Off the Hook in Cape Cod
An unofficial murder suspect on having his name cleared.
When Christa Worthington—a fashion writer who left Manhattan for a quieter life in Cape Cod—was found brutally murdered in her Truro home in 2002, the whodunit focused on the men she’d been involved with, especially Tony Jackett, a married “shellfish constable” who fathered her daughter, and Tim Arnold, an ex-boyfriend who found her body. But the stares and whispers have finally stopped. On April 14, Worthington’s garbage man was arrested on DNA evidence. So what’s it like to emerge from three years of neighborly suspicion? “I was in a state of shock,” says Jackett. “I’m sitting on a park bench the next morning, and who walks up but Tim Arnold. I say, ‘Hey, how you feeling?’ He says, ‘Much better.’ I wanted to give him a hug. It’s beyond embarrassing. You’re in a small town. Your kids find out their father is a two-timer and there’s a baby. This arrest certainly lifted any cloud of suspicion. Now when I go down the street, people smile and wave.”
—Kate Pickert

From the archives: A 2002 NEW YORK cover story about the Christa Worthington murder.

EDITED BY CARL SWANSON

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Table of Contents: May 2, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!