Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mystery of Cape Cod killer & victim Christa Worthington

Episode Date: December 26, 2017

The murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington in 2002 remains a controversial mystery as 2018 nears, despite the fact that someone is in prison for the crime. Nancy Grace is joined by crime scene investigator Sheryl McCollum, Los Angeles psycho analyst Dr. Bethany Marshall, and Crime Stories contributing reporter John Lemley to explore the Cape Cod killing. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Six-year-old Krista Worthington, an accomplished fashion writer, was found murdered in her Truro home. She was stabbed through the chest. Her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Ava, was found unharmed near the body. She had taken her sippy cup and tried to feed her mother, and she's trying to wake her mother up. The Cape had never seen or witnessed an event like this, ever. We started kissing, and we wound it up. Ended up having sex. Serious questions remain about how police handled the case and if they got the right man.

A two-year-old little girl was discovered with her mom's dead body. This is a case I will never forget as long as I live. These facts of a two-year-old little girl there with her mother's cold, dead body. And now, more questions arise in the murder of Krista Worthington. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I want to go straight out to John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I want to start not with the brand new questions about the murder of Krista Worthington and how it came to be in this exclusive area of Cape Cod there in Truro, Massachusetts,

that a little two-year-old girl was there beside her mom's bloody body, cold and dead in the floor. I want to start at the beginning, not the new questions, but take me back to the day her body was discovered. And I'm talking about a gorgeous young mom, Krista Worthington. John Limley, tell me. Yes, Krista, absolutely gorgeous and so talented when it came to writing. She was a fashion writer for some of the top magazines, Elle being one of them. Now, Nancy, this has all the makings of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, only this is real life and has real life tragedy and consequences. Let's first set the scene. Truro

is, as you've said, a town in Massachusetts on the Cape, Cape Cod. If you know anything about the Cape, you may be aware that the tip is Provincetown. The Cape sort of looks like a flexed arm. So if Provincetown is the clenched fist, Truro is the wrist. Truro is filled with unspoiled natural beauty, beaches, high sandy cliffs on the ocean side. There's a beautiful lighthouse there. And one of the joys in Truro is exploring all of the back roads, discovering small beaches and quaint properties that are dotted all along. Now, this is during the summer. During the winter, it's a ghost town. And this is the time of year we're talking about.

It was January 6th, a bitterly cold winter day, and this former fashion writer, Krista Worthington, is found stabbed to death in her Cape Cod house. Hold on, John Limley, an important fact we learned from the 911 call. Now, we learn, John Limley, that Krista Worthington is stabbed so forcefully that the knife, the blade of the knife, nicked the floor. Absolutely. And the little baby girl is there with mommy's dead body trying to nurse, trying to nurse Krista's breast when she was found take a listen and let's see what we can learn from the 9-1-1 call please send somebody to 50 depot road okay what's the problem it's Krista with me but I don't know what happened I think she fell down or something I'm sure she's dead I think It's Crystal with him, but I don't know what happened. I think she fell down or something. I'm sure she's dead.

I think she's dead. Okay, is there somebody there? I'm a friend, and I just was returning a flashlight to her, and I saw a light on. Her two-year-old daughter was there nursing on her body. Okay, I'll send them right over. God, thank you. Back to you, John Limley.

Let's go through the rest of what we know. How was her body found? Well, the body was found by a former boyfriend. We'll discover in due course that there is more than one former boyfriend in the story. Tim Arnold was an author who wrote a number of books, including a children's book, a rather disturbing children's book called The Winter Mittens. Arnold and Worthington dated for about a year, but then even after that, he continued to help her take care of little Ava, the little girl, after their relationship ended.

Now, it was Arnold who discovered Worthington's body at her home and called police. Well, hold on just a moment. John Limley joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, along with Dr. Bethany Marshall, a very well-known psychoanalyst joining us out of L.A., and crime scene expert, the director of the Cold Case Institute, Cheryl McCollum. Now, see, right there, Cheryl,

I assume police would first suspect the person that found her, the ex-lover. Absolutely. They're going to, you know, narrow that circle right there on him. No doubt about it. He's there. He can put himself at the crime scene. The 911 call, though, helps him out a lot. I mean, he sounds distraught. He sounds upset. He introduces the victim immediately, says who she is. And then he says, I'm not sure what happened to her, if she fell or whatever. So that helps. Well, also, we know, I want to get your analysis of the crime scene, Cheryl.

