Pod Insights True Crime All The Time Christopher McCowen About this episode Christa Worthington, a former fashion journalist and single mother who lived in Truro, a town on northern Cape Cod, was murdered in January 2002. Three years later, DNA evidence matched a surprising suspect, a local sanitation worker.
Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Christopher McCowen. McCowen told several different stories but was linked to the murder through DNA, and a jury thought the evidence proved his guilt. However, a recently discovered article of clothing may point to another person whom Chris said he was with that night. The testing has yet to be completed.
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1:47 Speaker 00 Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 443 of the True Crime All the Time Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson, and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Gaby, how are you?
1:58 Speaker 01 Hey, I'm okay. How about you?
1:59 Speaker 00 I'm doing great. My oldest just bought a brand new car. We talked about it at length on our weekly Patreon thing.
2:08 Speaker 01 We did.
2:08 Speaker 00 What our first cars were, what our first new cars were.
2:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:12 Speaker 00 You seem to specialize in Chevets and Escorts.
2:16 Speaker 01 Escorts has the car.
2:19 Speaker 00 Oh, yes, yes. Not Chevets with escorts inside them.
2:23 Speaker 01 Exactly.
2:24 Speaker 00 These are two, two different models of cars. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Shay.
2:29 Speaker 01 Hey, what's up Shay?
2:30 Speaker 00 Brittany Wiley jumped out of her highest level.
2:33 Speaker 01 Thanks, Brittany.
2:34 Speaker 00 Lisa Colts.
2:35 Speaker 01 Hey, Lisa.
2:36 Speaker 00 Haunted Julian.
2:37 Speaker 01 Well, thanks, Julian.
2:38 Speaker 00 Andrea.
2:39 Speaker 01 Good old Andrea.
2:40 Speaker 00 Andre Davidson.
2:41 Speaker 01 What's up, Andre?
2:42 Speaker 00 Josh Chastain.
2:44 Speaker 01 Hey, I love your sister, Jessica.
2:46 Speaker 00 Trish May.
2:48 Speaker 01 Hey, Trish.
2:49 Speaker 00 Kara Hill.
2:50 Speaker 01 What's going on, Kara?
2:51 Speaker 00 And last but not least, Hannah Fitzsimmons Art.
2:54 Speaker 01 Look at you, an artist. Maybe.
2:57 Speaker 00 And then if we go back into the vault.
3:01 Speaker 00 This week, we selected Denise Manti.
3:03 Speaker 01 What's up, Manti?
3:04 Speaker 00 So we appreciate the new support, the continued support. I also wanted to give a happy upcoming birthday to Erica Del Rio.
3:13 Speaker 01 Really? Well, happy birthday, Erica.
3:15 Speaker 00 She's a big fan of the show and it's a, it's a big milestone birthday. She knows what it is. I'm not going to say the number. What I will say is that you and I have already reached it.
3:26 Speaker 01 Okay, it's a mystery.
3:29 Speaker 00 But it narrows it down somewhat.
3:30 Speaker 01 It does. At least I know it's, I know what your age is and what my age is, so.
3:36 Speaker 00 I hope you know what your age is.
3:39 Speaker 00 All right, we have a brand new episode out right now on True Crime All The Time Unsolved. We're talking about Marcus Rutledge. He was a young father who went missing in 1998, right before he was getting ready to graduate college. This is an interesting episode because they don't know for certain that Marcus was killed, but foul play is suspected. And his family has kind of come out and said that, you know, they, they think he might've gotten involved with some dangerous people in the months leading up to his death. So, you know, we get into all of that. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime All The Time?
4:21 Speaker 01 I am.
4:22 Speaker 00 We're talking about Christopher McCowen. Krista Worthington, a former fashion journalist and single mother, lived in Truro, a town on northern Cape Cod, was murdered in January 2002. Three years later, DNA evidence matched a surprising suspect. It was a local sanitation worker. Krista Worthington was born on December 23rd, 1956. She was the daughter of Christopher and Gloria Worthington. Her father served in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office before returning to private law until he retired. Krista graduated high school in 1973 and enrolled at Vassar College,
5:06 Speaker 00 which is a pretty prestigious school.
5:08 Speaker 01 It's okay. No, it's actually pretty good.
5:12 Speaker 00 I mean, granted, it's all relative, right? Compared to some of the places you went to, Oxford, MIT, some of those places, but Vassar is very expensive and I think pretty exclusive.
5:31 Speaker 01 You are correct.
5:32 Speaker 00 And pretty prestigious. After graduating college in 1977, Krista spent the next 20 years working in fashion journalism. She covered runway shows for magazines like Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and she wrote for the New York Times.
5:50 Speaker 01 Impressive.
5:50 Speaker 00 It is very impressive. I think for me, fashion journalism would be a tough go. You know, I have never been to a fashion show. Obviously, I've seen things on TV. I don't know what I'm looking at half the time.
6:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:08 Speaker 00 Most of it is stuff that I would never see someone wear in the real world.
6:13 Speaker 01 Well, definitely not around here.
6:15 Speaker 00 And I'm not sure if it's meant to be worn in the real world or it's just a show. I'm very confused.
6:22 Speaker 01 I think sometimes it's a concept like, and I think when it goes to the store, they take it down a few notches from what was on the runway.
6:30 Speaker 00 Well, I think they would have to because you're limiting your clientele, I think, with some of the outfits that I've seen.
6:40 Speaker 01 For sure.
6:42 Speaker 00 At the age of 26, Krista got to interview famous fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
6:49 Speaker 01 That's pretty, pretty good.
6:50 Speaker 00 Yeah, I know you wear a lot of that perfume.
6:53 Speaker 01 I love that YSL cologne, not perfume.
6:58 Speaker 00 She lived in Paris for several years and was bureau chief for women's wear daily.
7:03 Speaker 01 Always wanted to be a chief of something, just saying.
7:06 Speaker 00 Okay. I mean, I can come up with an honorary title if that's what you're looking for.
7:12 Speaker 01 Also want to be a director or something?
7:14 Speaker 00 I, you can be the chief director of BS.
7:18 Speaker 01 Oh, I love that.
