The married father of a slain free-lance fashion writer’s love child vowed yesterday to win custody of the traumatized tot – whose mother was found dead over the weekend in a murder mystery that is now electrifying frigid Cape Cod.
The body of Christa Worthington, an author and writer for The New York Times, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar, was found Sunday on the floor of her Truro, Mass., cottage with her 21/2-year-old daughter, Ava, sitting nearby.
Authorities had few answers yesterday, and could say only that they are probing the case as a rare homicide in this quiet resort area.
Worthington’s body was found at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, by her boyfriend, Tim Arnold. Her rear door had been kicked in, and the deadbolt had been knocked out of the wall.
“At first I thought she was just lying there,” Arnold said. “But then I could see something bad had happened. There was blood under her head.”
The child was found to be suffering from a severe diaper rash, indicating she had been left alone for some time. Authorities said that the killing occurred 24 to 36 hours before Worthington’s body was found.
Authorities have not revealed the cause of death and have not ruled out anyone as a suspect.
“We are pursing all the relationships she had in her life,” said local prosecutor Michael O’Keefe. “Most often, people are killed by someone they know.”
Among those questioned are Arnold and Ava’s father, Tony Jackett. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
Jackett yesterday told The Post he is pushing ahead with an effort to win custody of Ava, who is now being cared for by a friend of Worthington’s.
“My main concern is that I have an opportunity to bring Ava here so she can be with her family,” he said.
Jackett said Ava’s birth was the result of an affair he had with Worthington, whom he met while working in the area as the local “shellfish constable.”
Jackett said that his wife, Susan, had forgiven him for the affair and that she had no problem taking in the child. He also denied reports that he was fighting with Worthington for custody of the child, who he said did not appear traumatized.
“I’m happy that she was so young; she probably wasn’t fully aware of what happened,” he said.
In 1997, Worthington wrote an article in Harper’s Bazaar about her desire to become a single mother. She also once worked for Women’s Wear Daily in New York.
“Christa had a very lyrical world view. She lived a rather dramatic life,” her former editor Ben Brantley said yesterday.