But we also know, and John Limley, correct me if I'm wrong, but her cell phone was left on the kitchen counter with one digit punched in, nine, as if she were trying to call 911, Cheryl. The crime scene is very telling, Nancy. The door's kicked in, but before you get to the door, there's belongings outside. There's some glasses, there's some socks, there's a beret, a hat. So it looks like there was an issue outside. Looks like she might have tried to run in the house, lock the door and call for help. And the door is violently kicked in. You can see a lot of damage on that door. And then again, the result of the one... On the outside of the door.

Yeah. I mean, the door... Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Tell me again. and I agree with you, by the way, but I want Bethany and Limley and Alan Duke to hear your reasoning as to why you think some sort of confrontation started outside. Items are thrown about. They're scattered in the yard. And again, the way the door is kicked in would lead you to think the door was locked, deadbolted, and on top of that, you have her trying to call 911. So she knew there was an issue prior to someone gaining entry. Now,

when you look at the door, the door frame itself is damaged greatly. So it's really imperative to understand to get a door like that open. I mean, these old houses in Cape Cod, they're sturdy, they're strong. So you're talking about somebody having to kick probably more than, you know, more than one time to get that door open and then get to her. So she wasn't able to do much except get to the phone and punch the one number in. But her stab wound, there's one. But like you've already said, it went all the way through her and was able to penetrate the floor. So the force of what was done to her in that moment, horrific, violent. Well, you know, Krista Worthington is nobody's idiot.

Krista fell dead in her Truro, Massachusetts home, bitter cold outside. It was January 6th. She grew up as an only child in Massachusetts with her father, Toppy Worthington, and the mother, Gloria. She went to Vassar College. I mean, you know, you got to be smart to get into Vassar. And the years following that, she became a very well-known fashion writer working for Women's Wear Daily. You know, she also worked for New York Times and Elle magazine, also with some other international

publications. But Cheryl McCollum, you just can't, like, walk into Women's Wear Daily or the New York Times or Vassar College and say, hey, I want to work here. It doesn't work like that, you know. I would have loved to have gone to Vassar, but they weren't going to have it. So, again, you're talking about. No, they were not interested in us.

No offense to them. Not at all. But, okay, you know what? I'll stick with Mercer and NYU and call it a day, okay? again you're talking about no they were not interested in us no offense to them but um okay you know what i'll stick with mercer and nyu and call it a day okay vassar you know i don't have a chance of that but this this krista worthington was no idiot now back to the baby baby ava do we know john limley who's the dad of baby Ava? Yes, we do indeed. That is Anthony Jackett. He's known as Tony Jackett. He's a man that's quite popular, very well known around Provincetown and Truro. In fact, he's known as the shellfish constable. It was his job

to enforce fishing laws and make sure fishermen had the proper license. That's a big deal there. Absolutely. Because in Truro, that's what they're known for. They're known for their shellfish. You know, like you go to certain areas in the Northeast for their lobster. Okay. That's one of the first things that happened when I went, Dr. Bethany, and you were with me on the airways when I first started Court TV.

Yeah. I got taken out all up and down long island looking for lobster okay so apparently uh nobody thought the lobster we had in georgia was the real thing okay so anyway but i will say that it was darn good And that's the thing about Truro. It's known for shellfishing, quiet beaches, beautiful scenery, very pristine. So he kind of had a big job there. He was the shellfish constable. Now, earlier I heard John Limley say, and I didn't really like the way he said it, that she had had several boyfriends.

Well, who hasn't? All right. So just throw me in that pot and stew me. Fair enough. Fair enough. So there you go, Lemley. Dr. Bethany, the baby, the baby is still nursing, nursing the mom's breast, and she's lying there cold and dead.

