Murder on the Cape | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] it's a small Seaside town uh just about at the end of Cape [Music] Cod in the winter time it's a really
quiet place the people that live here year round is 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 cryistal Worthington was found inside this house in Truro on
Sunday Chrystal worington was found stabbed once through the left chest missing the heart piercing the lung and
the knife uh made an exit wound uh uh in her back and went into the kitchen floor below
her worthington's 2-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 AA attempting to clean her mother's body and finding a child's
broom with blood on it and and things like that that was really really hard to take the horror that came into this
quiet house in the winter time at the end of the world 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 you know I could
tell that there was there was an attraction I'm Tony jacket I had an affair with Christal Worthington and we
had a child together AA Worthington it wasn't solved right [Music] 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 sort of
rotating cast of potential suspects were Tred it out we got Tony jacket the father of Ava it's um disturbing to be
Mur suspect Tony's son-in-law Kei Amato was a person whose name came up dude don't film the guy who found the body
Tim Arnold gista was an easy person to love and sometimes a difficult person to to be around I think there was the
feeling like we're never going to know whether this was your next door neighbor and arrest in the murder of Crista
Worthington I mean that was a shock that was out of the blue they they arrested a
guy I mean could you believe it [Music] [Music] this was a a great [Music] mystery How could a single mom be
executed in her kitchen in January in Cape [Music] Cod yeah I love it in the winter time
because it is quiet and you have and I like the cold weather in the winter time 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 jacket ever really has known I feel
fortunate and blessed that I I was born and raised here Tony is like he's like a
Nature Boy and that according to reporter Eric Williams is is pretty much how everybody
in the town of Truro saw him hi Nancy he's a great guy a gregarious smart uh you know really a pleasant fellow uh you
know uh 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 hab Master Shack and this is the hab master Shack this pink one that
was hers she's sitting on the porch and I'm right [Music] there and jacket married with six kids
nonetheless went for her hookline and sinker she was someone very different from the people that I knew she was
mysterious enigmatic somewhat of a loner her name was Christa Worthington a 40-year-old Vasser 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 Eve saleron when she was just
26 that was her building when she moved back from um Europe but Steve radlauer who dated Christa for 2 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 uh years her prominent New England family owned a slew of properties Ino owned by
John Worthington Senor 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 uh 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
and 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 fisherman 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 Christa gave birth to a daughter Ava in May of 1999 the day she got pregnant she was
ecstatic I was dumbfounded friends insist Christa had been told she couldn't have a baby but 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
uh in 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's very real she was exactly
who she was Ava became the center of Christ's Universe says Linda schlect who babysat
a few times a week a very devoted mother and she would always have AA on her lap
and they would always be playing or laughing now I'm just still in a lot of dis 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
uh 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 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 Christa'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 sees Crystal lying on the floor in a sort of a kitchen hallway area and he sees AA
near uh her mother's body Arnold later told police little AA was trying to nurse he said he scooped her up and ran
outside he called 911 911 what emergency um please send de Road okay what's the problem it's
Crystal I don't know what happened I think she fell down something I'm sure she's dead Christa Worthington was dead
head lying in a hallway off the kitchen she was uh 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 sock were found outside maybe a Barret a pair of
reading glasses the disarray continued inside shocked EMTs carelessly grabbed a blanket from the house to cover
Christa's body soon all of churo knew what had happened we got just a phone call that Chris got murdered what was
your reaction when you got this phone call just disbelief I mean like why it seems so
senseless with all the elements of a classic mystery since 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 Christa'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 and it became some kind of
some kind of awful parlor game uh 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 out could it have been
Tim could it have been Tony how did it go down by the spring of 2005 Town's people were starting to think police
never would figure out who killed Christa Worthington this was just a random awfulness that just came
screaming out of the woods of Truro and festered for 3 years [Music] [Music] now I my
ABCs next time you sing with [Music] me Crystal worthington's Savage murder in January of 2002 left 2-year-old Ava
without a mother and it left the town's people 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 cu no one no one comes here in
January the best potential lead to the murderer's identity DNA found on Christa's body its DNA of an unknown
male that's consistent with someone having had sexual relations with uh 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 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 seamen would turn up on the
blanket thrown over Christa then again they'd Liv together for a time in the house Tim Arnold was one of the few men
under the age of 70 in Truro year round Christ's friend Steve L 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 she he may have he may have from what I understand he was 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 have
some quick questions about what your memories of Christ are otherwise he refused to discuss Christa
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 Christa the Christ 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
[Music] 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 jacket wasn't far behind you can certainly understand why the police
would think that you had a to kill her why was no motive what was the motive Eva wow according to Christa's friends
