Before we begin, this episode contains some offensive language and descriptions of violence.

It may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Yesterday, several members of the Stewart family sat in a crowded Revere apartment,

looked at one another through red-rimmed eyes, and tried to make sense of the past 24 hours,

but they could not.

You know, I see this kind of thing all the time in my work, said Mike Stewart, a revered firefighter and the brother of the infant's father, Charles, Chuck Stewart, but this doesn't happen to us, not to us.

But it did.

These words, this story ran on the front page of the Boston Globe two days after Carol Stewart's

murder on October 25, 1989. This was before Chuck jumped to his death, before the Stuart

family's charade was exposed. Over in Revere, where Chuck's brothers and his friends gathered,

a moment of silence hung heavy late in the afternoon.

We are numb from it, Mark Stewart whispered hoarsely, numb.

Sally Jacobs wrote this article. She was a general assignment reported with the Globe.

At the time, her story was a coup.

Sally had managed to get inside the Stewart's home just hours after the shooting.

Today, she can still see that room, still remembers the image of the grief-stricken family,

including Chuck's brother, Matthew.

All I remember is that couch. I remember them sitting on the couch. I remember one of them

sitting on the side, and there one of them sitting on the side,

and there were several of them in the middle and one standing. I remember them being just

profoundly upset. I felt like they were genuinely just shattered. Sally's story was just one of

many media pieces that portrayed Chuck and his family as sympathetic victims.

...