I just pray to God the baby has no memory of this. What do you think about embedded child memories? I think the baby does no memory of this. What do you think about embedded child memories? I think the baby does have memories of this. And the memories could be what we call in my field, pre-conscious and pre-verbal, meaning that the baby who's now a little older may not have an actual visual image of a mother lying on the floor with a stab wound, but may have a sense of something bad having happened. And we know with PTSD, there's often recurrent intrusive thoughts, terrifying images. So even if baby Ava doesn't have that clear recollection, if something happens, like there's a loud noise or she sees an image

on TV or watches a scary movie, there could be an intrusive sense of some bad happening, a sense of dread, a sense of foreboding, but it can just be unformed and not clearly linked to the past. I want to make a comment about the boyfriends because you were sort of laughing about how she had all these boyfriends. Yeah, I wasn't laughing. I wasn't laughing. I want to make a comment about the boyfriends because you were sort of laughing about how she had all these boyfriends. I wasn't laughing. I wasn't laughing. I was laughing about me having all the boyfriends. You know what? Can I just say no offense to you guys, but thank God I married David Lynch. He is a saint. Okay. He helps me with the children. My mom has moved in with us after my dad passed away. He is a saint. And I also have with me, Bethany, I think I told you this. My nephew is building a house with his new

wife and their baby. And they have also moved in. And they have a cat and a dog. I have a cat and a dog. And Lucy got two guinea pigs for her birthday. So this house is rocking. Can I tell you that? That's a whole new TV show for you. Including Abby and Chloe, the guinea pigs who fight incessantly all night long. Let me tell you, the only time I see my husband was passing him empty in the trash. So maybe that's a good thing. But what I'm saying, he's a saint and there's not a darn thing wrong with having a parade of boyfriends. That's what it took to make me realize he was the one.

OK, you wanted him. Back to what you were saying, Bethany. OK, what I was saying is that she had very cohesive relationships with the men she dated. One of her ex-boyfriends, the one who discovered the body, actually was helping her raise baby Ava, the shellfish constable, Tony Jacket. She had a very cohesive relationship with him. After that affair ended, I'm sure we'll get more into that relationship. And yet the perpetrator, whoever perpetrated this crime, had some violent encounter with her outside of the house, according to Cheryl McCollum, kicked in the door, accosted her before she was able to finish

dialing 911. This was not an acquaintance rape. That was my point. Because she had boyfriends with whom she was in good relationships, I can't imagine any of them having done this. You know what? That's a very good point to Cheryl McCollum. You know, the fact that I don't mean that you're still dating or anything like that, but the fact that you're on good relations with your exes, I think it indicates a certain stability of mind on your part. You're not like hateful and vengeful and stalking and crazy.

No, it just didn't work out. You moved on. Absolutely. And a couple of them, you know, the men, they might have thought there's a chance to maybe rekindle and get back together. This scene, to me, with the drag marks outside and the glasses and the hat and the socks, this looks like someone that surprised her outside and whatever started it started outside and led inside and that's where

it was concluded the stab was i want you to listen to this cheryl okay we're getting a peek as to who Krista Worthington was in life. Take a listen from our friends at ABC as they catch her friends discussing Krista Worthington. Listen. Krista was the only child. She grew up in Hingham, Mass., which is south of Boston, kind of Tony's suburb. Her father was a Harvard-educated lawyer, and it was a very privileged upbringing. After high school, Krista went to Vassar. I was a Vassar classmate of Krista Worthington.

Krista and I were in this English thesis class. Krista was someone you would know because she was so short but interesting looking and pretty. She was brilliant in class. I mean, the first few decades of her life outside of college were high fashion, high society. She began a career in fashion writing. She actually was a bureau chief in Paris for Women's Wear Daily. She wrote for all the major magazines, Cosmo, Harper's Bazaar. New York Times, she worked for Elle Magazine. I met Krista when we were editors together at Elle magazine,

probably 1990. It was kind of an ongoing party disguised as a publication. She interviewed people like Yves Saint Laurent, Martha Stewart. She even dated Anderson Cooper's brother. Krista's writing, oh, she could make anything just sound like magic. The most boring thing in the world

was all of a sudden. Fresh and exciting. Smooth and refined pro style. The headscarf. The headscarf reveals as it conceals. The louder the go away message, the more audible the come hither. Isn't that great? I want to pause very briefly with those words in mind about Krista Worthington in life. It just seems so ironic that we are talking about her death and her baby Ava and trying to sift through the clues left behind now.

