Fort Worth police booked 23-year-old Chase Cook into the Tarrant County jail yesterday on a murder charge in the death of 24-year-old John Richardson, whose body was discovered buried in a shallow grave late last year. Cook is the second suspect to face a murder charge in the case after an earlier arrest in December, capping months of investigation that began when Richardson vanished after leaving a party on Nov. 30. What started as a missing-person report shifted to a homicide probe once investigators uncovered Richardson’s remains.
According to FOX 4, Cook was arrested yesterday and booked into the Tarrant County jail, although his booking photo had not been released at the time of the station’s report. The outlet also reported that 23-year-old Alexander James Nicholas was taken into custody in December and is likewise charged with murder in Richardson’s death. FOX 4 noted that detectives are still gathering evidence and that the investigation remains very much active.
Body found in a wooded area; autopsy lists fatal wounds
Investigators located Richardson’s body on Dec. 22 in a shallow grave in a wooded area north of Fort Worth, and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled that he died from multiple stab wounds and blunt-force trauma, according to reporting by The Dallas Morning News. Richardson had been reported missing after he left a party on Nov. 30, and police reclassified the case as a homicide when they found evidence that did not match those early accounts. The paper also reported that Nicholas was booked into jail on Dec. 24 on a murder charge, with his bond initially set at $300,000.
Phone records and witness statements tied the case together
The Dallas Morning News reviewed an arrest-warrant affidavit that detailed how detectives used location data from both Nicholas’ and Richardson’s phones to zero in on the wooded area where the remains were eventually found. The affidavit quoted a witness who said Nicholas told a friend that Richardson "wouldn’t be coming around anymore," then made a gun gesture and added, "you know what I mean." Another friend told investigators that Nicholas was angry over an earlier car crash that he blamed on Richardson.
What authorities say about the new arrest
Police have not yet released the arrest-warrant affidavit for Cook, so what additional evidence led to his arrest remains unclear, FOX 4 reported. According to the station, the affidavit in the case states that Cook’s girlfriend told detectives he left the party in the middle of the night to help Nicholas and later, after drinking, said they were digging a 6-foot hole. Officials have stressed that the investigation is ongoing, and they have left the door open to more charges or developments as detectives continue to run down leads.