7:18 Speaker 00 Which I, most people would probably agree with. Krista lived in London before returning to New York City, where she briefly lived with a magician called the amazing Tarquin.
7:31 Speaker 01 What would be like to live with a magician? Like.
7:34 Speaker 00 I think it would be mystifying.
7:35 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:36 Speaker 00 Like you don't know how that person is doing the things they're doing.
7:41 Speaker 01 Think they're always doing tricks and disappearing on you.
7:44 Speaker 00 You know, it's, it's interesting because I'm assuming that there, most people are pretty normal. When they're just laid back at home.
7:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:54 Speaker 00 You know, they're not pulling quarters out of your ears at all times of the day, but I don't know, maybe some people are.
8:00 Speaker 01 They'll give a little, wouldn't it every time they walk up to you, touch your ear, they pull another quarter out and you're like, damn it, just leave my ears alone.
8:06 Speaker 00 Yeah.
8:07 Speaker 01 You know?
8:08 Speaker 00 We get it. You're a magician. In 1997, 40 year old Krista decided to move from New York City to Truro, a small town on Cape Cod. She was looking for a slower pace of life and wanted to be a mother. Krista had spent many summers there and it was closer to her mother who was dying of cancer. Krista's ex-boyfriend, Steve Radlauer, told 48 Hours, she had this having a baby thing in mind. And I think she felt like this would be a good place to do that. The complication was that she wasn't married and she didn't have a boyfriend. Now she was 40 years old at the time. Maybe she thought, you know, it's now or never.
8:50 Speaker 01 Clock was ticking.
8:51 Speaker 00 Yeah, there, there is a certain age at which it becomes either more unlikely or more dangerous.
8:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, high risk for sure.
8:59 Speaker 00 For many women. Krista had also been told by a doctor that she could not get pregnant. After she moved to town, Krista began having an affair with local fishing warden Tony Jackett, who was married with six children.
9:14 Speaker 01 Well, six kids is a lot of kids.
9:16 Speaker 00 It's a pretty good number.
9:18 Speaker 01 Yeah.
9:19 Speaker 00 I, I always think of it as, I have two. So however many kids the person has that we're talking about, I just try to extrapolate my expenses by that. So if I'm saying I'm paying three times more, I'm gonna have to get a second and third job.
9:40 Speaker 01 I would think, man.
9:41 Speaker 00 Because I feel like it's already tough paying for these two girls right now. Jackett told 48 Hours, she was someone very different from the people that I knew. She was mysterious, enigmatic, somewhat of a loner. He added, I could tell that there was an attraction. You know, ultimately, I ended up over at her house having a cup of tea. And one thing leads to another, as tea normally does.
10:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, those afternoon tea meetups, gotta watch out, be careful.
10:14 Speaker 00 I mean, that's just code for sex, right?
10:18 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:18 Speaker 00 Would you like a cup of tea?
10:19 Speaker 01 Would you like to go get a cup of tea together? Does it really mean I want to get a cup of tea?
10:24 Speaker 00 But you know how I feel about tea. Do not like it. Have tried to like it, do not. I am a coffee person through and through.
10:32 Speaker 01 Yeah, you were like, no tea bags for me, please.
10:35 Speaker 00 My wife, however, she drinks a lot of tea.
10:38 Speaker 01 She loves it.
10:39 Speaker 00 The affair was on and off for the next year, until Krista got pregnant. Friends insist Krista was told she couldn't have a baby, but Tony felt as though she set him up.
10:51 Speaker 01 Well, I feel like Tony had no problem making babies. I'm just saying that.
10:56 Speaker 00 No, he, he might've been very virile.
10:59 Speaker 01 Yes.
11:00 Speaker 00 Now, would he feel that way if she told him that she couldn't get pregnant?
11:07 Speaker 00 So therefore, you know, there was no need for him to use any type of birth control or anything like that.
11:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, I think he might be a little soured like, hey, he said this couldn't happen. And guess what? It happened.
11:20 Speaker 00 In 1998, Krista joined an organization called Single Mothers by Choice and went on a talk show to discuss women who choose to be single parents. Krista's daughter Ava was born in May 1999. Christie's babysitter Linda Schlechter recalled that Krista was a devoted mother who was always playing and laughing with her daughter.
11:44 Speaker 01 Well, it sounds like she loved her little baby.
11:46 Speaker 00 Oh, I'm sure she did. I mean, you know, she had her when she was in her early 40s. Sounds like she was under the impression that it was never going to happen.
11:58 Speaker 01 Right.
11:59 Speaker 00 So she had to have been over the moon when it, when it actually did. According to Krista's friends, Tony didn't have much time for Ava and Krista eventually demanded child support. She also demanded that he tell his wife, Susan, who was not aware of the affair or of Ava's existence.
12:21 Speaker 01 I'm sure that didn't go over well.
12:22 Speaker 00 That's gonna be a tough one, right? You have a wife and six kids at home. Now you stepped out, you had an affair, you made that choice.
12:32 Speaker 01 You did.
12:33 Speaker 00 Sometimes there are consequences, right, of your actions. Now we're talking about a number of consequences.
12:41 Speaker 01 For sure, yeah.
12:42 Speaker 00 You had a baby with this woman. There's going to be child support and she wants to make sure that Tony's wife knows all about it, that this is not a secret.
12:55 Speaker 01 Yeah, he's got some new responsibilities.
12:58 Speaker 00 As Ricky would say, you got some splaining to do.
13:01 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
13:02 Speaker 00 But that, that's a, that's a tough conversation you're gonna have to have with your wife.
13:06 Speaker 01 I would think so.
13:07 Speaker 00 And most wives are not going to be real receptive to that, that talk. Susan Jackett told 48 Hours, he said he was in trouble. And I said, with the IRS? And he said, no worse. I said, with the police? No, worse than that. And I said, what could be worse than that? And I was sort of frightened. I couldn't, he was very uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine that it was. And he said, I had an affair and there's a child. He hesitated and he said, there's a child. And I said, you're kidding.
13:44 Speaker 01 Imagine there was a lot of follow-up conversations.
