48 Hours - A Murder on Cape Cod

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

"48 Hours" has covered the case of A-list fashion writer Christa Worthington, murdered on Cape Cod, since 2006. The man convicted of killing her continues to fight for his freedom. Susan Spencer reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. It's a small seaside town just about at the end of Cape Cod. And in the wintertime, it's a really quiet place. The people that live here year-round, everyone pretty much knows one another. I never wanted to live anywhere else. It's just a beautiful place to hang out, unless something really awful happens.

Police are trying to solve the first murder in a small Cape Cod town in more than 30 years. The victim, a local writer named Krista Worthington, was found inside this house in Truro on Sunday. CHRISTA WORTHINGTON, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S

WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, WOMEN'S WIFE, W in her back and went into the kitchen floor below her. Worthington's two-year-old daughter was also at the house on Sunday and witnessed the attack, but she was not hurt. The details that we heard about apparently Ava attempting to clean her mother's body and finding a child's broom with blood on it and things like that, that was really, really hard to take. The horror that came into this quiet house in the wintertime at the end of the world

and just blew up these little wonderful lives. My name is Eric Williams. I'm a reporter with the Cape Cod Times, and I've covered this case from the beginning. I'd say she had a very easy smile. She had a wide-eyed wonderment about the world. She was a mom. She was a great mom.

Her whole being lit up just by being with her daughter, Ava. She was a flirt. And I could tell that there was an attraction. I'm Tony Jackett. I had an affair with Crystal Worthington, and we had a child together, Ava Worthington. It wasn't solved right away. It is a murder mystery that continues to haunt Cape Cod. I think people were spooked. Who is this person that did it? Where are they? I mean, are they a local?

People around here are getting very anxious. And time went on, and a sort of rotating cast of potential suspects were trotted out. We got Tony Jackett, the father of Ava. It's disturbing to be a murder suspect. Tony's son-in-law, Keith Amato, was a person whose name came up. Dude, don't f***ing film me. The guy who found the body, Tim Arnold. Krista was an easy person to love and sometimes a difficult person to be around.

I think there was the feeling like, we're never going to know whether this was your next-door neighbor. That arrest and the murder of Cresta Worthington. I mean, that was a shock. I was out of the blue. They arrested a guy. I mean, could you believe it? Susan Spencer reports. murder on the Cape. This was a great mystery. How could a single mom be executed in her kitchen in January in Cape Cod.

Yeah, I love it in the wintertime because it is quiet and you have, and I like the cold weather. In the wintertime, Cape Cod can feel like the end of the world. It's a real challenge being out on the water, you know, mentally and physically, really. A real independent way of life. It's the only world fishing warden Tony Jackett ever really has known. I feel fortunate and blessed that I was born and raised here. Tony is like, he's like a nature boy. I was born and raised here. Tony is like, he's like a nature boy.

And that, according to reporter Eric Williams, is pretty much how everybody in the town of Truro saw him. Hi, Nancy. He's a great guy, a gregarious, smart, you know, really a pleasant fellow, you know, who likes the ladies, you know. In 1997, a new lady came to town, a glamorous former fashion writer from New York. She had a bungalow right next to the Harbormaster Shack.

And this is the Harbormaster Shack. This pink one, that was hers. She's sitting on the porch, and I'm right there. And Jacket, married with six kids, nonetheless went for her hook, line, and sinker. She was someone very different from the people that I knew. She was mysterious, enigmatic, somewhat of a loner. Her name was Krista Worthington. A 40-year-old Vassar grad, she lived what seemed a life in the fast lane. Covering the runways of New York, London, and Paris for top fashion magazines.

