A Mattapan, Massachusetts, man has been arrested for allegedly killing a mother of two more than 30 years ago, according to officials who said her "jealous and violent partner" set up a murder-for-hire plot.
Michelle Miller, a former U.S. Army soldier, was 29 years old when she was last seen alive in Cambridge's Central Square in 1992.
More than 32 years later, 65-year-old Mattapan man Edward Watson has been arrested for the murder of Miller, the Middlesex DA's Office and Cambridge Police announced on Monday.
Miller's body was found in the filthy basement of a vacant apartment two weeks after she disappeared in July of 1992, when a neighbor complained of a foul odor. Her body was partially naked, with her face covered by a blanket.
The Cold Case Homicide Unit of the Middlesex DA's Office has found evidence that Miller was the victim of a murder-for-hire plot, and that Watson allegedly killed her in the basement apartment at the behest of her abusive partner, Daniel Innis.
Innis was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in state prison for an unrelated manslaughter charge in 1994, and he died in 2012.
"Michelle Miller had served her country as a U.S. Army soldier, and she was a mother of two beautiful children, whom she adored," Middlesex DA Marian Ryan said. "By 1992 she had fallen on hard times. She was abused by a jealous and violent partner, who had threatened to take away custody of her children."
Miller disappeared the day after she told her social worker of her intention to obtain a restraining order against Innis, Ryan said.
"For more than thirty years this case had gone unsolved," Ryan said. "Our Cold Case Unit, using archived records from the Department of Social Services, was able to unearth previously unknown details about the abuse that Michelle Miller had suffered at the hands of her partner, and how she tried to protect herself immediately before her disappearance.
"Our investigation identified Edward J. Watson, an associate of Daniel Innis, as the man who carried out the killing at Innis' request," the DA added.
Watson has been charged with first-degree murder in Cambridge District Court.
This case was investigated by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office Cold Case Unit, Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, and Cambridge Police Department detectives.
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