A guy from the Boston area has been taken into custody by authorities in Massachusetts in connection with a murder-for-hire plan that was behind the killing of an Army soldier in 1992, according to officials who made the announcement on Monday.
In a statement released on Monday, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow announced that Edward J. Watson, 65, of Mattapan, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Michelle Miller, 29. Miller was last seen in Cambridge during the summer of 1992.
Watson, who was ordered to remain in custody without the possibility of release, entered a plea of not guilty during his hearing on Monday.
Watson allegedly carried out the murder of Miller at the direction of Miller’s abusive partner, Daniel J. Innis, according to the authorities.
An unrelated manslaughter accusation was brought against Innis in 1994, and he was sentenced to between 15 and 20 years in jail for the crime. Innis passed away in 2012.
According to the District Attorney, Miller was a mother of two children, and Innis had already threatened to take custody of her children.
According to Ryan, she vanished on July 28, 1992, 24 hours after she disclosed to a social worker that she intended to seek a restraining order against Innis.
After a neighbor complained about a terrible odor, she was discovered dead in the basement of an apartment that was vacant, according to the accusations made by the prosecution.
“Her body was found two weeks later, partially naked, with her face covered by a blanket, in the filthy basement of an abandoned building in the Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge,” Ryan stated. “For more than 30 years this case had gone unsolved.”
In order to unearth information concerning the abuse that Miller was subjected to and how she attempted to protect herself right before she vanished, the Cold Case Unit, according to Ryan, relied on archival data from the Department of Social Services.
“Our investigation identified Edward J. Watson, an associate of Daniel Innis, as the man who carried out the killing at Innis’ request,” Ryan stated.
The authorities did not provide any specifics in their statement regarding the evidence that connected Watson to Miller’s passing.
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As per the court records, a hearing to determine probable cause is scheduled to take place on February 11th.
The District Attorney visited Miller’s two adult children and informed them that it appeared as though their father was the one who was responsible for the murder.
“It was very bittersweet information,” Ryan stated. “On the one hand realizing that police had never given up in the search for what happened to their mother but then learning that the person who was their biological father is alleged to have been the person who set that in motion.”