Cape Cod Murder Mystery Solved
Garbage Collector Charged In 2002 Stabbing Death Of Writer
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Play CBS Video Video Cape Cod Murder A garbage collector was charged in the murder of a fashion writer, but the way police cracked the case is being scrutinized. Sharyn Alfonsi looks at the 'CSI' approach vs. the Joe Friday approach.
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Video DNA Test Backlog Police in the Cape Cod case aren't the only ones drowning in a sea of DNA evidence. DNA testing is costly and time consuming, and Jim Stewart says hundreds of thousands of samples are in limbo.
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Video Cops Make Cape Cod Arrest DNA evidence led to an arrest in a three-year-old murder case on Cape Cod, Mass. The case generated much public scrutiny when police collected DNA samples from hundreds, Scott Rapoport reports.
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Christa Worthington was stabbed to death in her secluded home in 2002. (AP)
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Christopher McCowen, 33, of Hyannis, Mass., pleaded innocent to Worthington's murder. (AP)
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This is a view of the Cape Cod home of slain fashion writer Christa Worthington, seen in 2002. (AP)
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Interactive Cape Cod Murder Mystery Find out more about the people and events surrounding the murder case of Christa Worthington.
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Interactive DNA Dragnet Follow the clues that led to an arrest in the Louisiana serial murders and learn about the victims.
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In The Spotlight Maria Flook: "Invisible Eden" Maria Flook's book, "Invisible Eden," explores the life and death of fashion writer Christa Worthington.
The Cape Cod trash hauler was charged Friday with murder in the 2002 stabbing death of a fashion writer, a case that turned a national spotlight on the isolated outer Cape and inspired a best-selling book.
Christopher M. McCowen pleaded innocent and was ordered held without bail. He has been arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated rape.
Christa Worthington, 46, was found dead on Jan. 6, 2002, in her secluded Truro home, clothed only from her waist up and lying in a bloody pool on her kitchen floor. Her then 2-year-old daughter, Ava, was unhurt but smeared in her mother's blood as she clutched the lifeless body.
As McCowen was charged with, his court-appointed lawyer, Francis O'Boy, described McCowen's mood as "somber."
As CBS News Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reports, investigators took a DNA sample from McCowen's more than a year ago -- well before the sweep of genetic evidence from hundreds of other area men. McCowen was suspect because he collected garbage from Worthington's home and had a lengthy criminal record.
But the state crime lab was apparently so backed it just got around to testing the sample, Alfonsi reports.
The forensic lab blames the testing lag on its workload.
"It took a year to have the result come out," Cape Cod area District Attorney Michael O'Keefe told CBS' Scott Rapoport. "That is the resource issue that we are talking about."
The victim's family breathed a sigh of relief at the news of the DNA match.
"We're happy there's been an arrest," her cousin, Jan Worthington, said Friday outside court. "It's a sad day as well."
Worthington had moved to the Cape in 1998, to the tiny town where she'd spent summers as a child. She became a single mother and left behind the fashion runways of Paris and New York, where she'd carved out a successful career as a fashion writer.
There were no witnesses to her slaying, nothing appeared to be missing from the house and authorities struggled to find a motive.
Police had a DNA profile of a man who had sex with Worthington shortly before her death, but they were unable to immediately identify her partner. Her body was found clad only from the waist up with a single stab wound to her chest.
Several ex-boyfriends came under scrutiny during the investigation, including Tim Arnold, who found her body, and Tony Jackett, Provincetown's shellfish constable who fathered her child.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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