:09

friend Kimberly, read, quote,

12:12

Good night, sweet wife, my love. God

12:15

has called

12:15

you to his hands,

12:17

not to take you away from me or the happiness

12:19

or gladness you brought me, but to

12:21

bring you away from the cruelty and the violence

12:24

that fills

12:24

this world.

12:26

He said that for us to truly believe,

12:28

we must know that his will was done

12:30

and that there was some right in

12:33

this meanest of acts. In

12:35

our souls, we must forgive this sinner

12:37

because he would too. My

12:39

life will be more empty without you,

12:42

as will the lives of your family and friends.

12:45

You have brought joy and kindness to every

12:47

life you've touched. Now you

12:49

sleep away from me. I will never

12:52

again know the feeling of your hand in mine,

12:54

but I will

12:55

always feel you.

12:56

I miss you and I love you.

13:00

And actually Carol's service was held in the

13:02

same church where she and Charles got married

13:04

just four years earlier. Their

13:07

priest, Father Gallagher, delivered

13:09

the eulogy at Carol's service saying, sadly,

13:11

quote, Many of us were here four short

13:14

years ago to pray for and with

13:16

a very happy young bride and groom. This

13:19

time we come again to pray for

13:21

Carol Stewart's mortal soul. We

13:24

are naturally overwhelmed by human

13:26

emotions, anger, resentment,

13:28

deep sorrow, perhaps revenge. No

13:31

one can do anything to erase the

13:34

nightmare that is happening. Get

13:36

rid of all bitterness, passion, anger,

13:39

malice of every kind and in place of

13:41

that, be kind, compassionate.

13:45

Meanwhile with Carol's friends and family reeled

13:48

from the shock and horror of the sudden loss,

13:51

the Stewart's three pound baby, who they plan

13:53

to name Christopher, was clinging

13:55

to life at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

13:58

Though her family held out

13:59

hope that he would make it, doctors

14:02

sadly couldn't detect any brain activity

14:04

from baby Christopher. So on November

14:07

9th, 1989, after 17 days of fighting, he was finally pronounced dead.

14:15

Police were now faced with a double homicide,

14:17

and growing tension in Boston aims

14:19

towards the Mission Hill neighborhood and specifically

14:22

the African American community,

14:25

because of Charles' description of the man that he

14:27

claimed was behind this. And

14:29

in general, with the crime rising more and

14:32

more, people wanted to get out of

14:34

the city. One of the Stewart's

14:36

neighbors said, quote, I wouldn't go into Boston

14:38

if you gave me $100,000, it's just not safe. But

14:43

sadly, this fear began to manifest itself

14:45

in racial tension.

14:47

Tensions and fear were at an all time

14:50

high, and police were desperate to put

14:52

someone behind bars for the crime, and

14:54

to ease the outrage that was broadcast

14:56

on every news channel and

14:59

written in every newspaper daily

15:01

after the shooting occurred.

15:03

Per police protocol, they looked into Charles'

15:05

involvement as a precaution. However,

15:08

he appeared to be this totally

15:10

upstanding citizen in every single way.

15:13

I mean, he didn't even have so much as a traffic ticket

15:15

on his record. But detectives

15:17

were eager to interview him anyway, but

15:19

his doctor said that he was still too weak in the aftermath

15:22

of the attack and also his surgery.

15:25

So his doctor did say that it was pretty unlikely

15:28

that the gunshot had been self inflicted and

15:30

noted that men are especially unlikely to

15:32

shoot themselves in that area because it has

15:35

the potential to damage or cut off feeling

15:37

to their genitals. And

15:40

it was a very serious injury. So this bullet actually

15:42

cut through his liver, stomach

15:44

and even severed blood vessels to his

15:46

groin. Sheesh. Yeah,

15:49

so it was not looking good. And

15:51

because of this, police focused elsewhere

15:53

and put together the couple's final moments,

15:56

which would hopefully lead them to

15:58

getting the perpetrator off the ground.

15:59

streets.