jacket had little time for the baby at first and eventually Christa demanded that he at least pay child support she
also demanded 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 um you're kidding then to Tony's total shock she forgave him take I 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 Christa we had her over for dinner
and it was a little uncomfortable the first time but the more I got to know her I I liked her I thought she was a
nice person Susan says Tony was at home with her when Christa was killed but police
refused to rule anyone out and the suspect list was expanding to Agatha chrisy size proportions at times even
including Tony's then son-in-law Keith Amato who'd taken an outside shower or two at Christa's house near the beach
even Christa's elderly father was drawn into the investigation through his 29-year-old
girlfriend love taking pictures of me don't you a former heroin addict upon whom Christa 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 Christa'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 Christa 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 widen Circle brought in DNA from repair men trash men
delivery men with pressure mounting Dao Keef 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 at that point like what are you crazy I mean this is such a needle in a hay stack how many people
have been tested so far um I'm not going to say specifically but dozens of people
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 Str strange thing in the three years police were searching for Christa worthington's
killer an uneasy piece settled over Cape Cod somebody that knows 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 jacket I'm left in limbo if they
don't solve it and it's it's it's not right little Ava his daughter with Christa was sent to live with a friend
Amira Chase whom Christa had named Ava's Guardian in her will jacket was allowed
to see his daughter only one afternoon a week who loves you Daddy D 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 02 w006 all right but lost to Christa's friend and Tony thinks he knows
why while being the suspect definitely cost me custody more than anything else a custody of my my
[Music] daughter by 2005 jacket was getting used to another reality we just going to live
with the fact that um the perception of my being a suspect is going to 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
Christa'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 da Michael
O'Keefe three and a half years after the crime last night at approximately 7:15 p.m. detectives from the Massachusetts
state police arrested Christopher a mcgaan for the 2002 murder of Christa 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
Macwan had been Christal worthington's garbage man tro was astonished and relased Leed it seemed like a done deal
the results were they were in the quadrillions so you're talking about his absolute as one could possibly get well
you know pretty much police picked up a docel maowen 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 Christa chist interviewed twice both times he had denied knowing Christa
Worthington he'd given police's 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 maowen waved his right to a lawyer they say he again denied knowing Christa 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 macau's friend Jeremy Frasier who'd been with him the night of
the murder but Frasier's DNA wasn't found anywhere on Christa's body was there an operating assumption that the
last person who' had sex with Christa worlington had killed her yes from the beginning yes and you believe that to be
the case yes Christopher macau's interview at the police bar lasted about 6 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 maau is sometimes confused
and comes up with at least half a dozen different versions of what really happened the night police say Christa
Worthington died Chris mowen didn't commit this crime and the police know it attorney Bob George took macau'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 macau'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 maowen 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 uh 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 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 Lynch pin of the prosecution's case the significance of that George says is all in how you look
at this crime what'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 Chrystal worington 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
[Music] fingernails down the cap today the infamous Crystal worlington murder case
has gone from a who done it to a courtroom drama all right calt of Massachusetts versus
Christopher M maau prosecutors go into Christopher macan's trial confident that the jury will accept their Simple Theory
of Christa 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 a rage he raped her and killed her [Music]
the case against Christa'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 experts says it proves Beyond doubt that macowan had sex with Christa Worthington
Christopher Macwan matched the major profile in the mix then the statement can you tell us your
name for the record please my name is Christopher Mason with Christa's father and other family members looking on
employed as a trooper with the Massachusetts State Police Trooper Christopher Mason tells the court that
although maau didn't actually confess he did admit to police that he beat Christa
and watched her die Mr maau 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 Macwan was drinking heavily that night he joined friends at 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. macw drove to Christa'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 macau'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 Christa's last Lover he
wants to convince the jury there is reasonable doubt about everything in this case suddenly Christa's last lover
was a rapist for starters George claims his client and Christa may have been involved Chris macowan could have
reasonably had a consensual sexual relationship with Kristal 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 Christa
Worthington voluntarily had sex with mwan probably that Thursday his day for picking up the trash and that later
someone else came along and killed her you don't have macau's fingerprints at that scene you didn't have macau's hair
at that scene you M's DNA at that scene 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 white bread was home for the holidays it was from some affluent family on the C the same body
of evidence he wouldn't have been charged but miles away in New York Christa 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 Christa two weeks before she was murdered roughly uh it wasn't going on
then because we would have heard about it that would have been her top story top of the cryistal news would have been
I'm having an affair with my local Trashmen mhm 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 14th 2005
the police had to get a statement out of him so they intimidated him George argues in a 6-hour