Scoring an interview with fashion superstar Yves Saint Laurent when she was just 26. That was her building when she moved back from Europe. But Steve Radlauer, who dated Krista for two years in New York, says she never felt part of the glamorous world she covered. I think she was feeling a little burned out after her European women's wear years. Her prominent New England family owned a slew of properties in Truro. Owned by John Worthington, Sr. Including this one, where she moved a few months later. It seemed like the perfect retreat and the perfect place to have a child. She had this having a baby thing in mind,

and I think she felt that this would be a good place to do that. The complication was that she was not married, didn't have a boyfriend. She was, I think, intrigued with the local color. Local color, including you? Yeah. I could tell that there was there was an attraction. You know ultimately I ended up over a house having a cup of tea and then one thing leads to another. For about a year off

and on they had an affair. I had become a slave to my ego. And for the beautiful writer who desperately wanted a child and the local fishermen who already had six, one thing did lead to another. So she comes to you at some point and says, I'm pregnant. Right. This is a surprise. This is a total surprise.

A surprise he didn't share with his wife of 26 years, even when Krista gave birth to a daughter, Ava, in May of 1999. The day she got pregnant, she was ecstatic. I was dumbfounded. Friends insist Krista had been told she couldn't have a baby, but Jacket always has felt she set him up. How do I explain this?

jacket always has felt she set him up. How do I explain this? I'm like, all of a sudden I realize that I'm a... In fact, she had gone on the Lisa show the year before to talk about women who choose to be single parents. Trying to figure out how to be the best parent to your child, given that there is no father? She was very real. She was exactly who she was. Ava became the center of Krista's universe, says Linda Schlechter, who babysat a few times a week. A very devoted mother, and she would always have Ava on her lap, and they would always be playing or laughing. Now I'm just still in a lot of disbelief about what's happened. It seems so unreal. Unreal indeed.

I walked into the newsroom here on Cape Cod and we had just gotten word from the police that there had been a murder. The first homicide in Truro in 30 years sent reporter Eric Williams into high gear. Finding sources, working the phones. It was Sunday, January 6th, 2002. Surprisingly, you know, I knew the guy who found the body and next thing I know I'm calling him and talking to him about it. He was calling Tim Arnold, another former boyfriend of Krista's, who lived just through the woods from her house. Arnold's story was that he had simply dropped by the house at 4.30 that afternoon to return a flashlight, and instead got the shock of his life. He sees Krista lying on the floor in a sort of a

kitchen hallway area and he sees Ava near her mother's body. Arnold later told police little Ava was trying to nurse. He said he scooped her up and ran outside. He called 911. Krista Worthington was dead, lying in a hallway off the kitchen. She was bruised up. It looked like there had been some kind of altercation that she had been in. She was half naked and stabbed once through the left lung. The blade went through the body and into the kitchen floor beneath her body.

The front door was smashed. There were drag marks on the ground outside and several personal items scattered in the drive. Some socks were found outside, maybe a barrette, a pair of reading glasses. The disarray continued inside. Shocked EMTs carelessly grabbed a blanket from the house to cover Krista's body. Soon all of Truro knew what had happened. We got just a phone call that Krista got murdered. What was your reaction when you got this phone call?

Just disbelief. I mean, like, why? It seemed so senseless. With all the elements of a classic mystery, sensational reports of the murder on Cape Cod topped the news around the country. It was a murder that rocked the world of high fashion. Leaving Krista's nervous neighbors with no reason to suspect

that it would take police literally years to solve this crime. Not that they didn't have plenty of suspects. It became some kind of awful parlor game, you know, in living rooms on the Outer Cape and maybe even beyond as you'd sit around and once again go through it and try to figure out could it have been Tim, could it have been Tony, how did it go down? By the spring of 2005, townspeople were starting to think police never would figure out who killed Krista Worthington. This was just a random awfulness that just came screaming out of the woods of Truro and festered for three years. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. my ABCs. Next time out to sing with me. Krista Worthington's savage murder in January of 2002 left two-year-old Ava

without a mother. And it left the townspeople of Truro edgy, nervous, and silently wondering if the killer might be one of them. Who else would come down to the end of the world in January and do this? You think, it's got to be someone who is here, because no one comes here in January. The best potential lead to the murderer's identity DNA found on Krista's body.