13:48 Speaker 00 Oh, that's not a one-time conversation and it's over.
13:52 Speaker 01 No, that's probably a lifetime conversation.
13:54 Speaker 00 It's going to come up quite a bit. Susan, though, was eventually able to forgive Tony. By the beginning of 2002, the Jackets had a relationship with Krista and Ava. They started off by inviting Krista over for dinner. Susan said it was uncomfortable at first, but she got to know Krista and thought she was a nice person.
14:16 Speaker 01 It would be awkward.
14:18 Speaker 00 It would be awkward, but I mean, you know, you really got to give it up for Susan. Number one, she's, she's taking all of this in and that had to be tough, hearing it. But then she has to make a decision. You know, do I blow up my family because of what my husband did?
14:38 Speaker 01 Right.
14:39 Speaker 00 Or do we try to work through it? She decided to forgive him and, and work through it. And then on top of that, they make the decision that they want at some level for Krista and Ava to be a part of their lives. But you know, that can't happen all at once. It's got to be, there's got to be a process to get to that point.
15:01 Speaker 01 Baby stepping.
15:02 Speaker 00 Yeah. After she ended her romantic relationship with Tony Jackett, Krista started seeing Tim Arnold, a divorced father of two. He helped Krista through her first year of motherhood. Tim moved in with Krista in early 2000. But this arrangement only lasted four months. Arnold told the Boston Globe, we drove each other crazy. I think in the end she decided I wouldn't come back.
15:27 Speaker 01 There's one thing about dating someone and hanging out and then going home.
15:34 Speaker 00 Versus living with someone, it is a huge difference, can be, right? Some people kind of roll into it seamlessly and things don't change. But for a lot of people, living with someone day in and day out, you, you get to see everything.
15:54 Speaker 01 All those habits that you normally don't see.
15:56 Speaker 00 And sometimes it, it doesn't work. Krista's ex, Steve Radlauer, told 48 Hours that her relationship with Tim was sometimes contentious. He said, I don't think that she ever entertained the idea this was going to develop into a long-term relationship, that they were going to get married or anything like that. From what I understand, he was more serious about that as a long-term possibility than she was.
16:24 Speaker 01 Yeah, they weren't on the same page.
16:26 Speaker 00 And I think that happens quite frequently in relationships. You know, one person is either more invested in the relationship than the other. One person is more serious or thinks it's heading in a direction that is more serious than the other person does.
16:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
16:45 Speaker 00 But the two remained friends and Krista sometimes confided in Tim. She listed him as an heir to 20% of her estate in the event of Ava's death, which he was not aware of until after the murder. Krista's estate was worth about $700,000, per the Boston Globe.
17:06 Speaker 01 Well, obviously she cared a lot about the guy.
17:08 Speaker 00 Yeah, she must have to, you know, list him a- as an heir in any type of way. But I think the interesting thing here is that we're, you know, we're getting into the, the suspects. Right? We've talked about some of Krista's boyfriends. Obviously they're going to be looked at. Does Tony Jackett have a reason for wanting Krista dead? There's the child support angle.
17:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
17:40 Speaker 00 There is the, hey, you made me tell my wife and all of that. Now, the, one of the thoughts that goes through my mind is if he was going to do that, would he have done it before his wife found out?
17:55 Speaker 01 I would have thought so.
17:56 Speaker 00 To do it afterwards, I'm not really sure what you're gaining other than custody of Ava and possibly Krista's estate.
18:09 Speaker 01 Yeah.
18:10 Speaker 00 If you're the one who's taking care of her.
18:12 Speaker 01 Yeah, managing it for Ava.
18:13 Speaker 00 Yeah, which $700,000 is a lot of money.
18:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, exactly.
18:18 Speaker 00 Tim Arnold found Krista's body inside her home on the morning of January 6, 2002. Tim lived just through the woods and came to the house around 4:30 PM to return a flashlight. He saw Krista lying on the floor in the kitchen hallway with blood under her body. Ava was nearby, but was unharmed. Tim picked up Ava and ran outside to call 911. Krista was found partially nude, wearing a nightgown and had been stabbed once through the left lung. The blade went through her body and into the kitchen floor. She also had bruises
18:58 Speaker 00 as if she'd been in a fight. So there's two things for me here, Gibbs. One is, you know, obviously Tim discovering this scene, seeing this person who you cared about, probably still, probably still do care about.
19:13 Speaker 01 Right.
19:14 Speaker 00 Who appears to be dead, but then, you know, you also have to grab Ava. I mean, how tragic is that? That she's kind of there with her dead mother?
19:26 Speaker 01 Pretty tragic.
19:27 Speaker 00 And then I think the second thing is just kind of how brutal this was.
19:34 Speaker 00 To stab someone so hard that it goes completely through the body and the blade is embedded into the kitchen floor.
19:45 Speaker 01 How mad would you have to be to do something like that?
19:47 Speaker 00 Or how powerful a person are we talking about? Because can we limit potential suspects based on, you know, who would be powerful enough to inflict this kind of damage? Someone had smashed Krista's front door. There appeared to be drag marks outside the home and Krista's personal items were scattered about the driveway.
20:13 Speaker 01 Well, this seems strange to me. I mean, she was found on the inside of the home. So what's up with the drag marks on the outside and personal items scattered about on the outside?
20:25 Speaker 00 Yeah, I mean, it's, it's strange. No doubt about it. The medical examiner believed Krista was killed late on Friday, January 4th, or early Saturday, January 5th. The police suspected a local because Cape Cod gets few tourists in January. And that makes some sense, right? If you were talking about in the summertime or there'd be a lot more tourists and maybe you'd be thinking a greater possibility of a stranger murder. Is Cape Cod where Cape Fear was all about, you know, come out, come out wherever you are? I, no, I thought they were down south somewhere.
21:01 Speaker 01 Oh, was it?
21:01 Speaker 00 I could be wrong.
21:02 Speaker 01 Yeah.