16:01

Law enforcement started lining

16:03

up what they were able to surmise from Charles'

16:05

memory and what dispatcher Gary

16:08

McLaughlin reported from their 911

16:10

call. And here's how it goes. While

16:14

stopped at a stoplight at the corner of

16:16

Huntington Street and Francis Avenue,

16:18

just one minute away from

16:20

the hospital, a man approached

16:23

the car and jumped in. He

16:25

forced them at gunpoint to drive to

16:27

an undisclosed location where

16:29

Charles offered his watch and their wedding rings,

16:32

but the robber demanded their wallets instead.

16:35

He wound up with their watches,

16:37

Carol's jewelry, including her wedding ring,

16:40

and between $50 and $100 in cash. He

16:44

also took their car keys, but Charles happened

16:46

to have an extra set with him. Charles

16:49

recalled that the man spotted the car phone

16:52

inside their Toyota Cressida and

16:54

exclaimed, quote, I think you're

16:57

5-0, which many of us know is a slang for

16:59

police officers. So after thinking

17:01

they're suddenly police, he shot

17:03

the couple and fled. Charles

17:07

then called state police from his car

17:09

phone and desperately tried

17:11

to explain where they were while he was nearing

17:13

unconsciousness, which as we know, he eventually

17:15

did. For 13 minutes,

17:19

he was slumped in the front seat with

17:21

the call still active

17:23

while Gary directed the ambulance and squad

17:26

cars to the proper location

17:28

based on what he could hear over the open

17:30

phone line.

17:31

The intersection where the

17:33

stewards were found, which was St. Alphonso

17:35

Street near McGreevy Way, like he said, was

17:38

adjacent to a Mission Hill public housing

17:40

development. So police

17:43

believe that the gunman either lived there or

17:45

frequently committed crime in that

17:47

neighborhood. Two .38

17:50

caliber bullets were found at the

17:52

scene. One had been

17:54

lodged in Carol's head and the

17:57

other that Charles said was aimed for his head, but

17:59

he was able to die. Dodge was sent through

18:01

his stomach and lodged into

18:03

the car.

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So after getting this statement from Charles

22:28

police descended upon Mission Hill questioning

22:30

locals and revisiting

22:32

those who had been convicted of crimes there before.

22:35

Now hundreds

22:37

of clip calls flooded in for law enforcement

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residents were just as outraged that the

22:48

crime had happened in their neighborhood the

22:51

first serious suspect that the police zeroed

22:53

in on was Allen Swanson

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a Mission Hill local who had robbed

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someone at gunpoint just three days

22:59

before Carol's murder

23:01

He was also a known drug dealer

23:04

so based on this in his criminal record alone

23:07

police arrived at Allen's house with a search

23:09

warrant and Inside they even found

23:11

a black tracksuit that was soaking in the sink

23:13

that appeared to have blood

23:15

splatters on it

23:17

So obviously police were like elated

23:19

by this thinking that they had their guy So

23:21

they arrested Allen taking that tracksuit

23:24

for further testing but then

23:27

another suspect emerged Like

23:29

Allen Willie Bennett was known

23:32

by police and seemed to prey on vulnerable

23:34

victims Even having robbed a wheelchair

23:37

bound paraplegic, which is fucking

23:39

horrible Yeah, that's obviously like just a

23:41

really shitty thing to do So but we are

23:43

gonna get into that in just a little bit Also

23:46

similar to Allen Willie had just

23:48

committed a robbery shortly before

23:51

Carol's murder So three

23:53

weeks prior to the attack on the stewards Willie

23:56

had robbed a video store at gunpoint

23:58

and was described as having a raspy

24:00

voice, which was a key descriptor

24:03

in Charles' depiction of his robber.

24:06

After Willie came under suspicion, a group

24:09

of Mission Hill residents claimed that not

24:11

only did Willie own a gun whose bullets

24:13

matched those found at the scene, but

24:16

he had been bragging about shooting a white

24:18

family while showing off his gun.

24:21

A local woman claiming to know him also

24:24

came forward to say that she had heard

24:26

Willie explain that the bullet hadn't been meant

24:28

for Carol,

24:29

but that it had been meant for Charles.