interrogation much as they' done with other suspects like Tim Arnold and when you told them that you did not kill
Christa Worthington what was said to you oh yes I had was like getting worked over you
know like physically getting beaten up another one-time suspect Keith Amato described a similar experience Trooper M
slammed his hand down on the table and said this 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 maowen except that they were smart
enough and they had the wherewithal in 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 is uh what What's the score for someone who's mentally George's witness
forensic psychologist Eric Brown claims that with an IQ of about 76 Christopher maowen simply couldn't understand the
police's questions in 69 is mentally yes and he's 76 on his best day yes rubbish says the prosecution maowen
seems 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 Coran he wrote Muslim bible that's correct and he was clever enough the
state argues to con coed a story blaming someone else be the truth the whole truth his friend Jeremy Frasier who
appeared uncomfortable the moment he took the stand did you drive up uh to Crystal Wilton's house with Christopher
maau I did you have anything at all to do with her death no I didn't but Bob George wants the jury to believe Frasier
could have what were you drinking couple bears at the party did you tell the police it was like six Coronas I don't
recall certainly fre and maen were together that night the videotaped Rap Contest shows Frasier listening to music
with mowen nearby but Frasier 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 py for the defendant to blame had nothing to do
with this murder no Bob George ALS o 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 EMT they had all kinds of evidence at that
scene that was either mishandled ignored or thrown away Christopher maowen 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 vaser educated wealthy Heist could not
possibly have had consensual sex with a black uneducated troubled garbage me while the jury in the Christa
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
towns 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 mowen'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 right jury 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 police and there's concern about bias
you are to be discharged from the began circulating around 11:30 this morning that this jury had finally come
to a Verdi is now in session please be seated two days after a new juror is seated
readyy The Log Jam breaks what say you Mr Foreman Christopher M learns his fate we the jury minous return the following
verdict of guilty of Murder in the First great he was devastated by the verdict anyone with eyes could see that he was
terribly uh hurt by what happened hours later before he sentenced he addresses the court for the first
time this case here is a very horrendous case I feel sorry for the's family her daughter and her
and never me for this never take place but he still claims he had nothing to do with ch worthington's death but
you want to all I can say is that I'm I'm an innocent man in this case and and that's that's all I got to
say the court doesn't buy it the court hereby sends you to be prison at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution
at Cedar Junction for during the term of your natural life without the possibility of parole an indictment
number 05-19 the jury found youil hey Chris did I want to not guilty of course I wanted to 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 we
believe he's not guilty uh until the day I die you want me to stand at the podium
even after 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 all over W homes 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 cotters that's good [Music] enough well this case changed my life radically it's not something that you
ever IM imagine you're going to have to deal with kind of like being in a dark tunnel I wonder if you'll ever see light
[Music] again are you glad that this is finally all over now officially cleared as a
suspect in Christa's murder Tony jacket is relieved at the verdict he know 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 and 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 whether you want to or not just something that's
always there these happen to be a few snapshots I took of Ava and Christa 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 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 Christa'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 is that good AA won't have her that's it's the enduring tragedy the
whole thing [Music] for nearly 16 years 48 Hours has covered the aftermath of Christa worthington's
murder and Christopher mowen's trial of 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 all 12 jurors back to court
to be questioned their testimony revealed there was racial tension in the Jury Room and macau'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 going
to be a new trial but the judge ruled against maau upholding his conviction in 2010 the
state Supreme Judicial Court agreed Mallen 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 Macau do you deserve any trial he now has a new legal team and they have filed
another motion for a new [Music] trial but for those closest to Christa Worthington like has moved on Tony
jacket maintains a warm relationship with his daughter Ava who now is in college and continuing to thrive
[Music] I was knocked unconscious I couldn't protect her 1978 a team murdered who
would want to kill her and why 1984 another team murdered same Beach multiple suspects but one of them worked
for the police 48 Hours Crime Time double feature continues next on CBS [Music]

"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. Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

True crime. Real justice. I "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers Christa Worthington's murder, the investigation, and the trial of Christopher McCowan, revealing community impacts and unresolved questions.

Key points

The Murder of Christa Worthington. A small town is shaken by the murder of a local writer, Christa Worthington.
The Unraveling of a Life. Christa's life and relationships are explored as the investigation unfolds.
A Shocking Discovery. The investigation leads to a shocking arrest after years of uncertainty.
The Verdict: Guilty of Murder. Christopher Macowan is found guilty of first-degree murder, leaving him devastated.
Racial Bias Allegations. Jurors allege racial bias during deliberations, raising questions about the trial's integrity.
Macowan's Ongoing Fight. Despite his conviction, Macowan maintains his innocence and seeks a new trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

How could a single mom be executed in her kitchen?

Questioning the nature of the crime.

4:09WatchJul 16, 2024

Tension

80/ 100High tension

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