‘Murder in Boston’ documentary sheds light on the Charles Stuart case that set city aflame

“My wife’s been shot. I’ve been shot," Charles Stuart in a 911 call one October night in 1989.

Soon, Stuart's story of the night became national news: Charles claimed a Black man from Mission Hill had shot and killed his pregnant wife, Carol, and left Charles for dead after a robbery. The ensuing manhunt for Carol's killer put Boston's Black community in public's and the police's crosshairs.

Meanwhile, Stuart's family and friends quietly knew there was an even more likely suspect in Carol's murder: Charles himself.

The unraveling of the case and the fallout within the city is the subject of HBO's new documentary “Murder in Boston: Rage, Rampage and Reckoning.”

Adrian Walker of the Boston Globe, which partnered with HBO on the documentary and has an accompanying podcast and written stories about the case, and Boston historian and journalist Dart Adams joined the show to reflect.