The 1989 murder of Carol Stuart in Boston was a high-profile crime that captivated national attention and exposed deep racial and social tensions in the city. Carol Stuart, a pregnant white woman, was shot and killed on October 23, 1989, as she and her husband, Charles Stuart, drove through the Mission Hill neighborhood after attending a childbirth class. Charles claimed that an African American man had carjacked them, shot Carol in the head, and wounded him in the stomach. His account triggered a massive police investigation, during which Black men in the area were aggressively stopped and questioned. The case stoked racial divisions and sparked outrage among Boston's Black community.

The investigation took a dramatic turn when police arrested a young Black man, Willie Bennett, based on Charles Stuart's identification of him as the assail ...