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28 years later, falsely accused Willie Bennett speaks out about Carol DiMaiti Stuart murder

The man once considered the prime suspect in one of the city’s most notorious killings has spoken out on the case nearly three decades later.

Willie Bennett granted a rare interview to WBZ-TV that aired on the 28th anniversary of Carol DiMaiti Stuart’s killing in Mission Hill.

Bennett was identified by Stuart’s husband, Charles, as the killer, and he was arrested days after the killing. He remained in jail for two months, until Charles Stuart’s story unraveled. Police later said Stuart shot and killed his pregnant wife before shooting himself in the stomach.

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Stuart committed suicide in January 1990, jumping off the Tobin Bridge.

Willie Bennett appeared in Brookline District Court in November 1989, after he was taken into custody.Yunghi Kim/Globe Staff

The case roiled racial tensions in the city. Stuart had described the shooter as a 6-foot-tall black man, leading to a tense search of the housing project near the scene.

Bennett, 67, walked with a limp and wore sunglasses during the interview. He did not mention Stuart by name.

“I ain’t got nothing to say about that man,” Bennett said. “He did what he did and that’s it; now he’s gone.

“I’ll see him in hell, if there’s a hell.”

Bennett said he was targeted in the case because “I was a wild one. I was wild, I didn’t give a damn.”

Added Bennett: “I had like a reputation in the projects and everything that happened in Mission [Hill], they were considering whether it was me.”


Sean Smyth can be reached at sean.smyth@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @smythsays.