Arrest Made in Cape Cod Slaying

April 15, 2005 -- An arrest has been made in the 2002 slaying of Cape Cod fashion writer Christa Worthington, according to state police.

Christopher McCowen, 34, was arrested Thursday in his Hyannis, Mass., rooming house, and will be arraigned in an Orleans courtroom today, state police said.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe's office issued a press release Thursday night that stated that a "significant development" in the case will be announced today at 1:30 p.m. Further details about McCowen's alleged involvement in Worthington's death were unavailable from O'Keefe's office this morning.

Worthington, 46, was found stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of her Truro home on Jan. 6, 2002. Her toddler daughter, Ava, was clinging to her body.

Several months ago, the district attorney asked all men in Truro to provide DNA samples to authorities so they could rule out possible suspects. Police said Worthington had sex with someone at around the time of her killing, and they hoped finding that person could help them in the investigation.

McCowen was not questioned earlier in the investigation, state police said.

McCowen has an extensive criminal history that includes violent crimes against women, according to a report in The Boston Herald. He's from Florida, but has been working for a trash-hauling business on the Cape.

The paper said he hauled garbage from the Worthington family's waterfront home, but how he may have known the victim is unclear.

Friends and family offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, but it didn't seem to bring any break in the case.

Early in the case, police were looking at the father of Worthington's daughter, Tony Jackett, a married fisherman when he had a relationship with the writer. But Jackett gave a DNA sample and was ruled out as the man who had a sexual encounter with her around the time of her killing.

The death and the revelations of the affair between a worldly fashion writer and a handsome, married fisherman shook the small seaside town.