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Those may have been his last words. He never went back to the store. Sometime after his wake-up call, he left the hotel, drove ten miles to the Tobin Bridge in his new Nissan Maxima and jumped. When police fished him out of the water, he was dressed in blue jeans and a parka, suggesting that he may have picked up a change of clothes after leaving the convenience store. Stuart left a brief note on the passenger seat of his car that said, "I love my family . . . the last four months have been real hell . . . all the allegations have taken all my strength." Later, police searching his hotel room found an ashtray filled with change, the uncalled list of defense attorneys and one of the colostomy bags Stuart was forced to wear after his surgery.
Leaping from the bridge was the end for Charles Stuart, but it was just the beginning of the soul searching, self-recriminations and finger pointing by the police and the press. Outraged blacks, many of whom had swallowed Stuart's story as readily as had their white counterparts, let loose a torrent of protest at police mishandling of the case. They were also outraged by the saturation coverage the crime had received, which to them seemed to indict the whole black community.
Mayor Flynn visited Bennett's mother to apologize for the suspicions that had been focused on her son. Flynn devoted half of his 22-minute State of the City address last week to what he called "a giant fraud on this city." Said he: "It turned out that we were all victims of a sinister hoax . . . especially the residents of the good Mission Hill community."
Matthew Stuart may be the only hope of finding out what actually happened that night. Even after his meeting with police, his exact role is far from clear. He has not been arrested, perhaps because of a Massachusetts statute that immunizes blood relatives from prosecution as accessories after -- though not before -- the fact.
Matthew has reportedly told police he expected to receive $10,000 for helping his brother in a vague insurance scam. After a dry run the night before the murder, Matthew showed up at the designated rendezvous point. He took Carol Stuart's Gucci bag from Charles. It contained her wallet, makeup and engagement ring as well as the gun. Matthew then went to the home of his best friend, John McMahon, who traveled with him to a railroad bridge in Revere. After removing Carol's engagement ring from the purse, Matthew flung the bag into the river. Then McMahon, at Matthew's bidding, heaved the pistol 25 ft. away from the bridge into the muddy Pines River. That part of Matthew's story proved true. Police divers recovered the bag at the location Matthew, and then McMahon, described. Six days later, divers found a nickel-plated, snub-nosed .38 revolver whose registration number matched that of a pistol missing from the safe at Kakas & Sons furriers, where Charles worked.