It's DNA of an unknown male that's consistent with someone having had sexual relations with the victim and it's that DNA that we seek to match. So, says District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, investigators first zeroed in on her immediate circle, especially past boyfriends. You look at the people who are in the immediate orbit of the victim's life. While they waited for the crime lab

to find a DNA match, they took a hard look. First, there was the neighbor and former boyfriend, Tim Arnold. Not only had he found the body, but his semen would turn up on the blanket thrown over Krista. Then again, they'd lived together for a time in the house. Tim Arnold was one of the few men under the age of 70 in Truro year-round.

Krista's friend Steve Radlauer says her relationship with Arnold, at times contentious, apparently was over. I don't think that she ever entertained the idea that this was going to develop into a long-term relationship, that they were going to get married or anything like that. But he may have. He may have. From what I understand, he was more serious about that as a long-term possibility than she was. Arnold emphatically denied to police that he had anything to do with the crime.

I have some quick questions about what your memories of Krista are. Otherwise, he refused to discuss Krista Worthington. These days, Arnold struggles with health problems, mainly affecting his vision. But he says memories of what happened in 2002 never are far from his thoughts. I think about it a lot. I think about it just about every day. Sometimes writes about Krista. The Krista I knew was a person of contradictions. She was by turns bright, talented and ambitious.

And then a homebody who wanted nothing more than to spend time with her child. While Tim Arnold may have been at the top of the suspect list... I was interviewed a lot. Early on, Ava's father, Tony Jackett, wasn't far behind. You can certainly understand why the police would think that you had a motive to kill her. Why? I had no motive. What was the motive? Ava? Wow!

According to Krista's friends, Jack had had little time for the baby at first, and eventually Krista demanded that he at least pay child support. She also demanded that he tell his wife, Susan. You didn't have a clue? No. that he tell his wife Susan you didn't have a clue no he said I had an affair and he said there's a child and I said you're kidding then to Tony's total shock she forgave him take a walk on the beach it's been too many years and he's a nice man. People make mistakes. He's only human.

Look at it. Isn't it lovely? I don't want this anger in me. I just want to make this all work. And by the time of the murder, the Jackets claim it was, more or less, working. The three of them had a relationship of sorts with Ava at its center. Tony, they say, had no reason to kill Krista. We had her over for dinner, and it was a little uncomfortable the first time. But the more I got to know her, I liked her.

I thought she was a nice person. Susan says Tony was at home with her when Krista was killed. But police refused to rule anyone out. And the suspect list was expanding to Agatha Christie-sized proportions. At times, even including Tony's then-son-in-law, Keith Amato, who'd taken an outside shower or two at Krista's house near the beach. Even Krista's elderly father was drawn into the investigation through his 29-year-old girlfriend.

You just love taking pictures of me, don't you? A former heroin addict upon whom Krista thought he was spending far too much money. Meanwhile, the state crime lab was hopelessly backed up. Months passed with no word on the DNA taken from Krista's body. The police went to the FBI for a profile of the killer, but nobody seemed a fit. Then finally, a year after the murder, the crime lab at last produced results. Disappointing results, because the DNA from Krista didn't match Tony Jacket or Tim Arnold or any other suspect the police had.

You have this ever-widening circle, if you will, of investigation going on. First group of people are looked at very, very intensely. Nothing is developing. You widen that circle. The widened circle brought in DNA from repairmen, trashmen, delivery men. With pressure mounting, D.A. O'Keefe took an unprecedented step, asking for DNA from every single man in Truro. State police investigators were actually in Truro today asking men outside the post office, outside coffee shops for saliva samples for DNA. At that point, like, what are you crazy?

I mean, this is such a needle in a haystack. How many people have been tested so far? I'm not going to say specifically, but dozens of people. Really? Dozens and dozens. These guys are throwing darts at an elephant you know i mean they got no chance it's just crazy but chance is a strange thing In the three years police were searching for Krista Worthington's killer, an uneasy peace settled over Cape Cod. It's somebody that knows her.

