It's one of the most shocking true crime stories to come out of Boston, Massachusetts: in October 1989, an expecting young couple, Charles and Carol Stuart, were carjacked, robbed and shot in the Mission Hill neighborhood while on their way home from a childbirth class.
Tragically, Carol as well as their unborn child succumbed to their injuries in the attack; Charles survived, later detailing to law enforcement a description of their assailant—a raspy-voiced Black man wearing a tracksuit—that would stoke racial tensions and widespread panic throughout the city of Boston for months on end. (The Boston Police Department reportedly were performing 150 stop-and-frisks to Black male Bostonians as a result of the case.) However, when a surprise witness from the Stuart family came forward with new information, both that suspect description and the case itself imploded.