24:32

Meanwhile, testing came back

24:34

for Allen's tracksuit, and the substance

24:36

it was stained with was confirmed not

24:39

to be Carol's blood. It's

24:41

kind of weird because they said that

24:44

it wasn't Carol's blood, but I'm just like, What

24:46

is it? Yeah, what is it though? Yeah, I

24:48

don't know. But it was kind of weird, you know, that

24:50

Charles had said there was a guy in a dark tracksuit

24:52

and then they find this guy and then he happens to

24:54

have one and there's a substance on it, but it's not

24:57

connected. So then with that, Allen

25:00

was released. He's not being looked at anymore.

25:03

And Willie found himself at the center

25:05

of the investigation instead.

25:08

But as he was being investigated, a

25:10

furious manhunt continued

25:12

to ensure that they had the correct person staffing

25:15

over 100 extra police officers

25:17

to do patrols of predominantly black

25:20

communities. The

25:22

city counselor for Mission Hill described the

25:24

city in the days after the attack as

25:26

a war zone in which every

25:29

black man was the enemy. Investigators

25:32

focused their efforts on taking Willie down

25:34

for the murders of Carol and Christopher,

25:37

but seeking more evidence, police raided

25:40

the home of Willie's mom, sister

25:42

and girlfriend.

25:44

Willie's niece, who is seven at the time,

25:46

remembers the harrowing ordeal

25:48

perfectly all these years

25:50

later. She explained, quote, 15

25:54

officers marching down the hill. They

25:56

had their big old shields in front of them and all

25:58

of a sudden I hear this noise like, babe. bang

26:00

like they're trying to get inside the building but

26:03

the door was locked. They had like a big

26:05

sledgehammer banging on the door like bang

26:07

bang. Police

26:10

ransacked the apartment and came away

26:12

with nothing and Willie hadn't

26:14

even been home at the time. Willie's

26:17

family said the experience had been terrifying

26:20

for them. His sister Vida

26:22

recalled, quote, I feel trauma

26:24

just as the stewards. I feel real

26:26

bad for Carol. I really do. And

26:28

for that unborn baby. But

26:31

she said the whole family knew without a doubt that

26:33

their brother had nothing to do with the

26:35

murders and that whatever was said about

26:37

him was a complete and utter lie. Willie's

26:41

other sister Diane was shocked

26:43

at his arrest, claiming that it was

26:45

impossible that he could have had anything

26:47

to do with it because she had been with

26:49

him on the night of the attack.

