Rebecca Jeanne Riley (April 11, 2002 – December 13, 2006) was a four-year-old girl from Massachusetts. In December 2006, Riley's parents gave Riley—who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and pediatric bipolar disorder between two and three years old—a lethal dose of clonidine. Her death sparked significant controversy over diagnosis of psychiatric conditions and subsequent prescription of psychotropic medication in children.
Carol Ann Stuart (née DiMaiti; born March 26, 1959) was murdered on October 23, 1989, by her husband, Charles Michael "Chuck" Stuart Jr. (December 18, 1959 – January 4, 1990). Both persons were white. Charles Stuart claimed that a black man had carjacked their car in Boston and shot both his pregnant wife and himself.
His statement to police set off a months-long manhunt by the Boston Police Department for a purported black assailant. Police actions, with widespread stop and frisk of African-American residents in Mission Hill, was supported by the Suffolk County District Attorney. The hunt lasted until Charles' younger brother, Matthew, confessed that Carol was killed by Charles to collect her life insurance payout. Soon afterward Charles committed suicide.The shooting occurred in Boston's predominantly black Mission Hill neighborhood. It generated intense and sustained media attention both nationally and in Boston as an alleged example of black on white crime. During this period Suffolk County District Attorney Newman A. Flanagan lobbied the state legislature to pass a revised law to reinstitute the death penalty.Police arrested William "Willie" Bennett, a 39-year-old black man from Roxbury, on unrelated charges, but soon the investigation centered on Bennett. The media reported as though his guilt was certain.