Murder in Boston Podcast

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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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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1989 Boston. The crack epidemic is raging, the murder rate soaring, and white flight has taken hold. Charles Stuart and his pregnant wife, Carol, are carjacked, drawn deep into a dangerous “inner city” neighborhood, and allegedly shot by a Black man. All of Boston – and the nation – is gripped by the hunt for the suspect. What follows will reveal truths about the city... and ourselves.

Presented by The Boston Globe and HBO Documentary Films, Murder in Boston: The Untold Story of the Charles and Carol Stuart Shooting is hosted by Adrian Walker who, along with a team of Pulitzer-winning investigative reporters, unveils explosive new findings and change the narrative of a story long cemented in the city’s lore.

The HBO Documentary Series Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning is available to stream on Max starting December 4.

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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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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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