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23:48 Speaker 00 Investigators had collected a DNA sample from Krista's body that would become a crucial part of the case. And I get it, you know, he has to be a suspect or at least a person of interest. Normally, when people voluntarily give up their DNA, it means they have nothing to hide. And they want to rule themselves out. Another early suspect was Tony Jackett. His wife told the police that he was home. Tony took a lie detector test and said he clearly passed.
24:22 Speaker 01 Okay.
24:24 Speaker 00 And again, right, you have to look at Tony as a suspect.
24:28 Speaker 01 I would think you for sure you'd have to.
24:30 Speaker 00 Jackett told the Associated Press in January 2002 that he hadn't been to Krista's place since June and that their affair was a summer fling. And I'm sure that his wife loved all of this being in the media. Right? Bad enough that she had to work through all of this or probably was still working through it. Now Krista ends up dead.
24:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
24:55 Speaker 00 She's murdered and her husband is is being looked at. And basically, all the dirty laundry is going to come out.
25:04 Speaker 01 Be a lot of buzz, I'm sure, you know, what, how that happened, what's going on with this? Well, does he get Ava now? Cause he's the dad and what about the money? Got a lot of buzz going on.
25:18 Speaker 00 But it's one thing to deal with something internally and a completely different thing to have it, you know, kind of splashed out there in the media for everyone to know about. Another potential suspect was Tony's son-in-law Keith Amato, who took an outside shower at Krista's house.
25:35 Speaker 01 Well, you know, the same water. I take some showers at individuals, outdoor showers as well. Cause you know me, I don't want to.
25:45 Speaker 00 You mean to save your water?
25:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:48 Speaker 00 Because it's not saving money for them.
25:50 Speaker 01 No, no, save me. So, you know, I mean, there's some outdoor showers in the neighborhood. I'll, you know, after hours swing over there.
25:58 Speaker 00 After hours, do they have posted shower hours?
26:00 Speaker 01 Well, I mean, I don't want them to see me in their shower.
26:03 Speaker 00 So after everyone's gone to sleep?
26:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
26:05 Speaker 00 That's when you do your shower.
26:06 Speaker 01 Yeah.
26:07 Speaker 00 I got you.
26:08 Speaker 01 I wish you'd put one and I'd shower after I left here. It'll be good for the, you know, day or two.
26:13 Speaker 00 That's not gonna happen. First of all, no one in the neighborhood needs to, to see any of that. If I did put one in, I would do one of those frosted glass ones, but reverse it. So that you, you thought it was, nobody could see in, but everybody in the neighborhood could see you.
26:36 Speaker 00 The police also looked into Krista's elderly father and his 29-year-old girlfriend. Krista thought her father spent too much money on her. Ultimately, nothing came from this either. So, I mean, they're looking into a, a lot of different people. Now, this must have been a pretty good age gap, right? Krista was around 42 years old.
27:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
27:00 Speaker 00 Which means her father, at the very least, was in his 60s, maybe even in his 70s. He had a 29-year-old girlfriend.
27:09 Speaker 01 I'm sure it was true love.
27:11 Speaker 00 But the fact that Krista thought he spent too much money on her, it's kind of a real thin reason, right, to, to want someone dead. DNA results finally came back in 2003, revealing that Tim Arnold and Tony Jack were not matches to the DNA profile.
27:34 Speaker 01 Well, I bet, uh, Tony was, uh, breathing a sigh of relief because I think he was probably the one that would benefit the most.
27:42 Speaker 00 Well, I'm sure both of them breathe the sigh of relief, just to, just to have their names cleared. But I also think they both knew that was going to happen, right? They readily gave up their DNA, which most guilty people don't do. Tim Seaman was found on a blanket that EMTs threw over Krista's body, but his DNA was not found on her body. And he did briefly live with her.
28:09 Speaker 01 Well, it's the whole reason why I don't touch any of these blankets around here. I don't.
28:13 Speaker 00 I don't want you touching any of my stuff.
28:15 Speaker 01 I don't want to touch it because I don't know what, how much of your DNA is on those.
28:19 Speaker 00 Nobody does. Investigators shifted their focus to identifying other possible suspects. On January 9th, 2003, investigators announced they were searching for an unknown man who had what they called an intimate relationship with Krista shortly before her death. At one point, the DA asked all Mel residents of Truro to submit their DNA. Seventy-five men voluntarily submitted samples.
28:48 Speaker 01 Well, that's surprising.
28:50 Speaker 00 Well, I wonder how many of the, these guys' wives, if they were married, said, hey, you better get in there and give a sample because, uh,
29:01 Speaker 00 now I'm a little worried.
29:03 Speaker 01 Yeah.
29:05 Speaker 00 By 2005, the police would still not officially rule anyone out as a suspect. And I get it, right? Tim's DNA doesn't match. Tony's DNA doesn't match, but they're not ready to rule anyone out. And I think that's smart because, you know, could it still be possible that they orchestrated the murder? Maybe they didn't carry it out. Maybe they hired someone.
29:35 Speaker 01 Could have.
29:36 Speaker 00 To kill Krista. Tony Jackett had tried to fight for custody of Ava. Ava was living with Krista's friend, Amira Chase, whom she named as a guardian in her will. Tony was only allowed to see her once a week. He tried to fight for custody and lost. He believes it's because he was a suspect. And my thought is it can't help your chances, right? If there's even a, a hint, a whiff that you could possibly be involved.
30:07 Speaker 00 Very little chance they're gonna want to give you custody of this little girl.
30:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's true.
30:12 Speaker 00 On April 7, 2005, the police received word that the crime lab had a hit for the DNA sample. The DNA on Krista's body came from Christopher McCowen, a local sanitation worker. McCowen had been interviewed twice. He first agreed to give his DNA in April 2002, but the police didn't collect the sample until 2004. Both times, he denied knowing Krista and said he only collected her garbage on his assigned route.
30:46 Speaker 01 It's really strange, you know, he was willing to give that DNA so early on and they said, nah, we're wait. We're wait. And why not get it? And at that point, maybe it would have brought some answers to the case.
31:01 Speaker 00 Well, yeah, two years is a pretty long delay. Now, the police said the delay in collecting his DNA was due to his address changes. Okay, so they couldn't keep up with him because he kept moving. Christopher McCowen was arrested on April 14, 2005. He was arrested at his rooming house while watching cartoons in bed. Police found marijuana and an open bottle of prescription painkillers on the bedside table.
