Christa Worthington murder 20 years later: How police solved the crime The public radio show was aimed at older residents and handled "topics such as cuts in Social Security, Alzheimer's disease and feelings about old people having sex.". "She was bruised up, looked like there had been some sort of altercation that she had been in," Williams explains. Officials say a man's torso was dumped in the dunes and his identity is still unknown. More than 200,000 unsolved cases have gone cold since 1980. Sign up forThe Lineup's newsletter, and get our most terrifying investigations delivered straight to your inbox. About 80% of all known serial killers operated during that period. The Northwestern District Attorneys Office identified the man shot and killed outside of Anthonys Gentlemens Club on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, as Jean Carlos Bones-Colon, 25, of Holyoke. Friends insist Christa had been told she couldn't have a baby, but Jackett always has felt she set him up. Tim Arnold: It's Christa Worthington. The flip side of the card has tip line information and a mailing address. ", But Radlauer acknowledges Arnold may have had that idea. As a result, there was already a bit of a media circus going on when District Attorney Edmund Dinis (pictured) addressed reportersand made everything worse by making up most of the information he gave out. Updated on: November 19, 2017 / 1:50 AM Murder Decoded (TV Series 2018- ) - IMDb During an early attack in November of 1961, Costa broke into an apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, where he lurked over the bed of a sleeping teenage girl. Officials hope the cards could inspire someone with information to come forward. Christopher McCowen's lawyer Bob George is taking an optimistic view, insisting that time, and the evidence, are on his side. in a video that shows each of the playing cards, Key players in the Christa Worthington murder case 20 years later, Boston man charged with murder in Hyannis shooting, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. She had long auburn hair pulled into a ponytail, blue Wrangler jeans, a blue bandana and was about 5-foot-6. Steph Curry killed off the Kings with a smile, On an island of resorts, this Hawaii hotel is the budget option. "Did I want a not guilty? Then, on day six, there was a shocker, when the judge announced he was throwing one juror off the panel -- a white woman whose boyfriend was arrested in an unrelated crime. If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send e-mail to cape.sightings@massaudubon.org. She was wearing a blue bandana and blue jeansand, now compared with known photographs of Terry, does bear a striking resemblance to the murder victim. Want more true crime? Five years ago, a Cape Cod beach was the scene of a grisly crime. "It's a real challenge being out on the water, you knowmentally and physicallyreally. The district attorney believes McCowen was alone and didn't have a prior relationship with Christa. It did seem to smack of some desperation," Williams remarks. Although the grisly murder scene was huge news in Cape Cod, no one came forward with the womans identity. I mean, they've got no chance. I couldn't imagine that it was and he said I had an affair and there's a child. Like many disturbed, violent people, Tony Costa was in some ways passing on trauma he'd experienced in his own life. Maine's oldest unsolved murder case is that of 13-year-old Mary Catherine Olenchuk. And Tony thinks he knows why. I feel sorry for the victim's family, her daughter, and her. Honey the Bunny, beloved class pet, has gone missing- and you're the prime suspect! Over 50 years later, the case remains cold. I don't' know.". Authors Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan note that as is very common with assaults on children, the crime was never reported or investigated. Despite new concerns raised by the feds around a proposed machine gun training range at Joint Base Cape Cod, the National Guard says the location remains best suited for the facility. Stephen King's Son Thinks 'Jaws' Could Crack an Unsolved 1974 Murder The New York Post reports that author Liz Rodman lived in Provincetown. With all the elements of a classic mystery, sensational reports of the murder on Cape Cod topped the news around the country, 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. According to CapeCod.com, on Oct. 19, 1974, the unidentified victim was buried at St. Peters Cemetery in Provincetown with a marker that read: Unidentified Female Body Found Race Point Dunes; July 26, 1974.. The Cape Cod National Guardsman was arrested by FBI agents earlier this month at his mother's home in Dighton where prosecutors say they found a gun locker in his bedroom along with rifles . He was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder. As reported by The New York Post, Costa was allegedly sexually assaulted by an older boy when he was just 12 years old. And the baby was very enchanting," says Susan Jackett. No arrests have been made in connection with the killing. Karen Marchioni (Photo submitted by Jennifer Case). We'll find out what happened.". She would be proved wrong. A few months before she was murdered, Massachusetts police say she married Guy Rockwell Muldavin. Christopher McCowen reacts as the jury's verdict is read in court finding him guilty of the 2002 rape and murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington in Barnstable, Mass., on Nov. 16, 2006. McCowen seemed smart enough, when Brown gave him an intelligence test, linking "relativity" with Einstein, labeling Gandhi as the "spiritual leader of India.". I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. Months passed with no word on the DNA taken from Christa's body. Filmmaker, writer, and artist John Waters, who has been summering in Provincetown, Massachusetts for decades, writes about Costas string of murders in his 2019 book, Mr. Know-It-All. Police bungled that investigation, he charges, from the moment they arrived at the crime scene. 