Man arrested in alleged murder-for-hire plot, 32 years after former U.S. Army soldier's death
CAMBRIDGE - An alleged murder-for-hire plot has been uncovered more than three decades after Michelle Miller, a former U.S. Army soldier and mother, was found dead in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Edward Watson charged in alleged murder-for-hire plot
Police arrested 65-year-old Edward Watson in Mattapan, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Monday. He was arraigned Monday afternoon in Cambridge District Court on a single count of murder. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
It's alleged that Watson killed Miller at the behest of her partner, Daniel Innis.
"I think it is probably fair to say that [Watson] did not anticipate that so many years later, that people would still be working on this," Ryan said.
Michelle Miller found dead in 1992
Miller was last seen alive at a Central Square restaurant in July 1992. Two weeks later, her body was found partially naked and covered with a blanket in the filthy basement of a vacant apartment building on Washington Street after a neighbor complained about the smell, Ryan said.
At the time, the medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death for Miller, but noted it was suspicious. Ryan said investigators in the cold case unit found archived records from the Department of Social Services to "unearth details that were previously unknown" about Miller's death. They learned that she disappeared the day after she told a social worker she planned to seek a restraining order against Innis.
"She had fallen on some hard times," Ryan said. "She was being abused by Mr. Innis, who was jealous and violent, and he was threatening to take the children away from her."
Watson was "an associate" of Innis who carried out the murder at his request, investigators allege. Innis died in 2012 and had been been sentenced to 15-20 years in state prison for an unrelated manslaughter charge.
In court Monday, a prosecutor said the initial investigation identified Watson as someone who saw Miller on the night of her disappearance, but he was not identified as a suspect at the time. In more recent interviews, however, the prosecution says Watson admitted to knowing Innis. Watson also allegedly confessed to hitting Miller with his fists and then with a stick or board, causing her death.
The prosecutor also said Watson has at least 13 felony convictions in his past, and had made threats to a former girlfriend that resulted in a restraining order.
A judge ordered Watson held without bail. He is due back in court on Feb. 11.
Ryan said the murder-for-hire allegation was "completely new" to Miller's children.
"It was very bittersweet information," she said.
Correction: The district attorney says Daniel Innis was Michelle Miller's partner and the father of her children, not her husband.