31:31 Speaker 01 High in bed, watching cartoons.
31:34 Speaker 00 Which I believe if you were ever ultimately caught is probably very similar to how you would be found. In your PJs, watching cartoons, high on both marijuana and painkillers.
31:49 Speaker 01 And laughing.
31:50 Speaker 00 And laughing. McCowen was charged with murder, aggravated rape, and aggravated burglary. When McCowen was taken for a third round of questioning, he denied knowing Krista until he was presented with the DNA evidence. And, you know, that it's always fascinating to me, you know, when you watch some of these shows where they actually have the interrogation videos, you know, people are deny, deny, deny, until the police kind of throw out their.
32:23 Speaker 00 Hole card, right? Which is some piece of evidence that is pretty hard to refute. Well, what normally happens? That's when the person kind of changes, does a 180, right? Changes course and starts to come up with a different version of events. For Christopher, he admitted that he was out drinking on the night of Friday, January 4th. He and his friend Jeremy Frazier decided to go to Krista's house. He had sex with her and beat her, but it was Frazier who killed her. However, Frazier's DNA was not found on Krista's body. So, you know, I talked about doing a 180. This is a 180.
33:08 Speaker 01 Sure is.
33:08 Speaker 00 From, hey, I've never been to her house other than to collect her garbage to, oh yeah, me and a friend went there. I had sex with her and I beat her, but then my friend killed her.
33:23 Speaker 01 Committing to beating her so that way covers you for all the DNA. I mean, and the sex as well.
33:30 Speaker 00 Yeah, maybe he was trying to, to cover his bases. Maybe he threw that in there to say, oh yeah, I did something bad, but I didn't do the, the really bad thing.
33:42 Speaker 01 Right. Yeah.
33:43 Speaker 00 According to 48 Hours, McCowen declined to have his six hour interview recorded. So the only record that exists is a 27 page report detectives wrote from their notes a week earlier. In this report, McCowen gives multiple versions of what exactly happened that night. And I didn't know that a person could decline to have their interview recorded. Was not aware of that.
34:10 Speaker 01 Maybe there's a waiver you have to sign.
34:13 Speaker 00 I just thought they were all recorded. McCowen's attorney, Bob George, said the police jumped to conclusions. He also noted that McCowen had an IQ of about 78 on a good day when he was not using drugs and alcohol. On the day he was questioned, he was under the influence of Percocet and marijuana. Or what we call a Gibby Wednesday night.
34:39 Speaker 00 George also said about the DNA, there was no evidence of the indications of rape. And you know, going back to what he did admit, right? He has to admit having sex with Krista. Because how else can you explain your DNA being found? Either you had some type of consensual sex, or you raped this woman.
35:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, very true.
35:07 Speaker 00 Now, he just says had sex with her, but then he says he also beat her. So it doesn't sound like a consensual intimate moment, right?
35:21 Speaker 01 I don't think so.
35:23 Speaker 00 Christopher McCowen's trial started on October 16th, 2006. DA Michael O'Keefe argued that McCowen was drinking heavily and met friends at a local club. Where they were videoed by an onlooker participating in a rap contest. You ever been in a rap contest?
35:43 Speaker 01 Several. I used to up to Detroit.
35:46 Speaker 00 You and Eminem?
35:47 Speaker 01 Hang out by the Eight Mile.
35:48 Speaker 00 Just battling it out?
35:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
35:50 Speaker 00 Mom spaghetti?
35:51 Speaker 01 Oh, it was good though. It was good mom spaghetti. Yeah.
35:56 Speaker 00 O'Keefe said that after a night of drinking, this person wanted the company of a woman. After partying and drinking all night. So at around 1:30 a.m. McCowen drove to Krista's house in Truro, where he killed her. Although he had no connection with Krista, other than his familiarity with who she was, where she lived. And the fact she lived alone, which he could have gleaned very easily.
36:24 Speaker 01 Sure he could have.
36:25 Speaker 00 From picking up her trash every week. He also, you know, he could have seen her. He could have thought that she was attractive. He could have developed an infatuation with her. I mean, there's all there's all kinds of different things that could have happened. ADA Robert Welsh also said in opening statements is quoted by the Boston Globe. There were a large number of kicks and blows to her body. The defendant was completely indifferent to her suffering.
36:58 Speaker 01 Well, he didn't care whatever happened to her. He just didn't give a shit.
37:01 Speaker 00 No, he wanted what he wanted. He was going to take it if he had to. And that's it. Sounds like exactly what he did. And in the process, you know, he beat and killed her. Prosecutors theorize that McCowen beat Krista outside her house, dragged her inside and raped and stabbed her. So, you know, this goes back to kind of the the statement that you made. These drag marks outside the house. It seems strange, right? That Krista was found dead inside her home, but there were these drag marks outside the house and her personal items outside the house. It makes it seem now that we have more information
37:46 Speaker 00 as though the altercation happened outside initially.
37:52 Speaker 01 And that makes sense.
37:53 Speaker 00 From the standpoint that he was not a welcome guest.
37:57 Speaker 01 Yes.
37:57 Speaker 00 In her home. She wasn't most likely going to invite him in. Defense attorney Bob George suggested that racial prejudices led to Chris McCowen, a black man being charged. Over a three year period, the police never said Krista was raped. And the police only came to that conclusion because McCowen is black. George also said that person that killed Krista Worthington was white. They had footprints that were unidentified. They had palm prints that were unidentified and they had unknown male DNA from three individuals under her fingernails.
38:36 Speaker 00 The defense argued that Chris McCowen could have reasonably had a consensual sexual relationship with Krista. The sex probably occurred on Thursday, trash pickup day, and that someone else killed Krista. And I see what the defense is trying to do, right? You've got to frame it as though the reason for his DNA being found is that they were having a consensual relationship, if you want to call it that.
39:08 Speaker 01 Yeah.
39:09 Speaker 00 Now, the idea that she was having sex with this man as he was on his trash route seems a little strange to me. Not the fact that he's a garbage collector, I'm not saying that, but that he's actually on the job.