'Jaws' mystery: Did unidentified Cape Cod murder victim appear in scene? Ruth Marie Terry, known for decades as the "Lady of the Dunes" unsolved Cape Cod murder victim, was identified in October 2022. One of the most remarkable aspects of Tony Costa's serial killer career was how he evaded suspicion for so long despite being pretty obviously linked to the victims. Christa Worthington's savage murder in January of 2002 left 2-year-old Ava without a mother, and it left the townspeople of Truro edgy, nervous and silently wondering if the killer might be one of them. But she stayed back at the house with her daughter, who was having a friend over. 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"It became some sort, some kind of awful parlor game, you know, in living rooms on the outer cape. In December: Boston man charged with murder in Hyannis shooting. The New York Daily News reported he had three wives and many sweethearts by 1960 and was known around Greenwich Village for his nightly soirees with beatniks, art lovers, celebrities and celebrity hunters, all bound by Muldavins magnetism and offbeat philosophy.. Three years following her disappearance, her remains were discovered a few miles from the pond. "If you had the same body of evidence and Johnny Whitebread was home for the holidays from college and was from an affluent family on the Cape and he was not black, the same body of evidence, he wouldn't have been charged," George argues. The Lineup notes that Costa got married in 1963, and eventually had three children with his wife, Avis. She had been left face-down on a beach blanket, and there was no sign of a struggle, so she may have been attacked while napping or by someone she knew. 23-year-old Darrell Jenkins was shot and killed in front of his home on Kensington Avenue in Springfield on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. The Crazy True Story Of The Cape Cod Vampire, According to authors Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan, As noted by authors Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan, Authors Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan explain, an earlier diagnosis as a "schizoid personality,", cash in on his horrific alleged crimes with "If I Did It, submitted it to publisher Houghton Mifflin, according to The Provincetown Independent, Authors Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan note. Cold Cases Resources . Since Terry was found brutally murdered in the dunes of Provincetown, generations of investigators professional and amateur have taken up her case. The male Clark had stopped to speak with was also struck by gunfire in the shooting, but survived his injuries, officials said. According to Vonneguts Life article, the victims had been dismembered with what local police guessed at the time to be a brush hook or an ax. But it was his final group of victims that made him famousand earned him the nickname "The Cape Cod Vampire.". And he was clever enough, the state argues, to concoct a story blaming someone else, his friend Jeremy Frazier, who appeared uncomfortable the moment he took the stand. George's witness, forensic psychologist Eric Brown, claims that with an IQ of about 76, Christopher McCowen simply couldn't understand the police's questions. Social distancing. Without DNA testing at the time, they couldnt definitively say who it belonged to, but it seemed a safe assumption the missing women had been found. "It was just a bombshell. The agencies believe Muldavin and Terry married in February 1974, and both went by a number of other names including Raoul Guy Rockwell, Guy Muldavin Rockwell, Teri Marie Vizina, Terry M. Vizina and Teri Shannon. OKeefe said that murder is the only crime with no statute of limitations and that solving a murder case, even years later, means a great deal to the surviving family members. Self-isolation. And McCowen's attorney, Bob George, thought it was sufficient grounds for a retrial. "The blade went through the body and into the kitchen floor beneath her body," Williams tells Spencer. Boston.com reports that Costa was suspected of killing at least four women, and possibly as many as eight. The case remains open while no arrests have been made and the womans identity remains a mystery. The decks will be given out to state prison inmates, who state police hope will have information about some of the cases and be willing to come forward. According to Boston.com, when it was explicitly stated that the bodies had teeth marks on them implying that the murderer had bitten the victims the media almost immediately came up with the vampire nickname, and it stuck. They had footprints that were unidentified, they had palm prints that were unidentified, and they had unknown male DNA from three individuals under