Celeb Chef's Killing: Human Remains in Suspect's Woodstove

No positive ID on remains as belonging to Cristie Schoen Codd, husband
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2015 9:20 AM CDT
Updated Mar 22, 2015 11:01 AM CDT
Celeb Chef's Killing: Human Remains in Suspect's Woodstove
Food Network Star contestant Cristie Schoen Codd   (YouTube)

North Carolina officials investigating the murders of former Food Network Star contestant Cristie Schoen Codd, her husband Joseph Codd, and the unborn child she carried made a grisly find in the case, reports CNN. Upon searching the home of suspect Robert Jason Owens, 36, police found human remains and "parts of those were recovered from a woodstove at that residence," says the Buncombe County sheriff. The couple was reported missing a week ago; police were tipped off by a witness who " said someone had come out and in a very suspicious way had left things in a Dumpster." Police later identified those items as belonging to the Codds.

Search warrants obtained by the Asheville Citizen-Times indicate Owens admitted he "stored and destroyed" the couple's bodies. Owens further admitted hitting and killing Joseph Codd with his own truck, though there's no indication of how Schoen Codd died. Police believe the couple died March 12; all outgoing calls and texts from their phones stopped the day before, except for a text from Schoen Codd's phone to her mother on March 14. Owens was suspected but never charged in the 2000 disappearance of an Asheville teenager, notes the Citizen-Times. (Click for 13 more tragic and bizarre celebrity deaths.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X