Knife found in woods eyed in Truro slaying

Nearly two years after fashion writer Christa Worthington was fatally stabbed, a plumber who lives near her secluded Truro property has turned over a knife that he found in nearby woods to authorities who are checking to see whether it is linked to the unsolved crime.

Ron Singer, who lives on Depot Road near the former home of the deceased 46-year-old writer, said he found a knife with a 5-inch blade in woods on his property about five weeks ago, but only recently thought about a possible connection to the slaying.

After finding the knife, Singer said, he brought it home, rinsed it off, and used it to open packages.

"I didn't think anything about it at the time," he said. "It was a nice knife. I brought it home and rinsed it off."

He said Worthington's death did not come to mind until last week, when his girlfriend wondered aloud whether authorities had ever found the knife used in the stabbing. In fact, the murder weapon had never been found. Singer said he realized that the knife with a wavy-edged blade and black plastic handle might be of interest to authorities.

Singer said he called Truro police to report his find and quickly received a call back telling him the State Police were on their way to pick up the knife. A short while later, he said, nearly a dozen State Police and local officers, along with a police dog, converged on his house.

The knife has been turned over to investigators, who are running tests to see if it has any connection to the slaying, said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe.

O'Keefe declined to describe what tests were being conducted on the knife. Typically, the lab tests for traces of DNA, fingerprints, and other evidence that would help investigators determine whether an object was connected to a crime.

A law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that officials do not think the knife had been in the woods for two years and do not believe it is the murder weapon.

Investigators searched the woods surrounding Worthington's house in the days after she was found dead on Jan. 6, 2002. But it is not clear whether the area where Singer found the knife was searched.

Police believe that Worthington may have been dead for up to two days before Tim Arnold, her neighbor and former boyfriend, discovered her body with her daughter Ava, then 2, clinging to it.

The officers who came to Singer's house last week searched the area where he found the knife, but did not find other evidence, Singer said. They took the knife and told Singer there probably wouldn't be any results for four to five months.

Singer said that after he called police he took a closer look at the knife and saw there was still "crud" on it that had been there when he picked it up in the woods. "It was still there, even though I washed it," he said. "I'm not saying it's blood or anything but there was crud on it."

He said police told him the laboratory would test the material.

Police have not described the size or type of knife they believe was used to kill Worthington, but some sources close to the investigation have indicated officials think it was a large kitchen knife.

Singer said the knife he found looks more like a fisherman's knife than one used in the kitchen.

Whatever the results of the lab tests on the knife, Singer's discovery and news of an impending film about the slaying have renewed discussion of the crime in this small town. Tony Jackett, the Provincetown shellfish constable who had an affair and out-of-wedlock child with Worthington, has sold the rights to his story for an undisclosed sum to a California filmmaker.

Independent filmmaker Arthur Egeli says his movie would be a fictionalized account, focusing on Worthington's life in Truro, the affair and birth of her child, and how Jackett and his family put their lives back together after the slaying.

Meanwhile, Worthington's cousin, Jan Worthington, a writer and part-time dispatcher at the Truro Police Department, is working with HBO to develop a possible documentary about the effect a murder has on family members, close friends, and a small town. Worthington said the program would focus on her cousin's slaying, but the theme would be universal to anyone struggling to move on after a murder.

Jan Worthington, who worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles for many years, has also written a screenplay about her cousin for the Lifetime channel. She said her script is a more accurate portrayal of her cousin than was provided in news stories in the two years since the slaying.

"It's still in the development stages, but it's about an ordinary woman who makes the decision to leave a fast-paced life, who wants a child, who wants a simpler, more meaningful life," she said.

Worthington's former neighbors on Depot Road, however, say they are more focused on seeing the crime solved.

"I just want something to break. I keep thinking something will happen," said a Depot Road neighbor. "The anniversary is hard."