Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of murder and rape. Reader discretion is advised.
On January 6, 2002, authorities discovered Christa Worthington’s lifeless body in her house in Truro, Massachusetts. Reports indicate that the entire Cape Cod community lived in fear as authorities investigated the case. For almost three years, police couldn’t identify the killer. However, in April 2005, they apprehended a man named Chris McCowen for Worthington’s slaying. The case will now feature in this week’s episode of CBS 48 Hours. It will air on the network on Saturday, July 6, at 9 p.m. EST.
Per CBS News, one of Christa Worthington’s former boyfriends found her dead body and called 911. Upon their arrival, authorities discovered that the killer murdered Worthington by stabbing her once through her left lung. Additionally, her body was half-naked, and there were drag marks on the ground outside. The New York Times mentioned that the investigators found semen on her body and sent it to forensics. However, the DNA match didn’t match any suspects the police had. Subsequently, they asked every man from Truro to submit their DNAs. Three years later, police arrested Chris McCowen, Worthington’s garbage man, after finding a DNA match.
Police charged Chris McCowen with first-degree murder, aggravated rape, burglary, and armed assault, per The New York Times. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. More than a year later after his arrest, in October 2006, McCowen went to trial for Christa Worthington’s slaying. The trial continued for one month and concluded with a jury delivering a guilty verdict. According to The New York Times, the court sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Moreover, he received concurrent life sentences for aggravated rape and armed assault.
Currently, Chris McCowen is serving his sentence at Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Christa Worthington’s killer: Where is convicted murderer Chris McCowen now?
As mentioned earlier, Chris McCowen, who received life imprisonment for the murder of Christa Worthington, is serving his sentence at a prison in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Despite being found guilty, McCowen has always maintained his innocence and alleged that he didn’t kill Worthington. Speaking in an interview with ABC News, McCowen reiterated that he is innocent and didn’t kill anyone. He said, “There’s a lot of speculation on the exact timeline of when she was killed. I’m not guilty of anything … this is a nightmare for me.”
McCowen also admitted that he had sex with Worthington. He said, “It just like it was just a mutual thing between two people, I guess. We started kissing. Then we… ended up having, having sex.” However, prosecutors believed that McCowen was lying.
Citing the prosecutors, ABC News mentioned that the accused changed his story multiple times during the questioning. At first, he said he didn’t know Christa Worthington. Later, he admitted to meeting her and having sex with her. In one instance, he even said that he and one of his friends beat Worthington after drinking too much alcohol.
Although he said during the interrogation that his friend Jeremy Frazier murdered Worthington, police believed that Chris McCowen went to the victim’s house alone and killed her. McCowen’s friend testified during the trial and mentioned that he and McCowen were at a bar on January 4, 2002. Citing her testimony, ABC News reported that Frazier spent the night at a friend’s house and didn’t know McCowen’s whereabouts. He told a similar story to the investigators during the initial interrogation and believed everything he said.
The jury eventually found McCowen guilty, following which the court sentenced him to life in prison.