26:52

By her account, she, Willie

26:55

and Vida headed to the convenience store to

26:57

pick up a few things for their mom that night

26:59

and that they had been close enough to the scene of

27:01

the crime to actually hear the gunshots

27:04

ring out with Willie outside in

27:06

the car, not off committing murder. Diane

27:09

remembers that she and her sister even left

27:11

the store and ran to Willie still waiting

27:14

in the parking lot to ask what had

27:16

happened. He said he wasn't sure

27:18

but that he had heard the gunshots too. Now

27:22

obviously we know at this

27:24

time Willie is kind of a piece of

27:26

shit. I mean he's a super piece of shit. But

27:29

did he commit this crime? And this is really

27:31

tough because there is not any physical

27:33

evidence but we have people saying, oh I

27:36

heard him bragging about, you know,

27:38

shooting and robbing this white couple and

27:41

we have him

27:43

also committing other crimes in the past so people

27:45

are looking into that. But again, there's

27:48

just nothing to go on. So it does

27:50

make sense that police are pursuing him at

27:52

all. I mean to be fair, he... At the very

27:54

least questioning him. He's committed violent

27:57

crimes in the past and people are coming forward saying

27:59

that he did this so it

28:01

is good that they're looking into it but it

28:03

seems like they kind of kept pushing

28:06

it when they didn't have anything when

28:08

they probably should have just said okay he

28:10

didn't do it well let's talk about that so

28:13

there was no evidence that he

28:15

was linked to the crime but with no one

28:17

else on the hook for it police were kind of scrambling

28:19

to put someone behind bars so

28:22

in the midst of Willie's arrest and the mounting pressure

28:24

from the community tips and rumors

28:26

continued to trickle in and several

28:29

pointed the finger in an unexpected

28:31

direction or

28:33

a usually expected one or yeah

28:35

if you've listened to the show for a long time it is

28:38

pretty usual but kind of I mean I kind

28:40

of unexpected in this one yeah so

28:42

some suggested that Charles had been

28:45

involved in orchestrating the attack on his

28:47

wife and lied about it being an

28:49

unknown black assailant a

28:52

few tips even reported having seen Charles

28:54

circling that very neighborhood in his

28:57

company's van in the days prior to

28:59

the robbery

29:01

though it seemed unlikely police entertained

29:03

the notion that perhaps Charles

29:05

was living a bubble life and maybe

29:07

he had been seeking drugs from Willie who

29:10

was known to deal drugs in the past now

29:12

it was possible that he had kept his habit

29:14

concealed from his family and possibly even

29:16

his wife and that the shooting had been

29:19

retaliatory like some sort of penance

29:21

for his debts

29:22

but they couldn't find any link between

29:25

Willie and Charles prior to the attack

29:27

on October 23rd now there

29:30

was also a rumor that Charles

29:32

had been looking into hiring a hitman

29:34

for his wife

29:35

and actually one co-worker of Carol's at

29:37

the publishing firm noted that while the

29:40

theory seemed a little bit outlandish he

29:42

did remember Carol mentioning that Charles

29:44

seemed less enthusiastic about

29:47

having a baby

29:48

she had been so thrilled at the prospect

29:50

of becoming a parent that she had mentioned

29:52

potentially leaving her job to become a full-time

29:55

mom

29:56

and he remembered that Charles was

29:58

not very happy about this plan.

30:01

Now Charles, who was finally out of

30:03

the hospital by the time this was coming out, was

30:06

now able to assist in the investigation.

30:08

And interestingly, police placed Willie

30:10

in a lineup among similar suspects,

30:13

and Charles plucked Willie from among

30:15

the others. Which is kind of interesting,

30:18

but still there was no physical

30:20

evidence against Willie, so this

30:22

seemed to make up the minds of police.

30:25

But unbeknownst to him, Charles was

30:27

still on

30:28

the radar.

30:30

Fresh out of the hospital, Charles had

30:32

already cashed out his life insurance policy

30:35

on Carol, because just a few

30:37

weeks before Carol's debt, weeks,

30:40

Charles had taken out

30:43

a $100,000 American Express life insurance policy

30:45

on her. He was also the

30:47

beneficiary of an $82,000 policy

30:50

provided by her work, and another $100,000

30:54

policy with Travelers Insurance

30:56

Company. The Boston

30:58

Globe later reported that Charles was also

31:00

set to receive a payout of $480,000 from

31:03

yet another insurance policy that he had opened, this time

31:08

with Prudential Insurance Company, but

31:10

Prudential later denied this claim. But

31:12

either way, he made hundreds of thousands

31:15

of dollars off her death, and multiple

31:17

sources close to Charles claim

31:19

that he was planning to open a restaurant

31:21

with the money that he received from the

31:24

payments. But for the time

31:26

being, the first thing he did was

31:28

purchase a brand new car, which just

31:30

feels like kind of weird. Sounds kind of weird.

31:33

And so and you know, we're not the only ones to

31:35

think that police thought that was really freaking weird

31:37

too. So you know, especially I mean,

31:39

he just lost his wife and child and he

31:42

cashes out on her insurance policy right when he

31:44

gets out of the hospital, and then buys a brand new

31:46

car.

31:47

So police took note of these developments.

31:50

And then an explosive

31:52

piece of evidence that would upend the entire

31:55

investigation came from an unlikely

31:58

source.

31:59

Charles' own brother Matthew.

32:03

Charles was one of six from a large tight-knit

32:06

Boston Catholic family and

32:08

they had supported him and been at his side this

32:10

whole time as well as Carol's and Christopher's

32:13

from the beginning. But weeks

32:15

later around the holidays, one

32:18

sibling who had been harboring a deep

32:20

secret began to crack

32:22

under the pressure. Matthew

32:25

who was the youngest of six came to

32:27

his siblings to tell them that he knew what

32:29

really happened that night and

32:32

that it had nothing to do with Willie Bennett.