39:27 Speaker 01 Yeah, but that stuff happens.
39:30 Speaker 00 Does it? I get it. You're going back to your UPS days.
39:34 Speaker 01 I am.
39:35 Speaker 00 And all of the dalliances that you had as a Lothario back in the day.
39:43 Speaker 01 Okay.
39:44 Speaker 00 But you weren't hot and sweaty picking up trash.
39:50 Speaker 01 I was hot and sweaty.
39:51 Speaker 00 Yeah, but I'm just thinking about, you know, the smells and the, the hygienic kind of angle to it.
40:01 Speaker 01 I get you.
40:01 Speaker 00 It doesn't seem like the ideal situation to all of a sudden, you know, break into rumpus room activity. I'm not saying it can't happen. It just doesn't seem ideal.
40:13 Speaker 01 It's probably not the ideal scenario for many.
40:17 Speaker 00 And she's not married. She's not attached. It's not like she has to sneak around.
40:22 Speaker 01 Right.
40:23 Speaker 00 Why, why can't you come back after you've taken a shower, after your shift ends, and then we'll have time then? That would make a lot more sense to me.
40:33 Speaker 01 Those stinky overalls out of here.
40:34 Speaker 00 Yeah. Krista's ex-boyfriend, Steve Radlauer, told 48 Hours that he doubted that Krista had a relationship with Christopher McCowen because he saw her two weeks before she was killed, and she would have mentioned it to him. Bob George said he didn't want to bash Krista, but he pointed out that she had an affair and noted the DNA under her nails and the DNA found on the blanket that belonged to her ex, Tim Arnold. So what is he saying? Right? He doesn't want to bash this woman, but he has to point out that she, you know, had
41:15 Speaker 00 an affair in the past. Yeah. She has the, the DNA of multiple individuals under her fingernail. What's he trying to say, Gibbs?
41:24 Speaker 01 She, uh, liked to have some fun.
41:27 Speaker 00 Maybe she got around, I think is what he's trying to say, while at the same time saying, I'm not trying to bash her. The defense also argued that the police intimidated McCowen, just like they did with suspects, Tim Arnold and Keith Amato. Amato testified about his interrogation. Per 48 Hours, Trooper Mon slammed his hand down on the table and said, "This is a murder investigation, and if we so choose, we will turn your life inside out." Okay. I'm not even sure what that means.
42:02 Speaker 01 Me neither.
42:03 Speaker 00 You ever had your life turned inside out?
42:06 Speaker 01 There was a point, I felt like it was turned inside out at one point, but yeah, no.
42:10 Speaker 00 And is it that uncommon for a detective or somebody to, you know, slam their hand down in exclamation?
42:17 Speaker 01 Oh, for sure.
42:18 Speaker 00 I don't know that it is, right?
42:20 Speaker 01 Trying to get your attention?
42:22 Speaker 00 Yeah, they're, they're trying to put on some theatrics.
42:26 Speaker 01 Yeah. Rattle your cage.
42:28 Speaker 00 Now, in some instances, do they intimidate people? Absolutely. Do they coerce people? Sure. We've talked about it before.
42:35 Speaker 01 Unfortunately, that stuff does happen.
42:38 Speaker 00 The state's expert testified that the DNA proved beyond doubt that McCowen had sex with Krista before she died. However, the state medical examiner concluded there were no conclusive signs of rape. Besides the DNA, investigators found no prints, footprints, or hairs linking McCowen to the crime.
43:01 Speaker 00 So even the state medical examiner can't conclusively say Krista was raped, but there's no doubt, right, that there was some type of sexual interaction. The question is, was that consensual or not?
43:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
43:20 Speaker 00 And I think, and I go back to his own statement. It doesn't sound consensual in, in any way because he even admitted that he beat her.
43:30 Speaker 01 He did.
43:31 Speaker 00 Now he blames the murder on the guy he says was with him, but he says, I had sex with her and then I beat her.
43:38 Speaker 01 But he did the worst thing. So talk to him.
43:43 Speaker 00 State trooper Christopher Mason testified that McCowen was first interviewed in 2002 as part of their routine investigation of anyone who had contact with the victim. He was interviewed again in March 2004 to get his DNA sample. He was cooperative and said he never interacted with Krista. And, you know, police are going to look at that, right? Obviously he lied in the beginning. He only changed up his story when they confronted him with, with the DNA.
44:15 Speaker 01 Which is not good, but now you're going to tell a different story?
44:20 Speaker 00 Yeah, his story changed in April 2005, right? At first he said he didn't even know Krista and the person who killed her must have been drunk or stupid. If he had done it, he would have made sure the child didn't see anything. I also think that's a strange thing to say.
44:37 Speaker 01 It is.
44:38 Speaker 00 Now, let me tell you, I didn't do it, but let me tell you how I would have or the things I wouldn't have done if I had done it. That just seems like, like a strange area to delve into.
44:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, I hear something like that. I'm thinking. Maybe you did do this. Why are you going down this path?
44:56 Speaker 00 When Trooper Mason asked him to think hard about what happened, McCowen said, fine, I had sex with her. He claimed he was so drunk, he couldn't remember anything else. After he was confronted with DNA evidence, he threw up his hands and said, it could have been me.
45:14 Speaker 01 Okay.
45:15 Speaker 00 He's making some, uh, some strange statements.
45:19 Speaker 01 Very, very strange.
45:20 Speaker 00 He would have been wise at this point to have an attorney with him, who would have advised him not to make any of these statements. And we mentioned it, right? McCowen was out drinking with his friend, Jeremy Frazier, between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. They went to Krista's house. She was startled, but invited them in. McCowen had sex with Krista on the floor. While Jeremy started going through her things, which angered her, she confronted him and they went outside. Frazier punched her. Krista was fighting and screaming. Now, this is all coming from McCowen.