And I hear her friends speaking so poignantly about her. Our program today would not be possible without our partners. And I consider them, along with you listening and joining us today, our partners in a fight against crime. And I want to thank them. First, if you're like everybody else, you probably haven't said no very much to sugary sweets during the holiday season. But that is exactly why you need to schedule an appointment with an awesome dentist you can find at 1-800-DENTIST. Now, this is what I like about them. They can deal with your specific needs. Like I've got two 10-year-old children. I need a pediatric dentist. My mom lives with us now since

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the knife actually nicks the floor beneath her. The only digit 9 dialed on her cell phone, as we believe she tried to call 911, as Cheryl McCollum from Cold Case Institute has pointed out. This clearly started outside the door and entered into the home. Her little baby girl, Ava, found nursing her mom lying cold and dead in the floor. But I want you to hear from a very important player in this scenario. It's Tony Jackett, the so-called shellfish constable, one of her previous boyfriends. Listen to what he says.

I got to know her a little bit. I think there was a time that she asked me to do something up at her house and that was when I got to be more friendly with her. His title was Shellfish Constable. He really was sort of the police of the fish in the area.

He was good looking and dashing. People talk about his thick, black, curly hair. Tony was the kind of guy that women looking and dashing. People talk about his thick black curly hair. Tony was the kind of guy that women wanted and men wanted to be. Before you know it, he was going over to her house for tea. I remember thinking, go home, go home,

and I would turn right, go right up to driveway. And then of course it became a little deeper. I think I got caught up in the idea of a romance. It was just exciting, you know. The thing that makes the relationship with Tony kind of tricky is that he'd been married for 27 years and had six kids. If there was a sweeter person on earth between the hours of 8 and 9 15, I would not believe it. Tony became tender and we were made new, spellbound. I love him.

It's a small town. You're nervous, or at least aware that, you know, you could be seen. So, you know, to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, joining me out of L.A., Dr. Bethany, you know, a lot of men would have been rageful at that time that she announces, hey, we're breaking up and I'm pregnant. But it really, truly doesn't seem to be that way. No, like I said earlier, she had very cohesive relationships. What surprises me is not only does Tony Jacket have five children of his own at the time of the affair, but after the affair concludes, he decides to tell his wife. back and actually brings Krista Worthington and Ava into their family. In other words,

the wife establishes good relationships with Krista. So once again, you have a very stable, cohesive, loving community. Like you said earlier, none of the like the revenge, the anger, the stalking, all the things that we hear in unstable relationships. This town really has so much stability in the community. And then I go back to the crime scene that Cheryl is painting for us, this rageful encounter, the door being kicked in, a bloodied scene, you know, a knife that is plunged so forcefully into her chest that it actually nicks the floor. Whoever did this was an outsider in this community.

And by an outsider, I don't mean that this person lived outside the town. I don't know that I agree with you that this had to be an outsider because domestic violence takes a lot of very ugly forms. But to Cheryl McCollum, I'm also not saying that I think it's Tony Jacket. And I'm also saying that I don't think it's Tim Arnold. Because when I hear him on the 911 call, and let me point out also, police first suspected him, as I would have too, after years and years of prosecuting and investigating. But he was cleared.

He was cleared by police. But I still don't think you can rule out a domestic. Well, Nancy, I kind of agree with Dr. Bethany on this one. And the reason is... All right, just throw me to the wolves. Go ahead, side with her. See if I care. Here's my reasoning.

