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- NATION, Page 27American NotesCRIMEFraternal Aid
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- Brotherly love can make a man do strange things. On the
- night of Oct. 23, 1989, Matthew Stuart pulled his car alongside
- a blue Toyota parked in a predominantly black Boston
- neighborhood. The driver of the Toyota, Matthew's brother
- Charles, handed him a purse through the window. Accompanied by
- his friend John McMahon, Matthew ditched the purse in the Pines
- River. It contained the engagement ring of Carol Stuart -- as
- well as the .38 revolver that Charles had just used to kill his
- pregnant wife and then wound himself.
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- The murder transfixed the nation and aggravated Boston's
- racial tensions after Charles Stuart, posing as a mugging
- victim, called police from his car phone and sent them on a
- manhunt that led to the arrest of a black suspect. Ten weeks
- later, Matthew came forward and told authorities he had helped
- dispose of the purse. Next day, Charles committed suicide after
- reportedly telling his lawyer that he had murdered his wife to
- get her life insurance. Last week a grand jury indicted Matthew
- and his accomplice McMahon on nine counts ranging from
- compounding a felony to unlawfully carrying a firearm. McMahon
- was also charged with accessory to murder after the fact -- a
- charge from which Matthew, as the killer's brother, is exempt
- under Massachusetts law.
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