45:57 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:58 Speaker 00 This is, this is, these aren't facts. These are, this is part of his ongoing statements. McCowen said, he beat and punched her so hard that he heard her head hit the driveway. Frazier told McCowen, he was going to have sex with Krista. He kicked in the kitchen door and didn't return for 10 minutes. McCowen claimed he witnessed Frazier stabber and they wiped her body down with a dish rag. Trooper Christopher Mason testified that although McCowen didn't confess to murder, he admitted that he beat Krista and saw the murder. McCowen also said, I never meant for that lady to get killed. It's a nightmare after nightmare. And not a day goes by that I don't think of it.
46:44 Speaker 00 So, you know, let's just break down this story for a minute. He's admitting to certain thing.
46:49 Speaker 01 He is.
46:50 Speaker 00 But like we said before, he is blaming the heaviest of the, the charges on his friend Jeremy Frazier. And this is something we've seen time and time again, right? People admit to parts of the story, the parts that wouldn't, you know, put them to death or put them away for life, let's say.
47:12 Speaker 01 Right.
47:13 Speaker 00 Just enough to try to get them out of the, the big daddy charge of murder.
47:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
47:20 Speaker 00 Cause there's no way he can say he wasn't there anymore. The problem is the evidence didn't support McCowen's story because Jeremy Frazier's DNA was not found on Krista or at the crime scene. You also have to wonder what Jeremy Frazier is thinking at some point when his good buddy is trying to throw him under the bus and, and say that he murdered this woman.
47:43 Speaker 01 Pretty pissed, wouldn't you?
47:45 Speaker 00 Well, yeah, you've, that, that's a, that's a deal breaker for most friendships, I think. Forensic psychologist Eric Brown testified that McCowen couldn't understand the police's questions because of his low IQ. The prosecution countered that he was intelligent enough to make up a story attempting to frame his friend. What'd we say it was 78? I think it, it's, it's on the lower side, but you know, does that mean that, you know, he's not somewhat street smart, maybe able to craft a story?
48:21 Speaker 01 That's it, right? I mean, doesn't mean he's not able to think through situations and things like that. I think he knew what was going on.
48:31 Speaker 00 Jeremy Frazier testified that he couldn't remember much about where he went that night, but the police mentioned things to him and he started to remember. Earlier, state trooper Christopher Mason testified that Frazier received a call from the state police on January 5th and may have been working as a drug informant. Phone records verified this. Defense attorney Bob George also questioned the credibility of Frazier's alibi witness, Sean Mulvey. According to ABC, Frazier said he was at an underage club called The Juice Bar with McCowen and Mulvey on January 4, 2002, where they were recorded participating in a rap
49:14 Speaker 00 contest. They left the bar and went to a party, but a fight broke out and everyone was kicked out. Frazier and Mulvey went to Mulvey's father's house and stayed the rest of the night. Frazier didn't know where McCowen went. Now, when first questioned, Sean Mulvey denied Frazier's account of the weekend and said he couldn't clearly remember whether Frazier spent the entire night at his house. Mulvey testified that he lied when first questioned because his father advised him not to get involved. Yeah, I think if you're this Frazier guy, you gotta wonder who your friends are at this point.
49:53 Speaker 01 Well, for sure.
49:54 Speaker 00 One guy is trying to accuse you of murder. Your other friend lies and says he's not sure that that you stayed there that night because, hey, I'm not getting involved in this.
50:08 Speaker 01 That's right.
50:09 Speaker 00 The defense also argued that the police didn't send fibers, hair, and DNA to the lab and that the EMTs contaminated the crime scene. During closing arguments, Bob George said about the rape charge, it's based on an assumption, a false assumption, that a Vassar-educated, 46-year-old, world-traveling, wealthy heiress could not possibly have had consensual sex with a black, uneducated, troubled garbage man. The jury deliberated for the next six days. On day six, one woman was thrown off the panel because her boyfriend was arrested in an unrelated crime, and she was recorded having a phone conversation
50:53 Speaker 00 with him where she criticized the police.
50:56 Speaker 01 Well, that would do it.
50:57 Speaker 00 Yeah, so they seated a new juror. Two days later, on November 16, 2006, the jury found Christopher McCowen guilty of murder, aggravated rape, and burglary. He was sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole.
51:15 Speaker 00 Christopher spoke before sentencing and said, "This case here is a very horrendous case. I feel sorry for the victim's family, her daughter and her. I have never meant for this to ever take place. But Your Honor, all I can say is that I'm an innocent man in this case, and that's all I got to say." After the trial, several jurors made allegations of racial bias during deliberations, which caused the trial judge to call them back for questioning 14 months later. They revealed there was racial tension in the jury room, which the defense argued was grounds for a retrial. One white juror referred to McCowen as a "big black man",
51:59 Speaker 00 which offended a black juror. The judge ruled that the juror's remark was an innocent description and rejected the request for a retrial. On December 10, 2010, the State Supreme Judicial Court upheld McCowen's conviction in sentencing. But one of the justices wrote that he wished the trial judge questioned jurors more searchingly about the potential racial bias. So, I mean, this is kind of a big part of the case. Seems so. The defense hammered it, right, during the trial. They did. Well, I think it was part of their strategy, basically trying to convince the jury that, you know,
52:42 Speaker 00 the police got it in their mind, that there is no way that Krista could have had a consensual sexual relationship with McCowen. Now, could she have? Absolutely, she could have. But does the evidence support that? No. But I don't think this was a slam dunk case, right? There were some things, I think, as a juror that...
53:11 Speaker 00 You would maybe get hung up on the state medical examiner can conclusively say that Krista was raped. You go back to Chris's own words. I had sex with her and then I beat her. Okay. To me, it doesn't sound like a consensual sexual relationship.
53:31 Speaker 01 No.
53:32 Speaker 00 And if this Frazier guy is not there at all, as his alibi seems to suggest, they don't find any of his DNA there, even though Chris says he, you know, was with her for 10 minutes and said he was going to have sex with her. Again, you gotta go with the evidence.
53:52 Speaker 01 You do.
