Probe widens in writer's slaying

TRURO, Mass., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The investigation into the slaying of a well-known fashion writer on Cape Cod, Mass., took several new twists Wednesday, including reported links to a former prostitute who testified at a prominent doctor's murder trial and whose rent is being paid by the writer's widowed father.

The writer, Christa Worthington, 46, was found dead Jan. 6 in her Truro, Mass., home with her 2-½-year-old daughter, Ava, by her side. Worthington had been dead for more than a day before being discovered by a former boyfriend, Tim Arnold. Police said she had been stabbed to death.

As of Wednesday, police had made no arrests but several people were under investigation, including Elizabeth Porter, 28, a former prostitute who was arrested Tuesday in Boston on drug charges, along with her companion, Edward Hall, 38.

Last week police reportedly interviewed Porter and Hall for several hours about the Worthington case.

Porter last year testified at the murder trial of Dr. Dirk Greineder of Wellesley, Mass. She said she had paid sex with Greineder twice in the months before the doctor was charged with stabbing his wife to death.

Reports said Christopher Worthington, the writer's father, paid more than $500 per month in rent for Porter's Quincy, Mass., apartment. He also was an occasional visitor there, building managers said.

Christopher Worthington, a retired assistant attorney general, so far as refused to comment.

Friends of the victim said she had voiced concern about the relationship between a "manipulative, 20-something girlfriend" and her father, who she believed was likely to tap into her trust fund to pay medical bills of a woman who has a long record of drug and alcohol arrests.

A potential motive that has emerged in the investigation is Christa Worthington's $700,000 estate, which includes her $400,000 home and a $300,000 trust fund. Her will establishes her father as co-executor with the Cape Cod Bank and Trust Co., with the money administered to her daughter.

Also under investigation is Tony Jackett, 51, a married father who claims to be the father of Christa Worthington's daughter. Jackett is trying to gain custody of the child, who is being cared for by a couple Christa Worthington previously designated as guardians.

The Cape Cod Times reported Wednesday that Worthington's father was to be asked by investigators to take a lie-detector test. The newspaper said that Porter and Hall have already taken polygraph examinations, and while Hall's results "did not set off any specific alarms," Porter's results were "inconclusive."

Investigators did not specify why Worthington's father was to be asked to take the lie-detector test.

"We're looking at a lot of people and what they have to say," one investigator said. "No one person is at the forefront."

So far Arnold and Jackett reportedly have not been asked to take lie-detector tests.

Christa Worthington's writer appeared in The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Elle and other publications. In recent years, however, she devoted her time to her daughter.