Still, no arrests in this case. No one's been ruled out either. As the investigation dragged on... You know, it just makes you think, you know. No one has been named a suspect. Only the random DNA roundup got much public attention. It did seem to smack of some desperation. Meanwhile, whole books were being written about this unsolved murder.

Investigators under intense pressure still would rule no one out, including Tony Jackett. I'm left in limbo if they don't solve it, and it's not right. Little Ava, his daughter with Krista, was sent to live with a friend, Amira Chase, whom Krista had named Ava's guardian in her will. Jackett was allowed to see his daughter only one afternoon a week.

Who loves you? Daddy. That's right. Daddy loves you. That's right. Daddy loves you. Yeah, you know, that's my daughter. You know, the chase is a nothing to this little girl. He fought for custody. Worthington jacket matters. Zero two W zero zero zero six. Long rise. But lost to Krista's friend, and Tony thinks he knows why. Well, being a suspect definitely cost me custody, more than anything else, the custody of my daughter. By 2005, Jacket was getting used to another reality. It was just kind of to live with the fact that the perception of my being a suspect is gonna stay.

But then, on April 7th, investigators caught a stunning break. The crime lab had a hit. We have a brief statement to make. A match for DNA found outside and inside Kristaista's body it just was a bombshell huge bombshell because we were just like electrified couldn't believe that they had come up with a match suddenly a match a suspect and an arrest all announced to the world by d.a michael o'keefe three and a half years after the crime last night night at approximately 7.15 p.m.,

detectives from the Massachusetts State Police arrested Christopher A. McGowan for the 2002 murder of Krista A. Worthington. Which had a lot of people in town asking, Christopher who? Who would have figured it would have been the garbage man? That's right. Christopher McGowan had been Krista Worthington's garbage man. Trow was astonished and relieved. It seemed like a done deal.

The results were... They were in the quadrillions. So you're talking about as absolute as one could possibly get. Well, you know, pretty much. Police picked up a docile McCowan at his rooming house, lying on the bed, watching cartoons. Marijuana and an open bottle of prescription painkillers were on the table nearby. Incredibly, he'd been right under their noses from the start. Did you kill Krista?

Interviewed twice, both times he had denied knowing Christa Worthington. He'd given police his DNA voluntarily more than a year earlier. The laboratory could not get you results. As quickly as we would have liked them. Well, a year. Right, right. When detectives took him in for questioning, McCowan waived his right to a lawyer.

They say he again denied knowing Krista. And then he's presented with what I would suggest is a relatively strong piece of evidence that he's lying. DNA. Correct. Police say that's when his story changed. He admits that, yes, he went there on Friday night. Yes, he had sex with her. And yes, he beat her.

But he doesn't want to bring himself to admit that he killed her. So he blames the worst part of it on someone else. The somebody else was McCowan's friend Jeremy Frazier, who'd been with him the night of the murder. But Frazier's DNA wasn't found anywhere on Krista's body. Was there an operating assumption that the last person who'd had sex with Krista Worthington had killed her?

Yes. From the beginning? Yes. And you Worthington had killed her? Yes. From the beginning? Yes. And you believe that to be the case? Yes. Christopher McCowan's interview at the police barracks lasted about six hours, and for whatever reason, he declined to have it recorded. So the only record of this crucial interview is a report some 20 pages long

that the detectives wrote from their notes about a week later. In it, McCowan is sometimes confused and comes up with at least half a dozen different versions of what really happened the night police say Krista Worthington died. Chris McCowan didn't commit this crime and the police know it. Attorney Bob George took McCowan's case after the police interrogation and says they jumped to conclusions from the start, noting that the DA's website listed this murder as solved almost from the moment of McCowan's arrest. A person of Chris McCowan's race, class, and limited capacities was an easy target.