You have a violent scene outside where somebody's been drugged and an article of clothing has been removed because of some scuffle. Then you've got the door violently kicked in. She's clearly sexually assaulted but only half nude

and one, one stab wound if this were domestic that would have been multiple and it would have been from the chest and the neck area or the abdomen here you have one not even in the heart in the lungs so to me it does seem like somebody that she was not romantically involved with for a long period of time. Okay, I'm kind of coming over to your side. And I was not saying that it was domestic. I was just saying that I wouldn't rule it out because of what I see. Absolutely.

But you two can go ahead and take that leap of faith. But I'm going to wait on some actual evidence okay um let's go back to john limley okay then okay we we know we've ruled out tony jacket the father of ava we know we've ruled out tim arnold the former boyfriend that writes the children's book that's still helping her, you know, raise Ava. These guys are still in her life, I think, in a positive way, helping her. All right, so then what happens, Limley? Well, as you can see, the list of suspects is getting longer and longer as time goes by, essentially, before all is said and done, every male in the community.

And at the top of the list, as you've said, were these ex-boyfriends. But a surprising person at the top of the list. I hope you're not trying to say she slept with all these guys, because that's kind of what it sounds like. That's not true. Oh, no, no, no. And I don't need. Well, I guess not. I don't need to dig my hole any deeper.

Yes. Absolutely not. You're digging your grave with your teeth. Okay, go ahead. Well, also at the top of the list for investigators, Krista's father was even questioned in the case. Why was he questioned? Well, this 72-year-old dad had been having a relationship with a 29-year-old Boston former prostitute and heroin addict. Oh, it just never ends. And Krista, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, excuse me, John Limley. Cheryl, I think you'll agree with me that we need to shrink.

Dr. Bethany Marshall, what is wrong with men? It's not that I hate them, but what's a 79-year-old man doing driving into town, meeting up with a 20-something-year-old hooker? I mean, you know what? That's just wrong on so many levels. What is wrong with them? I have a hard time answering that one. I think the operative word is hooker. Okay. Enough said. Enough said. Okay. Whatever. one i think the operative word is hooker um okay enough said enough okay okay can you imagine

is a 72 year old man going to be able to plunge a knife into a woman's chest i mean really and his daughter and his so wait a minute john limley he they what did they think he was having a fight an argument with krista over the hooker? Who cares? Who cares if he has a hooker? Go, go, go. Just be mad if you didn't. Krista was understandably a little shaken by this relationship and had had a number of arguments with her father about his supporting this woman. And so investigators wondered, well, maybe because Krista's making such a fuss over this relationship, either the dad, maybe the 29-year-old, had decided to remove her from the picture. Oh, that is so far-fetched. But you know what, Cheryl?

I give an A-plus to the police for investigating it. Because what you don't want is when you do catch the real killer, it comes up in trial. Oh, it could have been the dad and his hooker girlfriend that he's supporting. I'd be mad, too, if my father's out spending my grandchildren's inheritance on a hooker. Hello? That hooker looks at him, and all she sees is a big ATM machine. So, uh-uh. So why not?

I'm okay with her being mad at him. You know what, though? It's one of those situations where their good time of investigating this case is being wasted because she clearly did not put seminal fluid on this victim. So it's a big waste of time. Okay, there you go. That is the turning point. The seminal fluid that sperm, DNA, possible sex, possible rape, John Limley, seminal fluid,

catch me up. Yeah, this is one of the things that has really kind of confused investigators because the seminal fluid is degraded to the point where, you know, someone that that is well versed in this area of study the the tails of the individual sperm had broken off so that gives you an idea that gives you the age of the sperm that gives you the age of the sperm and so they're not really sure the first thing to break off of a sperm think of a sperm a spermatozoa is looking like a shrimp okay or a little a little tadpole with a head and a little body and a tail the first thing that breaks off when it starts is time past hours past the first thing to break off is the tail okay that will happen what would you say uh would you say cheryl between 7 and 12 hours or maybe 5 to 12 hours?