her fingernails!" Despite his brutality, sloppy approach to covering up his misdeeds, and clear connection to at least eight dead or missing women, the police and prosecutor in the Cape Cod Vampire case had some trouble pinning down Tony Costa's crimes. No one has ever been charged in connection with any of the deaths. So you can only imagine what parents in Provincetown and Truro, Massachusetts felt when Antone Costa was revealed to be the Cape Cod Vampire, a serial killer responsible for at least four brutal murders and possibly as many as eight. This fight is not for the few, it is for the many, Tangela Clark, Tamaras mother, told The Republican. As the name implies, and many recall, the show highlighted some of the strangest mysteries that had yet to be solved. The Biggest Mysteries From The '80s That Are Still Unsolved - Ranker Meanwhile, whole books were being written about this unsolved murder; investigators, under intense pressure, still would rule no one out, including Tony Jackett. (Jeanette DeForge/Republican staff). After his arrest, Costa tried to turn his drug habit into an asset by implying that his drug use was to blame for the violent murders he'd committed, and often claimed his drug use had clouded his memory so he couldn't remember any of his actions. Couldn't believe they'd come up with a match.". And his DNA doesn't show up anywhere at the crime scene. Bish, who lived in Warren, was abducted on June 27, 2000, from Comins Pond, where she was working as a lifeguard. And everyone in town's had an opinion. New England's Unsolved: The murder of Jermaine Taylor I saw Christa two weeks before she was murdered, roughly. As reported by The Lineup, Vonnegut and Costa corresponded several times after Costa's arrest. According to CapeCod.com, after shooting them Costa took his victims to the Pine Grove Cemetery in Truro and used an ancient brick crypt to cut up the bodies in private. He turned a small patch of land into a garden of horrors. Which makes Antone Charles Costa, usually known as Tony, ahead of his time: He killed at least two and probably eight women between 1966 and 1969. Each card features an unsolved homicide or missing person case. In May of 1970, Costa was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Mary Ann Wysocki and Patricia Walsh. List of unsolved deaths. Now, Costa's garden of horrors is said to be overgrown. It took her decades to realize that the man she'd trusted so implicitly was a crazed serial killer. Rodman recalls that in 1969 Costa suddenly disappeared and no one would tell her where he'd gone. I couldn't, he was very uncomfortable. Police picked up a docile McCowen at his rooming house, lying on the bed, watching cartoons; marijuana and an open bottle of prescription pain killers were on the table nearby. When Terry was 20, she married Korean War veteran Billy Ray Smith, and it seems Terry left Tennessee for good sometime after the wedding. During his trial, Costa's attorney attempted to use an insanity defense, claiming that Costa's heavy drug use was responsible for his violent behavior. During the day, he hung out with some friends, including one of his codefendants. He describes speaking with local legend Victor Moulty Moulton, a member of the band The Barbarians, and asking if he knew Costa. Christopher McCowen was found guilty of first-degree murder. Quarantine. "A very devoted mother and she would always have Ava on her lap and they would always be playing and laughing," Linda remembers. The circumstances of their deaths were strange, and fake news generated around his arrest made those circumstances seem even worse than they were. Police said Clark was not the target and was accidentally shot. . According to media reports at the time, Muldavin, 37, was a sometimes actor and DJ in California, an antiques dealer in Seattle and a bunco artist and great lover everywhere he went. No arrests have been made in connection with the fatal shooting. The same conclusion was reached by famed true crime writer Ann Rule, who wrote about the Muldavin case in her 2007 book Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder. Rule, unknowingly, was the first to report on Muldavins marriage to Terry, noting the man had married a woman named Teri in Washoe County, Nevada before slipping out of the public eye. The two women Costa supposedly drove to California were never officially found, but the bodies of both Perry and Monzon were found in 1969, brutally murdered and buried in the woods outside Truro, Massachusetts. (Boston Police Department). She also demanded that he tell his wife, Susan. Where are they now? And not a day goes by that I don't think of it,'" Mason testified. Tony Costa: The Horrifying Crimes of the Cape Cod Killer - The Lineup "All I can say is I'm an innocent man" he tells the court at his sentencing. Uncovered is the nation's largest database of information powered by you. "He admits that, yes, he went there on Friday night, yes, he had sex with her and yes, he beat her. As reported by Murderpedia, Costa wrote a "factual novel" while serving his life sentence in prison. A powerful explosion and resulting fire reduced a Cape Cod home to rubble Thursday night and left debris scattered in nearby trees. Arnold emphatically denied to police that he had anything to do with the crime. The videotaped rap contest shows Frazier listening to music with McCowen nearby. A billionaire CEO and