An especially easy target, he says, because Christopher McCowan literally wasn't smart enough to defend himself. This is a person with a 76 to a 78 IQ on his best day, meaning on a day where he's not using drugs and alcohol, not under pressure. Under pressure and under the influence... He was using Percocet that day. He was using marijuana that day. George says his client was putty

in the hands of the police. This is a false confession, and I don't accept it. I don't know how much of it is actually coming from Chris McCowan's mouth or how much of it is coming from the police investigation. I don't know. is actually coming from Chris McCowan's mouth or how much of it is coming from the police investigation, I don't know. As for the DNA, the lynchpin of the prosecution's case,

the significance of that, George says, is all in how you look at this crime. Court's now in session, please be seated. And the police, he's about to tell the jury, are looking at it all wrong. The forensics in the case could very well set Chris McCowan free. That person who 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. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney,

I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn.

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Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Down the Cape today, the infamous Crystal Worthington murder case has gone from a whodunit to a courtroom drama. All right, Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Christopher M. McCowan. Prosecutors go into Christopher McCowan's trial confident that the jury will accept their simple theory of Krista Worthington's murder. That he went to this location for the purpose of having sex with this person. That that was denied to him and in rage, he raped her and killed her.

The case against Krista's alleged killer, District Attorney Michael O'Keefe concedes, depends on two vital pieces of evidence. The DNA and the statement together were the two major pillars of the case. First, the DNA. We performed DNA analysis on 23 samples. The state's expert says it proves beyond doubt that McGowan had sex with Krista Worthington. Christopher McGowan matched the major profile in the mixture. Then, the statement. Can you tell us your name for the record, please?

My name is Christopher Mason. With Krista's father and other family members looking on. Employed as a trooper with Massachusetts State Police. Trooper Christopher Mason tells the court that although McCowan didn't actually confess, he did admit to police that he beat Krista and watched her die. Mr. McCowan stated 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 about it. He went up there looking for sex. Crystal Worthington confronted him,

and it got very ugly. In the prosecution scenario, McAllen was drinking heavily that night. He joined friends at a local club. They were videotaped by an onlooker while taking part in a local club. They were videotaped by an onlooker while taking part in a rap contest. This person wanted the company of a woman after partying and drinking all night.

So, O'Keefe continues, at around 1.30 a.m., McGowan drove to Krista's house in Truro, where he killed her. And he was alone? He was alone. drove to Krista's house in Truro, where he killed her. And he was alone? He was alone. And he didn't have any prior relationship with her? Other than his familiarity with who she was,

where she lived, and the fact that she lived alone. That is where McCowan's attorney, Bob George, insists prosecutors have it all wrong. Now when he found the DNA, for 39 months, you will hear, they were looking to speak to Krista's last lover. He wants to convince the jury there is reasonable doubt about everything in this case. Suddenly, Krista's last lover was a rapist. For starters, George claims, his client and Krista may have been involved. Chris McGowan could have reasonably had a consensual sexual relationship with Krista Worthington,

and anyone who doesn't believe it is someone who just refuses to accept it. And that's the defense's explanation for the damning DNA evidence, that Krista Worthington voluntarily had sex with McGowan, probably that Thursday, his day for picking up the trash, and that later someone else came along and killed her. You don't have McCown's fingerprints at that scene. You don't have McCown's hair at that scene. You don't have McCown's DNA at that scene. Yep. Consensual sexual episode on Thursday.

But George says getting the jury to believe that could be a problem because his client is being tried in Lily White, Cape Cod. If you had the same body of evidence and Johnny Whitebread was home for the holidays and was from some affluent family under Cape, the same body of evidence,

he wouldn't have been charged. But miles away in New York, Krista Worthington's former boyfriend, Steve Radlauer, says race has nothing at all to do with his doubts. Let's hear about that consensual relationship. How long had that been going on? I saw Krista two weeks before she was murdered, roughly. It wasn't going on then,

because we would have heard about it. That would have been her top story. Top of the crystal news would have been, I'm having an affair with my local trash man. You won't believe it. Top story. Back in court, the defense also must deal with its other big problem, that statement. And when he walked into that police station on April 14, 2005, the police had to get a statement out of him. So they intimidated him, George argues, in a six-hour interrogation, much as they'd done with other suspects like Tim Arnold. And when you told them that you did not kill Krista Worthington, what was said to you?