32:35

By Matthew's account, Charles

32:37

had come to him earlier that year

32:39

and asked if he wanted to get involved

32:42

in an insurance scam if Charles

32:44

were to offer him a cut of it which would have

32:46

been $10,000. So

32:49

Matthew actually agreed to this and Charles

32:51

later instructed him to meet him downtown

32:54

and take a few items from him discarded

32:57

in a bag. Do

32:59

you guys feel swindled because the first time

33:01

I read this shit I felt extremely

33:03

swindled. So they met on the

33:05

evening of October 23rd, the

33:08

night of Carol and Christopher's murders,

33:11

and Matthew greeted him in the driver's seat, taking

33:13

the bag from him and then returning to his

33:15

hometown of Revere in the suburbs

33:18

where they had all grown up.

33:20

Now at the time Matthew recalled seeing a large

33:22

package in the front seat which

33:24

he later realized to his horror

33:27

was Carol

33:28

rapidly losing her chance at survival.

33:32

He didn't realize that was her body originally?

33:35

Yeah, I mean he obviously

33:37

knew. And then so this would have happened before

33:40

Charles shot himself. Exactly,

33:42

yeah. So when he returned to

33:44

Revere, his sister Shelley informed him

33:46

of what had happened, telling him that Carol

33:49

had been rushed to the hospital and was fighting

33:51

for her life, and thus Charles

33:53

siblings all headed into the city to

33:55

be by her side. Now when

33:57

Matthew later opened the bag that Charles

33:59

had given him.

34:01

He found a handgun and Carol's

34:03

jewelry including her wedding ring.

34:07

So panicked, Matthew discarded the items in

34:09

a nearby body of water and tried

34:11

to put it out of his head. But

34:13

he held on to Carol's wedding ring just

34:16

in case. It's just really sad. I mean

34:18

I understand this is his brother and maybe obviously

34:20

has that loyalty to his brother, but you

34:23

just find out that your sister-in-law and

34:25

your new nephew

34:28

baby who has not been born yet are dying

34:30

in a hospital after

34:32

being shot and you

34:35

realize that your brother did

34:37

it and you have the evidence

34:39

to prove it and you throw it away in

34:41

a body of water instead of just holding

34:43

on a second and keeping it? Well I

34:46

mean just the fact the audacity

34:48

of Charles to put his

34:51

family in this position in the first place,

34:53

Carol's family through this heartbreak

34:56

and Willie's family through all this shit,

34:58

I mean the guy is just a fucking asshole.

35:01

I mean I guess it's hard to really understand because

35:04

you know in some cases it feels like people

35:07

would really do anything for their family

35:09

even if it was something this big but obviously

35:11

his brother Matthew is very

35:14

very conflicted over what to do here.

35:16

But that's why I'm like I can't believe he got rid

35:18

of it but then it's like I'm gonna keep the wedding

35:20

ring just in case but not keep

35:23

the rest of it when you got rid of it after

35:25

finding out

35:26

what it was related

35:27

to. But then also Charles

35:30

needed somebody to make this whole

35:33

robbery thing look real and

35:35

the only way that was gonna happen is if somebody took

35:37

their jewelry and their watches and their wallets

35:40

away from the scene and that

35:42

was only gonna be somebody that he knew. Right.

35:44

But then obviously that backfired too. Well

35:46

here's the thing so for the coming months Matthew

35:49

was really haunted by the secret that

35:51

he was keeping. Just totally racked

35:53

with all this guilt so he eventually

35:55

brought the issue to his siblings and then

35:58

his parents and this

35:59

Then, the police. So at

36:02

the end of all of this, even though it was months later,

36:04

he did come forward. Which

36:06

is amazing, especially because he's an accomplice

36:09

now. So the fact that he's putting

36:11

that to the side and saying, I may get

36:13

in trouble, but this is the right thing to do, is really

36:16

great. Yeah. So he told them his

36:18

story and showed them the ring, and they finally

36:21

knew what really happened.

