Charles Stuart

On October 23, 1989, Charles "Chuck" Stuart murdered his pregnant wife, Carol. The case generated national headlines. Stuart falsely alleged that Carol had been shot and killed by an African-American assailant. Stuart's brother confessed to police that Stuart killed his wife to collect life insurance and Stuart subsequently died by suicide. Murders In 1989, Charles Stuart was serving as the general manager for Edward F. Kakas & Sons, furriers on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. His wife, Carol (née DiMaiti), was a tax attorney and pregnant with the couple's first child. On October 23, the couple was driving through the Roxbury neighborhood after attending childbirth classes at Brigham and Women's Hospital. According to Stuart's subsequent statement, an African-American gunman with a raspy voice forced his way into their car at a stoplight, ordered them to drive to nearby Mission Hill, robbed them, then shot Charles in the stomach and Carol in the head. Stuart then drove away and called 9-1-1 on his car phone. On the night of the murder, the CBS reality television series Rescue 911 was riding with Boston Emergency Medical Services personnel. The crew took dramatic footage of the couple being extricated from the car: Carol can be seen "in profile, her pregnancy prominent, being wheeled to the ambulance." Other footage included Stuart straining to speak with ambulance workers, and graphic scenes of his rushed entry to the hospital's emergency room. Carol died just hours after the shooting, at approximately 3:00 a.m. on October 24. Her funeral took place four days later at St. James Church in her hometown of Medford, Massachusetts. Shortly before her death, doctors delivered her baby by caesarean section, two months premature. Baptized in the intensive care unit, the child was given the name Christopher, according to Charles and Carol's prior wishes. Christopher had suffered trauma and oxygen deprivation during the shooting and died seventeen days later. Both deaths were ruled homicides. A private funeral service was held for Christopher on November 20, 1989. Both Carol and Christopher are buried under Carol's maiden name.