Oh, yes, I had. It was like getting worked over, you know? Like physically getting beaten up. Another one-time suspect, Keith Amato, described a similar experience. Trooper Maughan 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.

They did exactly the same thing to them that they did to McCowan, except that they were smart enough. And they had the wherewithal and the background to know when to say, stop, cut it out, I'm not doing this anymore, I want a lawyer. As far as IQs go, what's the score for someone who's mentally retarded? What's the score for someone who's mentally retarded? Georgia's witness, forensic psychologist Eric Brown, claims that with an IQ of about 76, Christopher McGowan simply couldn't understand the police's questions. He's 69, he's mentally retarded?

Yes. And he's 76 on his best day? Yes. Rubbish, says the prosecution. McGowan seemed smart enough when Brown gave him an intelligence test. For relativity, he indicated Einstein. And for Gandhi, he wrote spiritual leader of India. And for Koran, he wrote Muslim Bible. And he was clever enough, the state argues, to concoct a story blaming someone else. The truth, the whole truth. His friend, Jeremy Frazier,

who appeared uncomfortable the moment he took the stand. Did you drive up to Crystal Worthington's house with Christopher McCowan? No, I didn't. Did you have anything at all to do with her death? No, I didn't. But Bob George wants the jury to believe Frazier could have. What were you drinking? A couple of beers at the party.

Did you tell the police it was like six Coronas? I don't recall. Certainly, Frazier and McCowan were together that night. The videotaped rap contest shows Frazier listening to music with McCowan nearby. But Frazier supplied an alibi. He later was seen at another party, then slept at a friend's house. And his DNA doesn't show up anywhere at the crime scene. He was a convenient patsy for the defendant to blame.

He had nothing to do with this murder? No. Bob George also argues that police bungled the whole investigation. There were fibers, hairs, DNA that never made it to a lab, and a crime scene contaminated by careless EMTs. They had all kinds of evidence at that scene that was either mishandled, ignored, or thrown away. Christopher McEwan never testifies,

betting that his attorney has created enough doubt in this case to set him free. It's based on an assumption, a false assumption, that a vassal-educated, wealthy heiress could not possibly have had consensual sex with a black, uneducated, troubled garbage man. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women listen to candy man the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder early and ad free with the 48 hours plus subscription on apple podcasts

while the jury in the krista worthington murder trial deliberates... There's always that question as to what's the truth, what isn't the truth. The case is still being tried in the court of public opinion. Who have been following the trial? And everyone in town's got an opinion. I think the preponderance of evidence indicates that he's guilty. I think he deserves every bit of a reasonable doubt if it's there. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy gets off. Days go by, the clock ticks on without a verdict. It's always good when they're out a long time. Christopher McCowan's lawyer, Bob George, is taking an optimistic view,

insisting that time and the evidence are on his side. If you can't trust what you find at the crime scene because the scene has been corrupted, if you can't trust the statement because it's unreliable, and if the DNA doesn't mean anything because the defendant could have been involved in a consensual relationship with the victim, then what happened? For five agonizing days, the jury, including two African Americans, debates that very question. They said they were hopelessly deadlocked. Then on day six, a shocker. The judge announces he is throwing one juror off the panel.

A white woman whose boyfriend was arrested in an unrelated crime in a phone call with him she was taped criticizing the police and there's concern about bias you are to be discharged the word began circulating around 11 30 this morning that this jury had finally come to a verdict who's now in session please be seated Two days after a new juror is seated, the logjam breaks. What say you, Mr. Foreman? Christopher McCowan learns his fate. We, the jurors, will return the following verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.

He was devastated by the verdict. Anyone with eyes could see that he was terribly hurt by what happened. Hours later, before he's sentenced, he addresses the court for the first time. This case here is a very horrendous case. I feel sorry for the Pilgrims family, our daughter and her. And they were meant for this. They never take place. But he still claims he had nothing to do with Krista Worthington's death. But, Your Honor, all I can say is that I'm an innocent man in this case.