53:53 Speaker 00 Christopher got married in prison around 2014 to Leslie McCowen. Leslie told the Cape Cod Times in 2024, there is no way he could have done this. I always knew he didn't do it. I believe he was framed. I believe it was because he was black. Leslie had known Christopher casually since 1999, when he came to the Dunkin' Donuts where she worked. She didn't follow the case until after he was convicted. She wrote to him and they got to know each other. She mentioned Chris was stabbed at the first prison he was incarcerated at, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Cedar Junction, formerly MCI Walpole. At the time, the DOC only confirmed
54:38 Speaker 00 there was a stabbing, but did not identify the victim. And you know, I'm always interested in people who marry an inmate.
54:48 Speaker 01 Yes.
54:49 Speaker 00 Now, she did know him, at least casually, she knew him somewhat.
54:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, she wasn't like, it wasn't like she didn't know him at all.
54:57 Speaker 00 Right, before all this happened. But they really got to know each other after he'd already been convicted. And then, you know, eventually got married. But she came out and said it, right? I know he didn't do it. Well, I hope that's what she believes.
55:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, be weird if it. If she's like, yeah, I know he did it.
55:16 Speaker 00 But I'm gonna marry him anyway.
55:17 Speaker 01 And I love him.
55:18 Speaker 00 In 2017, McCowen had a new defense attorney and hoped to obtain new evidence that could lead to a retrial. McCowen told ABC's 2020 that he knew Krista from his trash route. And he said, being a garbage man, I get to go by everybody's houses and, you know, get to talk to them briefly. On the Thursday before the murder, Krista asked him to help get rid of a Christmas tree. And as he said, one thing led to another. It was just a mutual thing between two people, I guess. We started kissing, then we ended up having sex. McCowen told 2020, he didn't remember talking to the police or what he told them because
56:02 Speaker 00 he was under the influence of marijuana, cocaine, and Percocet during his six-hour interview, saying, "The police kept on switching everything up. I was so intoxicated off all of them drugs that I really didn't know what the hell was going on."
56:19 Speaker 01 Well, if you were taking all that, you probably didn't really know what was going on.
56:22 Speaker 00 No. That could be absolutely true. But he also said some things after this interview where the thought is he wasn't intoxicated. So, you know, everything wasn't said during this six-hour interview. He also said he didn't remember going to the house with Jeremy Frazier. When asked why he named Frazier, he said, "That's what they, the police, said that I did. I didn't do that." On May 22, 2024, a Superior Court Associate Justice approved McCowen's request to conduct DNA tests and fabric analysis of a blue and white sweater worn by Jeremy Frazier on
57:06 Speaker 00 the night of January 4, 2002. Frazier turned in the sweater in May 2005, but it wasn't found until 2023 in a state police barracks. Also submitted for testing were blue and white fibers found in Krista's vaginal area and under the fingernails of both her hands. A match of the fibers could result in a new trial for McCowen. McCowen's attorney, Gary Peltier, said previous testing was inconclusive.
57:38 Speaker 00 So I mean, this is pretty interesting. I also can't believe that Frazier turned this sweater in in 2005 and then it wasn't found until 2023. I mean, what in the world are we doing here?
57:51 Speaker 01 Yeah, it sounds like there's a little problem in the evidence room.
57:55 Speaker 00 But these blue and white fibers, right? If they come back to matching this sweater that Frazier turned in, it could be a game changer. And we don't do this a lot, Gibbs, but I'm just gonna play devil's advocate for a minute here. Let's say there is a scenario where Chris McCowen's DNA was found exactly because of exactly what he said happened, right? They had a consensual sexual encounter.
58:29 Speaker 01 Right.
58:30 Speaker 00 But then later on, Jeremy Frazier comes to her house. Maybe Chris had said something to him about what happened and he thought, well, I'll try my luck. Things go bad. He ends up killing her and he's wearing this sweater when he doesn't. I think, you know, the problem for me is as of right now, the evidence doesn't support that theory. But if the the blue and white fabric after tested comes back, it could change things.
59:06 Speaker 01 Big change.
59:07 Speaker 00 But as of now, no one else has been charged with the murder of Krista Worthington. The DNA evidence, I think as of now, supports the prosecution's argument that McCowen acted alone. But like we just said, it's possible we could see some further developments in McCowen's appeals process based on this DNA testing. I can also see a problem with the chain of custody of this sweater.
59:34 Speaker 01 Oh, for sure.
59:35 Speaker 00 You're what? Then going to try Frazier for the murder if these fibers come back to match the sweater? And for 18 years or so, nobody seemed to know where it was?
59:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, I think that's a hard, hard sell.
59:52 Speaker 00 That's gonna be, uh, that's gonna be a tough one. But would it be enough to reverse the conviction against Christopher McCowen? I don't know. I mean, I think this is one that we're all gonna have to watch and see how it plays out. But that's it for our episode on Christopher McCowen. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out?
1:00:12 Speaker 01 Let's hear it.
1:00:14 Speaker 02 Hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Shane from Illinois. Uh, just finished listening to The Wellness Case and my family actually owns a farm in Adair County, about six miles outside of Columbia. So it was really cool to hear something about our tiny little town out there. Um, my uncle actually remembers them, said that they were really great people. And my grandfather actually went to them with his cattle medical issues. Um, just wanted to say you guys are doing a great job. Throw a couple of cases at you. The, uh, Star Rock Murders out here in Illinois and the, uh, St. Valentine's Day massacre. All right. Keep your time ticking and goodbye.
1:00:56 Speaker 00 All right. Thanks for the voicemail. Appreciate the suggestions very much.
1:01:00 Speaker 01 Shane, come back Shane.
1:01:05 Speaker 00 Is that from the movie Shane?
1:01:06 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:01:07 Speaker 00 Okay.
1:01:10 Speaker 01 He's probably like, I've heard that like too many times.
1:01:13 Speaker 00 Probably. Yeah. Or maybe he's not old enough to know or have seen the movie.
1:01:18 Speaker 01 That's true.
1:01:18 Speaker 00 I don't know.
1:01:19 Speaker 01 Very true.
1:01:20 Speaker 00 The movie is quite old.
1:01:24 Speaker 00 Oh, all right, buddy. That is it. For another episode of True Crime All The Time, so for Mike.
1:01:30 Speaker 01 And Gibby.
1:01:31 Speaker 00 Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.
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