36:24

So on January 3rd, 1990, just

36:27

a few days after Christopher was set

36:29

to be born,

36:30

police set out after Charles,

36:32

but

36:33

he was nowhere to be found.

36:36

Then early the next morning, a report

36:39

from a maintenance worker for the Mystic River Bridge

36:41

in Massachusetts came in about

36:44

an abandoned vehicle, which turned

36:46

out to be Charles's. So

36:48

when they arrived, there was obviously no

36:50

sign of him, but inside the car was

36:53

a suicide note.

36:55

He wrote that he couldn't handle the consequences

36:57

of his actions and that he loved his family.

37:00

And then later, his body was pulled

37:03

from the Tobin River nearby. And

37:05

we don't have the exact note, but obviously

37:07

we can all surmise that

37:09

his actions equal him

37:11

murdering his wife and his unborn baby. Right.

37:15

So based on where Matthew said he had dumped the items

37:17

that Charles had given him, police were able

37:19

to find the gun that he had used, which

37:22

had coincidentally been stolen from caucus

37:24

furs. And it had the exact

37:26

amount of spent casings that he'd used

37:28

on himself and also on Carol.

37:32

So with this shocking revelation, the case

37:34

was now closed. And

37:36

this just must have been so hard for anybody to

37:39

wrap their heads around. Like just a couple months

37:41

earlier, this happy, like reportedly

37:43

wonderful couple was about to start

37:45

a family. And then within a couple

37:47

months, they're all dead at the hands

37:50

of the same person, you know,

37:52

Charles. So it's just crazy

37:54

how that all unfolded

37:57

that at the end of it, Charles

37:57

was

37:58

dead anyway, he couldn't

38:01

handle what he had done. So it's like, why did

38:03

he do that? It just seems very pointless.

38:06

And he left so much destruction.

38:08

And like I said, heartache and his wake,

38:11

it just, it really is so senseless.

38:14

And it usually, I think a lot of times in this

38:16

case, you know, maybe there's another person

38:19

out there. And we didn't read anything

38:21

about him seeing another woman

38:23

at this time. Like, it's not like he was trying to start

38:25

a new life necessarily.

38:26

It really just seemed like he wanted that

38:29

money, you know? Right. But it's like, okay,

38:31

so you got a few hundred thousand dollars. And

38:33

how is that, how is that

38:35

worth murdering your wife and your unborn

38:37

child? Like, maybe

38:38

he didn't want a family that soon.

38:40

Maybe he didn't want a family at all.

38:42

And,

38:43

and

38:44

as the due date was nearing,

38:46

he felt like that was what he had to do.

38:48

And then once he did it, he realized that was not

38:51

the thing to do. It's just, it's insane.

38:53

Well, the ego of people like this truly

38:56

believe that they're not going to get caught.

38:59

And I think once he knew that the police

39:01

were on to him, like, I don't believe

39:03

that Charles just had this epiphany of,

39:06

oh, I did a bad thing. I need to take myself

39:08

out as well. I think he knew like, hey,

39:10

I'm going to go to prison for the rest of my life.

39:12

That's why I'm going to take myself out. Totally.

39:15

So Matthew Stewart pleaded guilty

39:17

to conspiracy for his role in

39:19

concealing Charles' murders. And

39:22

he was sentenced to three to five years in prison

39:24

for this crime, of which he served

39:26

three. And he was actually never

39:29

able to recover from this entire situation

39:32

and spent the next decade of his life

39:34

in and out of prison on drug

39:37

and theft charges. And then in 2011, he died

39:39

of a

39:41

drug overdose in a homeless shelter. So

39:44

this, I mean, this whole

39:46

thing ruined, it just ruined the

39:48

entire family on both sides. So

39:51

his family has declined to talk about

39:53

his demise, but Carol's family

39:56

issued

39:56

a statement to the media that read, quote,

39:58

our condolences go out.

39:59

to the family of Matthew

40:01

Stewart.