What would you say to that? I would say between 5 to 12. And then the head breaks off, and then the sperm totally degenerates. Although you can still get DNA, you don't have the sperm intact. So all is not lost just because the sperm starts to degenerate. It's all degenerated in about 36 to 72 hours but you can still get dna no matter what whether it's degenerated or not so we find sperm without a tail the only significance to that is it can date the you know as hours we're talking about hours, that the sperm got there. All right. So

they find seminal fluid on an inner body. The tail is gone. So it's been, let's just say, five hours-ish. It's very inexact. Okay, John, then what happens? Well, John Limley joining us, Crime Online investigative contributor, reporter. Go ahead, John. DNA tests were conducted on really any guy that would submit a sample. They even had, police had stations set up at at least three different restaurants around town where people could come in and voluntarily have their cheek swabbed for DNA. Initially, there was simply no match, and the killing remained unsolved for three years until there was a surprise arrest. Investigators had a DNA hit, and the results left really everyone stunned. Wow, what a break in the case. Three years passed after Krista Worthington found dead in her floor, her baby girl Ava trying to nurse the mom's dead body.

And DNA stations set up at restaurants and other locations in town, everybody signing up to take DNA to prove they are not the one that killed Krista Worthington. And then out of the blue, a match. What does it prove quickly thank you to our partners making our investigation into the murder of Krista Worthington possible it's super beats everybody's talking about super foods nutritionally dense foods super beneficial to your health did you know that beets are one of the most powerful superfoods loaded with an important nutrient to increase your blood flow and hence your energy.

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LinkAKC.com, code Nancy. Thank you for being our partner today. John Limley, a shocking match just pops up out of nowhere. Who, what, where, why, and when? Tell me. Nancy, the match was a man named Christopher McGowan. All of Krista's friends and family members started asking, who in the world is Christopher McGowan? No one knew the name. No one knew Chris McGowan. Well, it turns out that McGowan was Krista's garbage man. McGowan, Worthington's former trash collector, and even having a part in beating her.

So that was damning, to say the least. Wait a minute. What did you say about beating her? He even admitted that he took part in beating her. So the trash collector, Chris McGowan, who was on her route, says he beat her route says he beat her so let me understand this so he says he beat her his sperm is on her body and her hat mittens whatever are outside the front door in the all over the yard and the door is kicked in she's covered sperm. She's stabbed dead with her baby in the home. And he says they had consensual sex. Is that my understanding? Is that correct, John Limley?

It is indeed. He went on to blame the fatal stabbing, as I said, eventually, because there were a number of stories he told over time. He blamed that on a friend of his, Jeremy Frazier. Jeremy Frazier. Jeremy Frazier is a friend of Chris McGowan's, and he admitted to being with McGowan at a bar on Friday, two days before Chris's body was found. He stated that he separated from McGowan later that night when they left the bar, and he stayed at a friend's house. He denies he ever went into the home. And nothing in the home to Cheryl McCollum indicates he was ever there.

No fingerprints, no anything, correct? No, nothing. But Nancy, you know, this perpetrator does admit to having sex with her on Thursday. But again, to your point, when she's found on Sunday, sperm doesn't add up. No, because you've still got the sperm intact, and that's where the tails, the body, and the head of the sperm take on critical significance because the sperm were intact minus the tail. What does that say, Cheryl McCollum?

It was less than 48 hours. No question about it. Less than 48 hours. No question about it. Less than 36 hours. No question about it. No way it's Thursday the 7th. Probably less than that. Probably if only the tails were breaking off. Probably less than 36 hours that the so-called sex, and I'm doing air quotas, happened.

Because there's no doubt in my mind that this was a rape and a murder. But hold on. I want you to listen to the very latest. Take a listen to what Chris McGowan's father and others say who he was and why he's not the killer. He wanted to be friends with everybody. I'm Roy McGowan. I'm the father of Chris McAlwin. I'm saying to myself, Christopher McAlwin is a player. He's not a murderer. And then when I read about the knife in the woman's chest stuck so hard

where it stuck to the floor, I said there's no way in the world that Chris. Christopher loved his job. He always wanted to move up. He wanted to get his own truck, and he wanted to partner with his boss. So I thought that was great. I met with Chris McCowan. In my mind, he was not a person capable of this type of crime. There was no motive.

