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Christopher M. McCOWEN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
January 6,
2002
Date
of arrest:
April 14,
2005
Date of birth: 1972
Victim profile: Christa Worthington, 46
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: Truro, Massachusetts, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on November 16, 2006
Christopher McCowen
is an African American who was convicted in the 2002 rape and murder of
Christa Worthington, a former fashion writer.
McCowen had been imprisoned in Florida from 1993-1998
for auto theft and burglary.
Later, McCowen lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts
and was a waste collector whose regular route included Worthington's
home in Truro, Massachusetts, where the crime occurred in January 2002.
Worthington had been raped and killed with a knife.
McCowen was charged on April 17, 2005 on the basis of
genetic fingerprinting from a sample he provided in March of 2004.
At the age of 34, on November 16, 2006, he was
convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated rape, and aggravated armed
burglary; and he was sentenced to life without parole.
McCowen's trial lasted five weeks, and issues of
class, race, rush to judgment, bungled forensics and the existence of
other suspects were raised by Boston defense lawyer Robert A. George.
The trial was covered nationally by the news media and was carried on a
daily basis by Court TV. The jury deliberated eight days before coming
to a verdict.
In January 2008, after a motion alleging juror
misconduct during the trial and deliberations, a hearing was held due to
three jurors' allegations that some racial bias was displayed during
deliberations.
Christa Worthington Trial
Verdict: Guilty
By Hilary Russ - CapecodOnline.com
November 17, 2006
BARNSTABLE - His shackles clanking, Christopher McCowen walked slowly,
anxiously, into the packed courtroom yesterday with tears already in his
eyes.
His attorney straightened his suit collar and
wiped his tear-stained cheeks. His girlfriend dabbed her eyes.
The clock ticked. Everyone waited.
''Is the defendant, Christopher M. McCowen, guilty or
not guilty of any offense,'' the clerk-magistrate asked the jury foreman.
''We, the jurors, unanimously return the following
verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree,'' the foreman replied.
McCowen slowly shook his head, crying, as an
inaudible gasp spread through the courtroom.
His girlfriend collapsed onto the shoulder of a
friend.
Across the room, cousin Pamela Worthington Franklin,
shoulders shaking, cried and dropped her head. The stoic jury stood
still.
On the 24th day of trial and the eighth day of
deliberation, the verdict came back yesterday to end the longest, most
high-profile trial Barnstable Superior Court has seen in decades.
McCowen was convicted of robbing, raping and killing Christa Worthington,
who was found dead on her living room floor, half-naked, a fatal knife
wound through her lung, her daughter Ava trying to nurse.
''This is a case about the brutal rape and murder of
Christa Worthington, and nothing else,'' said Christa's cousin Mary in a
victim impact statement she read before sentencing yesterday. ''This is
about a little girl losing her mother in the most heinous way
imaginable.''
''It is about the loss of a loving, vibrant woman,''
she said. ''There will never be closure, because Christa is never coming
back to us.''
Then McCowen wanted to speak. Throughout the trial,
he sat quietly, a hulking figure calm and still, looking at papers in
front of him or whispering to his attorney.
McCowen thanked the judge, court officers and others
in the courthouse. ''Y'all showed me respect just like I showed y'all,''
he said.
''I feel sorry for the victim's family,'' he said.
''I never meant for this to ever take place.''
But he also said he did not kill Worthington. ''I sat
here, thinking to myself, why me,'' McCowen said softly. ''I'm an
innocent man in this case. ... All this time I've been innocent.''
The January 2002 murder shocked Truro, a small town
of loners, artists, working people and wealthy part-timers, desolate in
winter. State police spent three years hunting for a killer. Finally,
police matched McCowen's DNA to a semen sample taken from Worthington's
body.
A cast of damaged characters, their lives forever
altered by the murder, piled into the courtroom over the past five weeks
of trial.
Judge Gary Nickerson sentenced McCowen to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. McCowen was also found guilty
of aggravated rape and aggravated burglary.
An appeal for a first-degree murder conviction is
automatic. Defense attorney Robert George also said he is appealing
because experts Eric Brown and Richard Ofshe were not allowed to testify
about some aspects of the case.
''He was devastated by the verdict,'' George said of
McCowen at a press conference on courthouse steps. George was taken
aback because he believed enough reasonable doubt had existed for the
jury to acquit McCowen.
Prosecutors were pleased and relieved. ''I just thank
God that it's over and that justice was done,'' said assistant district
attorney Robert Welsh III, who tried the case with his trademark
deliberate, methodical style.
''It's a very good verdict and consistent with the
evidence,'' said his boss, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael
O'Keefe, who praised investigators, the state police crime lab and even
defense attorney George.
George hinted that jurors may have convicted McCowen
only after Rachel Huffman was removed from the apparently hung jury
after her boyfriend, Kyle Hicks, was arrested in a shooting in Falmouth
over the weekend.