40:02

Willie spoke out after his release

40:05

explaining that he felt that he had been set up

40:07

and that both he and his family's lives were

40:09

ruined by the unwelcome attention

40:12

that they received

40:12

due to these totally

40:14

false accusations. Willie

40:17

later said, quote, they were coming

40:19

for me anyway because of my past.

40:22

I was a wild one. I know

40:24

I didn't do it. They know I didn't

40:26

do it. It's just that I had a reputation

40:28

in the projects and everything that happened in

40:31

mission, they were considering it

40:33

was me. I'm a strong person.

40:35

I've been through a whole lot. I've been

40:37

in prison half of my life. I'm

40:40

not doing any more of that silly shit that

40:42

I used to. I can't forget

40:44

regardless of how much time I can't

40:47

forget. And hopefully that is true

40:50

that you're

40:52

on a good path, Willie. Absolutely. So

40:55

Willie served 12 years in prison for

40:57

the armed robbery of the video store that he

40:59

committed on October 2nd, 1989, exactly three weeks

41:01

before Charles

41:04

killed his wife and his unborn

41:06

son.

41:08

Willie also said that he believes Charles is

41:10

a monster and added, quote, I

41:12

ain't got nothing to say about that man. He

41:14

did what he did. And now he's gone. I'll

41:17

see him in hell if there is a hell.

41:20

However, some investigators still doubt

41:22

Charles's involvement, which

41:24

honestly blows my fucking mind,

41:26

claiming that he couldn't or wouldn't have shot

41:28

himself in that manner and still believe

41:31

that Willie or someone else was

41:33

involved, which would then mean

41:35

that Matthew lied and went to prison

41:37

for three years for no reason. And then

41:39

there's just no way. It's just it

41:41

doesn't line up for me. I mean, even

41:44

Charles's family accepted the outcome

41:46

of the horrific sequence of events and

41:48

were honest about the fact that their brother was

41:50

involved. Charles's brother

41:52

Mark even called him sick

41:54

and described his actions as unconscionable

41:57

and unforgivable. The murder of

41:59

are still one of the most notorious and controversial

42:02

in Boston's history, and became

42:04

the subject of a book called Murder in

42:07

Boston, as well as a movie entitled

42:09

Good Night, Sweet Wife,

42:11

whose title borrowed prose from the letter

42:14

that Charles wrote to his late wife for her funeral.

42:17

In her memory, Carol's parents, Evelyn

42:20

and Giusto, unveiled a scholarship

42:22

for struggling students living in the Mission Hill

42:24

neighborhood, and within its first week,

42:27

it received over $100,000 in donations.

42:49

Again,

43:00

for dealing with my

43:02

sickness and the delay and the no

43:04

episode on Tuesday, but we will be coming

43:07

out with normal episodes

43:07

next week despite the Thanksgiving holiday. So

43:13

we can be with you on Thanksgiving

43:14

if you are going to be by yourself

43:16

that day. Yeah, that's a great time

43:19

to listen to a true crime story. Yeah,

43:22

we're gonna have some really interesting, actually

43:24

one story in particular that we're gonna

43:26

tell. I don't know if I want to do it on Tuesday

43:28

or Friday. Oh, actually

43:31

both. Tuesday and Friday are gonna

43:33

be freaking nuts. Yeah,

43:35

so please, please tune in. Also,

43:38

I wanted to make one quick announcement

43:40

right before we head out today. I

43:43

just released some music. It's under the name

43:46

Ghostly. You can find me on Instagram

43:48

at ghostly.la. I

43:50

just put out a video for it. I'm really, really excited.

43:52

I'm very, very passionate

43:55

about this project. So please go check it out. If you

43:57

have time, it would mean the world to me. And

43:59

that's all I'm gonna say.

43:59

about that. It's a song called numb. It's really

44:02

good. It's on Apple music and

44:04

Spotify

44:04

and everywhere else and you can just go listen

44:06

to it. It's really, really good. And we

44:08

should also support our favorite host. Thanks

44:10

so much. Alright guys, so for everybody

44:13

out there in the world, help me a stranger.