It's a guy who was a father, who loved children. Chris's daughter was the same age as Ava, was the same age as Ava the same age neighbor this is not a cold deliberate calculating person this is not a person who had a reason to do harm to another there are a number of people who don't believe that Christopher McCowan could ever would have done this and that includes his boss they've got the wrong person. This person just would not do that. When he would get in an argument with another driver over some silly thing, and Chris would just walk away from it. Okay, not only that.

ABC's Sonny Huston also speaks to McGowan from behind bars. I don't believe a word of this. Listen. This is a Global Challenge prepaid call from Christopher McAllen. Hi, Chris. Let's go back to how this all started, okay? It's in the garbage, man. You know, I get to go by everybody's houses and get to talk to them briefly. She asked me to come in the house and look at a Christmas tree. Were you attracted to her?

She had something with her. Standing there that close in that vicinity with her, one thing just led to another. What do you mean one thing led to another? It was just a mutual thing between two people, I guess. And we started kissing, and we wound it up. Ended up having sex. So how many times were you intimate with Krista? Just one time. The night before she was murdered, that's not his original story, was it, Cheryl McCollum?

Nancy, it wasn't his original story. And also, the sperm was found outside of her body and inside of her body. So, again, she didn't shower or anything either. I call BS. Now, what is the significance if the sperm is outside and inside her body? What does that say to you? Again, this sounds like an assault to me. This occurred on the kitchen floor with her 2-year-old right there. She's only half undressed. This does

not sound like a consensual romantic interlude. He gives the story that, you know, he's delivering or collecting the trash and she basically comes on to him. Okay. Oh, you left out the beating you left out the beating we're not there yet he only admitted that later but only in playboy does this happen gentlemen um that this you know beautiful vassar graduate is just sitting on her front porch waiting for you to come by to collect the trash and she just has to have you right that moment, that very instant, because you're just so freaking attractive. She can't control herself. Not ever has that happened in the history of the world, gentlemen. So when we hear it, every woman goes, hmm, I think he killed her and raped her.

Yep. And all the guys are saying, that doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. It doesn't. And I can be very firm about this. Did I hear Dr. Bethany Marshall chime in? Go ahead, Bethany. It does not happen.

Absolutely not. The fact, this woman was so polished, so sophisticated. Her writing was revered. As you said, she was a Vassar graduate. She was the Paris editor of Women's Wear Daily. She was so sophisticated. You know, when I listen to this Chris McGowan, one of the things I hear is him confessing to what he did and then minimizing it. So he'll say, I got with her instead of I raped her. He said, I beat her rather than I stabbed her. So everything is a minimization of the act. I think it's quite significant that the semen is also on the body

because it speaks to the mode of the sex attack, which is that it was very rageful. And what I imagine might have happened is that he beat her, rendered her unconscious, raped her, and then masturbated on her. And then when he stabbed her through the lung, I think the most horrifying part of this, besides baby Ava being present for this entire sex attack, is that she must have struggled for hours before she died. This is the sad thing to me because he didn't stab her through the heart. He stabbed her through the lungs. So this is a very painful, torturous, long death process for her. You know, he is now saying that, as he elaborates,

quote, it was just a mutual thing between two people. We started kissing and then we winded up, ended up having sex. Okay. And he admits beating her. And I'm just telling you, John Limley, the only reason he changed his story from consensual sex on Thursday night to sex the night before, whatever he changed it to, is because his defense lawyer said, forensically, Thursday night's impossible because his sperm has not degraded. This just happened a couple hours before. So we've got to work on that story. So he changed his story.