space pioneer is found dead on her company's recently launched space station. EPA: Machine gun range could harm Cape Cod drinking water "We were just like electrified. The year before the gruesome Cape Cod murder, a female bank robber named Rory Gene Kesinger escaped from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. Four of the unsolved homicide cases featured in the deck are murders that happened on the Cape: one in Sandwich, one in Cotuit, and two in Mashpee. "From what I understand, he was more serious about that as a long term possibility than she was.". "He was was devastated by the verdict. Murder mystery, Sondheim and a tongue-in-cheek musical: Cape Cod They shouldn't bother. Unlike a serial killer like the Son of Sam, Costa didn't kill from a distance with a gun. "I think the preponderance of the evidence indicates that he's guilty," one person said. "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 'cause the defendant could have been involved in a consensual relationship with the victim, then what happened?". I don't want this anger in me. Unsolved Crimes Taking French Leave: Jailbreak in Cape Cod By crimecapsule 1912 Harold Tracy claimed he was 'a public scapegoat' at a hearing for sentence reduction on the jailbreak charge. A woman murdered in a long unsolved Cape Cod case may have appeared briefly in a "Jaws" scene. Little Ava, his daughter with Christa, was sent to live with a friend, Amira Chase, whom Christa had named as a guardian in her will. Marchioni, of Framingham, was savagely stabbed to death inside her home on Oct. 8, 2001. Guy Rockwell Muldavin, born in 1923, was believed to have married Ruth Marie Terry in 1974. A lengthy investigation did not yield an arrest . You know ultimately I ended up over her house having a cup of teaand one thing leads to another," Jackett remembers. Cape Cod explosion sparks massive blaze, reduces home to rubble On June 22, 1996, Karina Holmer laughed with friends outside a nightclub in Downtown Boston, marking the last time the 20-year-old Swedish au pair would be seen alive. Episodes about missing persons, unsolved murders, and strange phenomena captivated audiences. Murder Decoded tells forensics-driven stories of committed investigators deciphering which clues mean nothing and which ones will put a killer behind bars and bring justice to victims' loved ones. In the wintertime, Cape Cod can feel like the end of the world and it's the only world 56-year-old fishing warden Tony Jackett ever really has known. I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. she remembers. As reported by The New York Post, the Cape Cod Vampire murders involved the idyllic small towns of Provincetown and nearby Truro, Massachusetts. So police intimidated him, George argues, in a six-hour interrogation, much as they'd done with other suspects, like Tim Arnold. As correspondent Susan Spencer reports, almost everyone in the town became a suspect, when police decided to take a look at the entire male population. Unable to prove otherwise, the police went no further in their investigation of Costa. Gregarious, smart, ah, you know, really a pleasant fellow, you know, who likes the ladies, the ladies you know!" "I just think it's a case about reasonable doubt. Census, death and marriage records reviewed by SFGATE begin to coalesce a portrait of Terrys life. For nearly 16 years, "48 Hours" has covered the aftermath of Christa Worthington's murder and Christopher McCowen's trial. He joined friends at a local club, where they were videotaped by an onlooker, while taking part in a "Rap" contest. This SF restaurant was the blueprint for Bobs Burgers'. 2017. Two of his victims stayed at the same boarding house where Costa lived. The widened circle brought in DNA from repairmen, trash men and deliverymen. He was found April 9, 2011. The body was found without a head, arms, and legs, and wasaffixed to a two-wheel dolly. On May 12, 1974, Costa committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell. She was by turns bright, talented and ambitious, and then a homebody who wanted nothing more than to spend time with her child," he says. Massachusetts unsolved homicides: 12 cases that are still searching for Related: Lake Bodom Murders: 60 Years Later, Finlands Infamous Unsolved Killings Remain a Mystery. The horror began in the summer of 1974. Her hands were missing, presumably removed by the . Searches by SFGATE in newspaper archives discovered more details about Muldavin, who was born on Oct. 27, 1923 in New Mexico and died in Salinas, Calif., in 2002. I just want to make this all work," she tells Spencer. This is, without a doubt, a major break in the investigation that will, hopefully, bring all of us closer to identifying her killer, Bonavolonta said. And for most Cape Codders, that's good enough," he says. In a phone call with him, she was taped criticizing the police and there's concern about bias. Between 1966 and 1969, Tony Costa killed as many as eight women in separate incidents in different locations. "Now, I'm just still in a lot of disbelief about what's happened. "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, not under pressure," George says. An especially easy target, he says, because Christopher McCowen literally wasn't smart enough to defend himself. Also, he had given police his DNA, voluntarily, more than a year earlier.
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