Food Network Chef Cristie Schoen Codd And Her Family Killed And Dismembered By Handyman Robert Jason Owens
Cristie Schoen Codd, her husband Joseph “JT” Cod, and their unborn daughter, Skylar were all murdered and dismembered by Robert Jason Owens. The handyman confessed to killing the Food Network chef and her family and then burning their bodies inside a wood stove.
Robert Jason Owens tried to cover up the nature of the murders of Cristie Schoen Codd and her family by staging their North Carolina home to look like the slaughter was a result of a home invasion robbery gone bad. Owens stole the possessions of the Codd family and later sold them. He used the cash acquired from pawning the stolen goods to take his wife out to dinner.
Owens sent text message from the cellphone belonging to the Food Network chef to relatives claiming she and JT Codd were both sick in an effort to avoid the discovering of the murders for as long as possible, WDAM reports.
Cristie Schoen Codd and her husband Joseph ‘JT’ Codd pictures,killed by Robert Jason Owens https://t.co/yAZLJibMTq pic.twitter.com/Sh5clCjfsy
— infowe (@infowe) April 28, 2017
Cristie Schoen Codd was a contestant on The Next Food Network Star, a series on the cable food channel. Joseph “JT” Codd worked in the movie industry. The couple were newlyweds. The 38-year-old Food Network chef was five months pregnant with their first child when the family was brutally killed inside their North Carolina home.
Robert Jason Owens initially told Buncombe County law enforcement investigators he accidentally ran over Cristie and JT Codd with his truck. Owens claimed he only tried to cover up the accident because his driver’s license had been revoked and he did not want to go to jail.
He went on to claim the Food Network chef and her husband were attempting to help him free his truck after he got stuck in a ditch when he accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the break. Why Owens thought the police officers would believe a visibly pregnant woman would be pushing or tugging on a truck remains unclear.
The confessed killer told the North Carolina police officers he tried to save Cristie Codd’s life but his efforts proved unsuccessful. Owens also said JT Cod was already dead when he found him after the supposed accident.
The handyman who was linked to the disappearance of Zebb Quinn, an 18-year-old Ashville man in 2000, burned JT Codd’s body inside the wood stove at his mobile home. Robert Jason Owens ultimately took the Food Network chef’s body back to the couple’s home. Owens cut up the pregnant woman’s body inside her own shower and put the dismembered body parts into plastic bags before burning the remains, the Citizen Times reports. Owens also reportedly told the police investigators he wasn’t really a “bad guy.”
Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams deemed the gruesome murders of the Food Network chef, her husband, and unborn child to be among the “most disturbing killings” in the history of the county.
“Because there are no surviving witnesses and Jason Owens had exclusive control of the crime scene for several days, and he had nearly completed the gruesome project of cremating his victims’ remains, we will never know many of the facts surrounding the Codds’ deaths,” Williams added.
Robert Jason Owens took a plea deal in the Cristie Schoen Codd and JT Codd murder case. Owens confessed to two counts of dismemberment and three counts of second degree murder. He will spend a minimum of 59 and a half years in prison.
“I want you to know that I am sincerely sorry because of the loss of you love ones, the pain and suffering that has caused you,” Owens said in a statement to the loved ones of the murder victims.
The district attorney said the number of years he will spend behind bars is “tantamount to a sentence of death” in prison. The Food Network chef and her husband were reported missing in March of 2015.
[Featured Image by PORTRAIT IMAGES ASIA BY NONWARIT/Shutterstock]
