Battle for slain writer's daughter ends

By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff, 6/21/2002

ARNSTABLE -- The emotional custody battle for the 3-year-old daughter of Christa Worthington that began when the Truro fashion writer was murdered nearly six months ago ended yesterday by agreement: The toddler will continue to live with the Cohasset family of her mother's friend, rather than with her biological father.

Tony Jackett, the man who fathered Worthington's child during an extramarital affair, agreed formally yesterday to end his fight to win custody of Ava Worthington. The child will live with Amyra Chase, the friend Worthington had named in her will as Ava's guardian.

Chase and Jackett will share legal custody of Ava under the same arrangement common to divorced parents. Jackett will continue to visit Ava and can help make decisions about her education and any medical issues. He will also help support the child, although he declined to say how much he will contribute.

At the end of the hearing, Chase and Jackett -- who had been in a pitched battle for months -- hugged each other. Then Chase hugged Jackett's wife, Susan. Outside the courthouse, Chase praised Jackett for thinking first of his daughter.

"What happened today was the best possible arrangement for Ava," said Chase.

The murder of 46-year-old Christa Worthington remains unsolved. Investigators said yesterday that they have received some of the DNA test results from the crime scene but are still awaiting others. Some of the most haunting details to emerge from the investigation were about the curly-haired Ava, then 2 1/2, keeping watch over her dead mother for hours.

In recent months, Jackett said, he has been visiting Ava once a week. "It's what we look forward to," he said.

Jackett, who has six children with his wife, decided to stop seeking custody after a guardian appointed by the court to represent the child's interest recommended that Ava stay with the Chases because she had bonded to the family after her mother was killed. Chris Snow, Jackett's attorney, said Ava will benefit more from the agreement than if Jackett had continued fighting for custody.

"He chose not to do that because he thought that would be distracting to the incredible efforts of everyone, Amyra Chase included, towards Ava's full recovery from the tragic events that she witnessed that January," Snow said. "Hurray for the process, hurray for the participants."

The lawyers had been working on the agreement for at least two weeks. Yesterday, most of the discussion took place in a closed hearing.

Meanwhile, police have not named any suspects in Worthington's murder. A former boyfriend of Worthington's found the 46-year-old writer lying dead on the kitchen floor of her Truro house Jan. 6.