Mom of 2 died in 1992. Now, partner is accused of arranging her Massachusetts death
More than three decades after a mother of two was found dead in the basement of a vacant apartment building, an arrest has been made in her killing, Massachusetts prosecutors say.
Edward J. Watson, 65, of Mattapan, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge in relation to the 1992 murder-for-hire death of Michelle Miller, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said in a Dec. 16 news release.
Miller’s partner, Daniel J. Innis, who died in 2012 while incarcerated on an unrelated manslaughter charge, is accused of orchestrating her death, according to prosecutors.
Watson pleaded not guilty, WBZ News reported.
“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,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference announcing Watson’s arrest, the outlet reported.
Miller found dead then case goes cold
Miller vanished on July 28, 1992, according to prosecutors.
The 29-year-old Army veteran “was last seen alive in Central Square, Cambridge,” prosecutors said.
Two weeks later, a neighbor of a vacant apartment building “complained of a foul odor,” prosecutors said.
Officials found Miller’s partially clothed body, “with her face covered by a blanket, in the filthy basement,” of the abandoned building, Ryan said in the release.
Her body was found about five blocks from the buffet where she was seen alive, a map shared by prosecutors shows.
.png "map_fitted (1).png")
“For more than 30 years this case had gone unsolved,” Ryan said in the release.
Searching archives for evidence
Sifting through Department of Social Services archives, cold case investigators learned Miller had been abused by her partner, Innis, before her death, Ryan said in the release.
“Michelle Miller had served her country as a U.S. Army soldier, and she was a mother of two beautiful children, whom she adored,” Ryan said. “By 1992 she had fallen on hard times.”
Innis, “a jealous and violent partner,” is accused of abusing Miller and threatening to take away custody of her children, Ryan said.
However, right before her death, “she tried to protect herself,” Ryan said.
Miller told her social worker that she planned to get a restraining order against Innis, according to Ryan.
The following day, “she disappeared,” Ryan said.
Through evidence, cold case detectives determined Innis arranged Miller’s death, prosecutors said.
Evidence showed Watson, an associate of Innis, killed Miller at Innis’ request, Ryan said in the release.
During an interview with investigators, Watson “admitted for the first time that he had been in the abandoned apartment at the time of her death,” prosecutor David Solet said Monday, WFXT reported.
“And, in fact, that he had struck her first explaining that he did it with his fists and then saying he did it with a stick or a board,” Solet said, the outlet reported. “And that while there were other men in the apartment, prior to her death, that he was alone with her at the time that he struck those blows and that those blows killed her.”
At the news conference, Ryan said she spoke with Miller’s family, including her son, daughter and a brother, telling them an arrest had been made in her killing, NBC10 Boston reported.
“It was very bittersweet information,” Ryan said, the outlet reported. “On the one hand realizing that police had never given up in the search for what happened to their mother, but then learning that the person who was their biological father is alleged to have been the person who set that in motion.”
Watson is expected to appear in court Feb. 11, according to WFXT.
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Mom of 2 died in 1992. Now, partner is accused of arranging her Massachusetts death."
