CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A 65-year-old Massachusetts man has been arrested for the murder of 29-year-old Michelle Miller, a U.S. Army veteran whose body was found in a Cambridge basement in 1992.
Edward J. Watson was arrested Monday morning in Mattapan and charged with murder in connection with Miller’s death, District Attorney Marian Ryan told reporters during a press conference shortly after noon on Monday. Watson was expected to be arraigned on the murder charge in Cambridge District Court later Monday afternoon.
Miller, a mother of two young children, was the victim of a murder-for-hire plot, and Watson is alleged to have killer her in a Cambridge basement at the request of her then-partner, Daniel J. Innis, also the father of her two children, Ryan said.
Innis died in 2012, after being sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison in 1994 on an unrelated manslaughter charge, Ryan said.
Miller was last seen alive at a restaurant bar in Central Square in Cambridge on July 28, 1992, one day after she told a social worker that she was seeking a restraining order against Innis, 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,” Ryan said.
About two weeks later, her body was found partially nude in a “truly filthy” basement of a building at 245 Washington St. in Cambridge, after a neighbor had complained about an odor emanating from the basement, Ryan said.
Her face had been covered by a blanket, Ryan said. Watson is alleged to have killed her in the basement at request of her abusive partner, Innis.
For more than 30 years, the case went unsolved.
Investigators combed through records from the Department of Social Services, which unearthed details about the abuse Miller had suffered at the hands of Innis and how she tried to protect herself, Ryan said.
Ryan said cold case investigators identified Watson as an associate of Innis, which later led to his arrest on Monday.
“We do not forget what happens to people when they lose their life in Middlesex County, and that we will take every possible step to hold (people) accountable,” Ryan said.
Ryan said she spoke earlier Monday with Miller’s two children, who are now adults, and informed them of Watson’s arrest, and that the evidence indicated that their mother’s murder took place at the behest of their biological father.
“It’s really a reminder, particularly at this time of year, of the long-term impact of these kind of crimes and how they tear a family apart and the hole that they leave in those families,” Ryan said.
Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow also spoke with Ryan about Watson’s arrest.
“This arrest was the result of teamwork and diligence and we really hope that this arrest brings some closure to the family,” Elow said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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