''She gave us six weeks of her time, and now she's
public enemy number one, and that bothers me most,'' George said of
Huffman.
George filed a motion yesterday, before the verdict
was in, that demands Hicks' phone and visitor records from jail. George
implied investigators tampered with the jury, a charge O'Keefe called ''ridiculous.''
Jurors held a press conference outside the courthouse,
but only the foreman spoke. He asked that the press and public respect
their request to be left alone. Nickerson impounded jurors' names ''for
good and just cause,'' he said in court.
Beyond shock and relief at the outcome, beyond the
made-for-tabloid case of a white fashion writer from a wealthy family
killed by her black garbage man, one person was on the minds of many
close to the case: Ava, Christa's daughter, who is now 7½. ''I choose
not to portray Ava as a victim,'' her legal guardian, Amyra Chase, wrote
in her victim impact statement, despite the ''day and a half that was so
traumatic and so horrific'' before the child was discovered next to her
mother's corpse.
''Ava Maria Worthington has emerged from that night
as a very bright, confident and engaging child,'' Chase wrote. ''Christa
was robbed of the privilege and delight of raising her daughter.''
Timeline of Christa
Worthington murder mystery
Cape Cod Times archives, compiled by Robin Smith-Johnson
October 14, 2006
*Jan. 6, 2002: The body of Christa Worthington, 46,
is discovered in her Truro home by a former boyfriend, Tim Arnold. She
may have been dead as long as 36 hours before she was found. There is at
least one stab wound to her chest. Her 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Ava, is
found with her, unharmed and trying to care for her mother's body.
*Jan. 7: An autopsy is performed on Worthington's
body to determine more conclusively the time of death. Results are not
released. Police dogs comb the neighborhood and nearby woods in search
of a possible weapon or items that might have been taken from the house.
Christopher Worthington, Christa's father, begins proceedings in
Barnstable to probate her will. Ava, who appears to be the sole
beneficiary of her mother's estate, is in the custody of family friends,
Amyra and Cliff Chase of Cohasset. The Chases file for formal custody of
Ava on this date.
*Jan. 8: Police interview both Tim Arnold, former
boyfriend, and Tony Jackett, a married father of six who also fathered
Worthington's daughter, Ava. Both men say they have nothing to do with
the death.
*Jan. 9: Investigators say they have not made any
major breaks in the case.
*Jan. 10: Judge Robert Scandurra orders Tony Jackett
to undergo a paternity test in order to establish whether he might seek
custody of Ava. There is speculation that Christa may have been
suspicious of her father's girlfriend, Elizabeth Porter, a 28-year-old
ex-convict. Porter and Edward Hall, who lives with Porter in a Quincy
apartment paid for by Christa Worthington's father, are given polygraph
tests.
*Jan. 26: Author Maria Flook signs with Random House
to tell the story of Christa Worthington.
*Feb. 6: DNA confirms Tony Jackett's claim that he
fathered Ava during an affair with Christa Worthington.
*Feb. 8: A judge rejects Jackett's bid for custody
because he had not been ruled out as a suspect in Christa's death. Amyra
Chase and her husband will retain custody of Ava for another 90 days.
Also in February: Police question Tony Jackett and
his son Kyle and request samples of their saliva. Also interviewed is
Jackett's son-in-law, Keith Amato and a sample of his blood is also
taken.
*April: Christa Worthington's former lovers say
they're off suspect list.
*April 11 Truro murder is focus of ''48 Hours''
television newsmagazine.
*June 20: Jackett and Chase sign a joint custody
agreement before Barnstable County Probate and Family Judge Robert
Scandurra. Ava will live primarily with Chase, but both families will
decide such issues as health care, education and the like.
*Aug. 8: Police travel to New York City to take DNA
samples from Worthington's former boyfriend, Thomas Churchill.
*Dec. 3: Worthington family will post reward in
search for killer. The estimated amount is expected to be $25,000.
*Dec. 19: Police are looking for man who had sex with
Christa shortly before her murder. Untraced DNA is sought in the case.
*Jan. 9, 2003: Family and friends offer a $25,000
reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the killer.
*May 2: Controversy erupts when advance copies of
''Invisible Eden: A Story of Love and Murder on Cape Cod,'' by Emerson
College professor and author Maria Flook, are released for review. Some
of the concerns by Worthington's family and friends center around an
agreement between Flook and investigators to share information, and
unflattering, sometimes demeaning, statements about Worthington made by
then-First Assistant District Attorney Michael O'Keefe.
*May 3: O'Keefe defends his tactics, but apologizes
to the Worthington family for his comments, which he says he thought
were off the record.
*June 18: Worthington's family and friends claim they
were misquoted by Flook, sparking more controversy.
*June 20: Under pressure from Worthington's family,
O'Keefe, now the district attorney, appoints a special investigator from
Plymouth County to provide the case with ''an abundance of caution in
deference to the (Worthington) family.''