And that's all I've got to say. The court doesn't buy it. The court in nearby sends you to be imprisoned at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction for and during the term of your natural life without the possibility of parole. the term of your natural life without the possibility of parole. Indictment number 05-109-02. The jury has found you guilty. Hey, Chris. Did I want her not guilty? Of course I wanted her not guilty. You know, my belief in McCowan's innocence is what drove me. I believed he was innocent and still believe he's innocent and

will believe he's not guilty until the day I die. You want me to stand at the podium? Even after the verdict Bob George refuses to give up. He's a little suspicious about what really happened to get that juror removed. You've got a juror receiving phone calls on her cell phone from someone who's incarcerated in a deliberating deadlock jury in a major murder case from the jail. You don't have to be Oliver Wendell Holmes to figure out there's something strange about that. We'll find out what happened. I think there's a lot of

conspiracy theory types that, you know, will never be satisfied. Eric Williams, who's covered the case from day one, says while replacing the juror confused things, in the end, he has confidence in the jury's decision. There was enough evidence, it seemed, to push them to unanimously agree, and I think for most Cape Codders, that's good enough. Well, this case changed my life, radically. It's not something that you ever imagined you were going to have to deal with. Kind of like being in a dark tunnel, wondering if you'll ever see light again. Are you glad that this is finally all over? Now officially cleared as a suspect in Krista's murder, Tony Jackett is relieved at the verdict.

The jury deliberated and carefully looked at all the evidence. Although, remarkably, he isn't sure the jury got it right. I felt there was reasonable doubt all over the place. I think about the trial. I think about what it did to me and I think about her. Tim Arnold too is happy it's finally over, but to this day he is haunted by what happened. Sometimes the weight of events forces you to look back. What do you want to or not? Just something that's always there. And whether you want to or not, it's just something that's always there.

These happen to be a few snapshots I took of Ava and Krista when they were here only a couple of weeks before she was killed. Ava lives still with her legal guardians, and by all accounts, she is doing well. One pretty little girl. Yeah, she was really sweet. When you look at this today, what goes through your mind? Well, you know, I mean, basically I, she was really sweet. When you look at this today, what goes through your mind? Well, you know, I mean, basically I think she was really happy. She was a great person. We miss her a lot.

Ava never will remember those happy times, but Krista's friends are determined that one day she will know how much her mother loved her. How would you want to tell her about the past? Um, a little bit at a time. Yeah, that's good. Ava won't have her. That's the enduring tragedy of the whole thing. For nearly 16 years,

48 Hours has covered the aftermath of Krista Worthington's murder and Christopher McCowan's trial. Guilty of murder in the first degree. Soon after his conviction, the verdict was called into question when several jurors made allegations of racial bias during their deliberations.

That prompted the trial judge to take the unusual step of calling all 12 jurors back to court to be questioned. Their testimony revealed there was racial tension in the jury room, and McCowan's attorney, Bob George, thought it was sufficient grounds for a retrial. Well, in my opinion, it's enough to establish that the statements were made and that the bias statements were made. Now it's up to the judge to determine whether or not there's gonna be a new trial. But the judge ruled against McCowan, upholding his conviction. In 2010, the state Supreme Judicial Court agreed. McCowan, from the moment he was sentenced,

All I can say is that I'm an innocent man. has refused to give up the fight. Mr. McCowan, do you deserve a new trial? He now has a new legal team, and they have filed another motion for a new trial. But for those closest to Krista Worthington, life has moved on. Tony Jackett maintains a warm relationship

with his daughter, Ava, who now is in college and continuing to thrive. Ava graduated from college in 2022. She keeps in touch with Tony Jackett, now harbormaster in Truro. McAllen's defense continues to explore legal options. He filed four motions for a new trial since his conviction. All have been denied. If you like this podcast, you can listen

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