And now he's speaking from behind bars, whining that he wished he had taken the stand. He didn't take the stand and subject himself to cross-examination because he would be cut up, sliced up like a Thanksgiving turkey on the stand with his lies. But oh, it's okay to get on the phone with the reporter and just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and tell your story without anybody stopping you and confronting you on your lies. And it's not just his lies, John Limley. We've got a dead mother and a child growing up without her mother. And this guy's sitting on his rear end behind bars, lying into a phone receiver. I don't like it, Limley. Right. During trial, McGowan's lawyers

contended that sure, his client's DNA was present, but that was because of this consensual sex, air quotes. McGowan even admitted to beating Krista, but said that he had nothing to do with her murder. In the end, the jury did not buy this one bit, and McGowan was found guilty of first-degree murder, rape and burglary, and is now serving three concurrent terms of life in prison after being found guilty. Lawyers are working at this very moment to try to bring this case back to trial. You know what? Here's my fear, Cheryl McCollum. Just as we saw in the highly popular podcast Serial about the murder of a young girl at the hands of Adnan Syed, it gathered so much ground.

There is motion for new trial activity. Not only that, you saw making a murderer with Stephen Avery the highly biased and I covered the disappearance of Teresa Hallback the young photographer that was murdered by Stephen Avery and he lied to me to my face about what happened the hours leading up to her death I mean he lied to me why lie to me and then he contradicted his own his own story to police i mean he lied through his teeth so what i'm saying is that when stories are publicized and you're hearing a let me just say journalist review of what happened you're not hearing all the facts a jury heard

and what's concerning me about him now saying oh I want a new trial I should have testified woulda coulda shoulda all right the evidence is overwhelming and I don't want this daughter going through this again I know what it's like to be a crime victim. And that's one of the last things on earth I would want is to have to relive that murder trial. Well, let's just bring everybody up to date. He did not testify, but he did get a chance to talk to that judge. And when he had his chance, he said, and I quote, I never meant for this to ever take place. He didn't say he didn't do it. Well put. I want to hear again. Alan, please let me hear the voices of those who loved her as they describe Krista Worthington. Krista was the only child.

She grew up in Hangem, Mass., which is south of Boston, kind of Tony's suburb. Her father was a Harvard-educated lawyer, and it was a very privileged upbringing. After high school, Krista went to Vassar. I was a Vassar classmate of Krista Worthington. Krista and I were in this English thesis class. Krista was someone you would know because she was so short,

but interesting looking and pretty. She was brilliant in class. She began a career in fashion writing. She actually was the bureau chief in Paris for Women's Wear Daily. She wrote for all the major magazines, Cosmo, Harper's Bazaar. New York Times, she worked for Elle magazines. She interviewed people like Yves Saint Laurent, Martha Stewart. She even dated Anderson Cooper's brother. Chris is writing, oh, she could make anything just sound like magic. The most boring thing in the world was all of a sudden fresh

and exciting. Let me ask you, John Limley, where is baby Ava, as I've always called her, where is she now? She has been living with a dear friend of Krista's now for the vast majority of her life. She's 18. Friends say that she is well-adjusted. She's a freshman in college that on the surface, you'd never know that she had gone through this. Well, investigators think she was with her her mom's dead body for about 36 hours by the time she was discovered. That's a lot to go through two and a half years old or not. But for her to be just the stable young woman that she appears to be is nothing short of a miracle. You know, that is a miracle.

Dr. Bethany, a lot of crime victims put on a happy face. But inside, the knowledge that your mother was raped and murdered and that you were found sitting by her dead body in the floor as a baby. I mean, I don't think that will ever go away. It's hard to imagine. No, it's not. It can't. Because, Nancy, no one can replace one's mother. I mean, your mother is the one who loves you, who has your best interests at stake, who is very foundational, provides what we call in my field that secure base, which you can always go back to and from which you can go back out into the world. And nobody else can replace that.

But on the other hand, people, human beings are resilient. And that's what I want your listeners to know, that no matter what happens to them in their lives, even if they're crime victims or they suffer trauma, that the human spirit is quite resilient. And the most therapeutic thing that one can do after being a victim or most therapeutic thing that could take place for baby Ava is to have secure relationships throughout her life. And it's those secure relationships that are healing and are therapeutic. I pray that what John Lindley has told us is true. I pray that Ava is happy and healthy and doing well and surrounded by love and that her mother is watching over her every single minute of every single day. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.

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