*June 24: ''Invisible Eden'' is published by Broadway
Books. Flook defends her book and reporting techniques in an interview.
''I did not invent anything,'' Flook says about criticism she mixed
fiction with fact. ''I re-create scenes from an incredible accretion of
details I got from her friends, editors, colleagues.''
*July: ''Invisible Eden'' climbs to number 6 on the
New York Times Bestseller List.
*December: Worthington's former lover, Tony Jackett,
who fathered her daughter, Ava, agrees to sell depiction rights to a
Pasadena, Calif., film company for a movie that could be released
nationwide in theaters.
*December: A knife is found about a half-mile from
Worthington's North Truro home. Police send it to a state lab for DNA
testing. Some investigators are skeptical it might be the murder weapon.
*March 20, 2004: An Emmy-winning production company
plans to make a documentary on the Christa Worthington murder for HBO.
*April 21: $1.1 million offer is made on the four-bedroom,
two bath house where Christa Worthington was stabbed.
*June 29: The Worthington house sells for $962,500 to
a Weston-based trust. The buyer is listed as Jonathan White, c/o White,
Freeman and Winter, LLP, acting under the auspices of Pamet Realty Trust.
*Jan. 4, 2005: State police detective investigating
the death says the crime is solvable because of DNA left at the scene.
*Jan. 5, 2005: State and Truro police begin asking
adult men in Truro if they will donate saliva for DNA testing in an
effort to find the killer. On the first day, 75 men volunteer their
saliva.
*April 14, 2005: State police arrest Christopher
McCowen, 33, at 7:15 p.m. at his home on La France Avenue in Hyannis. He
is charged in connection with Worthington's death. Worthington's former
trash collector, McCowen stands accused of her rape and murder. Police
say a DNA sample, voluntarily provided by McCowen more than a year
before, led to his arrest. Analysis of the sample is delayed by a
backlog of work in state crime labs.
*May: The man accused of killing Christa Worthington
is being sued for $10 million by the executors of her estate. Also named
in the wrongful death suit filed in Barnstable Superior Court is Cape
Cod Disposal Co., the Lower Cape business that employed Christopher M.
McCowen in January 2002, when the Truro fashion writer was killed.
*May 17: McCowen tells investigators that he
participated in the beating of Worthington and was present when she was
killed.
*May 26: McCowen hires Robert George, 50, to be his
attorney. George is a Boston-based lawyer and a familiar face on Court
TV. He has been involved with several high profile trials. On the
prosecution side is Robert Welsh, 40, a third-generation Cape lawyer
whose grandfather served as a judge on the Lower Cape and whose father
is presiding judge in the Orleans District Court.
*June 22: Christopher McCowen pleads innocent in
Barnstable Superior Court to first-degree murder, aggravated rape and
armed burglary. He is ordered held without bail pending a hearing July
6. Also in June, Tim Arnold, the man who found the body of murdered
Truro resident Christa Worthington, files a libel suit against
publishing giant Random House and Truro author Maria Flook, who penned
''Invisible Eden.''
*July 7: Bail for the man accused of killing fashion
writer Christa Worthington is set at $750,000 cash and $7.5 million in
surety following a hearing in Barnstable Superior Court.
*July 14: The prosecution is set to protest bail
setting for McCowen. Motions to be decided during this week's hearings
include a request for a change of venue in the trial and a request to
suppress statements McCowen gave police on the night of his arrest.
*Oct. 4: Judge Gary Nickerson will preside over the
Christopher McCowen murder trial if the proceedings are held in
Barnstable Superior Court. Nickerson has replaced Superior Court Judge
Richard Connon, who is recovering from surgery for a broken leg suffered
when he was run over by a golf cart.
*Oct. 16, 2006: McCowen's murder trial begin.
*Nov. 13, 2006: Jurors are sequestered after they
inform the judge that they are deadlocked.
*Nov. 14, 2006: A juror is dismissed after making a
phone call to a jailed boyfriend.
*Nov. 16, 2006: McCowen is found guilty of murder
with extreme atrocity and cruelty and murder while committing felonies,
aggravated rape and burglary. The judge sentenced him to three
concurrent life sentences without parole.
Christa Worthington' s early history:
*1973: Christa Worthington graduates from Hingham
High School.
*1977: She graduates with honors from Vassar College
in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
*1978 and beyond: Worthington's career as an editor,
journalist and freelance writer takes her to Paris, London and New York
City. She is a Paris editor of Women's Wear Daily and later works for
Cosmopolitan, Elle and Harper's Bazaar. She also co-authors three books
on fashion accessories.
*Mid-'90s: Christa returns from a high-powered job as
a fashion writer to settle in a small cottage near Pamet Harbor in Truro.
*1998: She has a summer affair with shellfish
constable Tony Jackett.
*1999: In May, Christa gives birth to her daughter,
Ava.
*2001: Christa Worthington hires an investigator
after she does not receive proceeds from the sale of her mother's
property.
