Boston Tabloid: The Killing of Robin Benedict

THE DISAPPEARANCE of a twenty-one-year-old woman from a Massachusetts suburb becameone of the most discussed crimes of the twentieth century. The discussion grewmore heated when the public learned that she worked as aprostitute in Boston's notorious red-light district, the "Combat Zone," and waslinked by a trail of blood to a famous professor from Tufts University. BostonTabloid is a reconstruction of a grisly murder, and an explorationof one man's bizarre obsession. When Robin Benedictvanished the investigation and media circus that gripped the city of Bostonhadn't seen since the days of the Boston Strangler case. On a Sunday morning inMarch 1983, a small-time pimp walked into a police station and claimed hisgirlfriend was missing. He claimed she had been on her way to visit a clientnamed William Douglas, a man known in academic circles as a groundbreakingscientist, who also indulged a taste for prostitutes in Boston's most X-ratedneighborhood. Inthe year that followed, the case drew in detectives, state troopers, scores ofjournalists, and even psychics. But Robin was never found. In fact, all thatwas found was a sledgehammer, some clothing, and her Toyota Starlet, allstained with blood. Douglas's eventual arrest and sketchy confession providednews readers with months of daily intrigue--for a new era ofsensationalistic reporting was about to erupt. It was also a timewhen Boston-area prostitutes were being murdered on a regular basis. The caseof Robin Benedict was just another reminder that the city's dark side wasseeping into the suburbs and universities. In revisiting this legendary crime, award-winning author Don Stradley consultedjournalists who were involved in the media frenzy, prison authorities,arresting officers, and psychiatrists, all in an effort to unravel a mosttangled story. Why was the city, and the nation, swept up in this sordidtale? It remains a grim and fascinating moment in Boston's history.