THE

JULY 2016

STURBRIDGETIMES
THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

MAGAZINE

MUSINGS FROM LONG HILL

MURDER MOST FOWL

BY RICHARD MORCHOE

LEGAL
BRIEF

ROBERT A. GEORGE, ESQ.

STURBRIDGE ATTORNEY

O NT H LY
F O R

H E

LEGA

REA D ERS

T URB RID GE

DVIC E

O F

IM ES

AGA Z INE

THE VALOR ACT

Judges often give a break to veterans charged
with a crime. Now the Legislature has as well.
The Valor Act allows judges to divert certain
veterans out of the criminal justice system and
into treatment.
Its designed to help veterans who break the
law not because theyre criminals, but because
they are struggling with emotional issues that
stem from their service. A vet whose post-traumatic stress disorder causes a violent outburst
should have the opportunity to get treatment
rather than jail.
Only veterans who have never been convicted
of a crime are eligible. It only applies to veterans
who cases are in district court, where less serious
crimes are prosecuted. If eligible, veterans can be
diverted out of the court system and into a treatment program that has reviewed the vets case
and determined that treatment will help the veteran.
Veterans who think they are eligible should
talk to a probation officer, who can make a recommendation to the judge. Sometimes, though
not often, a judge will move a case out of the
court system before formal charges are filed, saving the veteran from ever having the charge appear on his criminal record.
While the law does not require prosecutors to
agree with the diversion, many judges want to
hear what the prosecutor thinks before making a
ruling.
Like judges however, and now the Legislature
too, many prosecutors are willing to give vets
some consideration in exchange for their service
and sacrifice.
20 THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

Tobin Bridge.
It was nearly 27
There would be no end of
years ago when a horrirecriminations.
Innocent
ble murder rocked
Willie
Bennet
was
released
Boston and everybody
and the authorities were pilgot it wrong. A devoted
loried
for the rush to judgecouple were driving
ment.
home from childbirth
I was one of the multitude
classes at a Boston hoswho wrongly bought into the
pital when they were
scam.
I like to think I am no
carjacked at a stop light.
naif, but there was one big
The husband was shot
extenuating
circumstance
in the stomach and the
that convinced me a crime
pregnant wife's skull
had
been committed.
was pierced by a bullet.
During wartime, it is not
The
husband,
unknown
for someone to
Charles Stuart would
fear being killed in combat,
recover. His wife, Carol
Charles and Carol DiMaitti Stuart
and
shoot themselves such
DiMaiti Stuart would
that they are not badly hurt but are unfit for
die at the hospital and the baby would perish
action.
Such an injury is known as the mil17 days later.
lion dollar wound. Had Mr. Stuart
Following Charles' description, Willie Benpointed
a gun at his leg and pulled the trignet, a local black man was arrested.
ger, one likes to think we would have been a
It was a heartbreaking story. A prosperous
bit
more skeptical.
hard working couple suffering tragedy as the
Stuart did not do that. Putting a bullet
perfect life evaporated. No one could help but
in
one's
stomach is a dangerous thing to do,
feel for the surviving husband.
even if one had studied anatomy. In the anThen it fell apart.
nals
of self-inflicted wounds to avoid comCharles' brother Matthew went to the pobat or anything else, it is doubtful anyone
lice and admitted his part as accomplice in his
has
tried it. The man threw the police and
brother's murder of Carol. Before he could
ADJACENT PAGE >
be arrested, the murderer jumped off the

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FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

the public off the track. What else could

they've missed?
Or, be missing...now?
Over the past thirteen years 11 men in
Boston have gone missing and ended up found
dead in water. The police and regular media
have not noticed anything untoward, but someone has.
Blogger Elise Soper is the first person to see
a pattern.
Elise is a young woman of wide ranging interests and is curious about much. In fact, she
refers to her blog, CryptidAntiquarian, as a
cabinet of curiosities. She is inquisitive where
the authorities and the Fourth Estate see nothing.
Ms. Soper stumbled on a Reddit post and it
led to learning about the work of a David
Paulides. He was onto pattern recognition in
cases of people who after disappearing are
found dead in national parks. Her interest in
what he wrote led to her being more aware of
such cases.
Like the detective she was becoming, she noticed something in November of 2015,
After my obsession with unexplained missing persons cases was sparked by David
Paulides (as chronicled in my last post) I
couldnt help but begin to notice them more,
and then Dennis Njoroge went missing. I saw

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

flyers posted all around Boston, his eyes following me daily, and my heart fell. I had a
bad feeling in my gut as I began to connect
him to other cases. I remember telling friends
gravely that if the precedent was correct, he
would be found dead in the Charles River.
Sure enough, the young man was found in
the river. The police suspected nothing untoward and made little information public.
Elise intimated she had made an effort to pry
some loose.
She built the list of 11 and posted the pertinent information about the men and the circumstances, as far as is known.
The latest one was this past February. You
probably heard about it as it was much in the
news. Zachary Marr was celebrating his
22nd birthday with relatives at the Bell in
Hand, the country's oldest tavern in the Government Center area of downtown Boston.
It was during our warm winter this year on a
Saturday evening. The district is usually
lively on a weekend.
Around 1:30 a.m. Zachary went outside
for a cigarette. He sent a snapchat to his
cousin to tell her they would not let him back
in. She agreed to come to him, but he was
gone when the cousin came out with the others. The bouncer says Marr did not try to
come back in and CCTV does not record an
attempt. About a month later, he was noticed

in the water by the Museum of Science. To

quote Elise, Why he left the Bell in Hand
and walked a mile to the Charles is unknown.
Elise also has a map with where the victims were last seen alive and where they were
found. It is all more than curious and one has
to wonder about the blithe attitude of the
constabulary. Ms. Soper does.
I have known BPD detectives and one was
a relative. Yes, a police officer is a government worker with all that entails good or bad.
My acquaintances have not lacked for subtlety. One should hope, forlorn as that may
be, their lack of interest is feigned and they
are playing close to the vest to protect the investigation.
Despite little help from the authorities,
Elise Soper has done an excellent bit of
sleuthing. In fact, it is even bigger than
Boston. I am going to pay attention to CryptidAntiquarian going forward.
I've never been a Doors fan, but a line
from what is probably their most known song,
Riders on the Storm popped into my mind
as I read about the case, There's a killer on
the road, His brain is squirming like a toad.
Whoever or whatever is out their may not be
on the road, but this is hauntingly disturbing.

THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE 21