Charles Stuart Redux

Published Apr 15 2008, 05:00 PM by David S. Bernstein

It was almost impossible not to think of Carol Stuart when reading about the Sunday murder in New York of 18-year-old Chelsea Frazier of Southbridge. Now, with the arrest of her boyfriend Carlos Cruz and his cousin Devon Miller, the comparisons are inevitable.

Carol Stuart was infamously murdered by her husband Charles in Mission Hill almost 20 years ago. Both Frazier and Stuart were found shot in the passenger seat of a car in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Stuart was pregnant at the time; Frazier's year-old son was in the back seat. Charles Stuart was shot in the stomach; Frazier's boyfriend, Carlos Cruz, was shot in the leg. Both men told police that a random attacker had committed the act.

The main difference was that in Frazier's case, an assailant was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, those witnesses apparently told police that "Cruz shouted that [Miller] had forgotten to shoot him, at which point the gunman shot Cruz."