What happened to Robin Nadine Benedict? In the spring of 1982, the lives of Robin Nadine Benedict, a 21-year-old Caucasian woman, and William Douglas, a married anatomy professor at Tufts University, fatefully intersected in Boston's adult entertainment district. Benedict, who had studied graphic design, was working as a high-priced prostitute. Douglas, a respected researcher and father of three, quickly developed an intense obsession with her.
This infatuation led him to lavish expensive gifts upon her, including a car and a house, and he paid her significant sums of money for her time, eventually embezzling over $67,000 from the university to finance his fixation. His obsession grew to the point of stalking; he would call her numerous times a day and even broke into her apartment to steal her answering machine in an attempt to monitor her calls.
By early 1983, Benedict felt harassed by Douglas's relentless attentions and attempted to end their relationship. On March 2, 1983, she went so far as to call his wife to ask her to make him stop. The calls, however, did not cease. On March 5, 1983, the day she disappeared, Douglas called her twelve times. Benedict was last seen driving the car Douglas had bought her, reportedly on her way to his home. She was never seen or heard from again. The day after her disappearance, a teenager discovered a blood-stained work shirt, a woman's corduroy jacket, and a hammer in a trash can along an interstate. The jacket was later identified as belonging to Benedict.
The investigation soon focused on William Douglas. A search of his home fifteen days after Robin's disappearance revealed her pocketbook, credit cards, and phone book in his closet. In July, her blood-stained car was discovered near Penn Station in New York City. Douglas was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in October 1983. In April 1984, on the morning his trial was set to begin, he made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. He confessed to bludgeoning Robin Benedict to death with a hammer in his home during a confrontation. He claimed he then put her body in a dumpster in Rhode Island. Despite extensive searches of a landfill, her body has never been recovered. Douglas was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison for manslaughter and received a concurrent sentence for embezzlement. He was released from prison after serving eight and a half years.
