A second arrest has been made in connection with a 2025 murder in which a man’s body was discovered in a shallow grave in Denton County.
Fort Worth police took Chase Cook, 23, into custody on Monday for his alleged role in the stabbing death of 24-year-old John Richardson, according to court and jail records.
Cook, along with 23-year-old Alexander James Nicholas, who was arrested in late December, is facing murder charges, authorities said.
Fort Worth missing person investigation leads to homicide
The Fort Worth Police Department said on Dec. 2 that it received a missing persons report about the disappearance of Richardson following a party. After reviewing the details, officers suspected foul play in the case.
Fort Worth PD said homicide detectives interviewed witnesses at the party, which led them to Nicholas, also known as “James”.
According to the arrest affidavit, Nicholas told officers that he left the party late on Nov. 30 with Richardson but dropped him off on a road between Alliance Boulevard and Buc-ee’s.
However, witnesses told police that at the party, Nicholas was showing everyone a handgun, and a few days later, he said to one witness that “John (Richardson) wouldn’t be coming around anymore.”
Police said Nicholas was brought in for questioning, where he told officers that during the drive with Richardson, they spoke about stopping by Nicholas’ friend’s house (Cook), but Richardson didn’t want to go. Nicholas said that after he dropped Richardson off, he went to Cook’s home, and he denied any involvement in Richardson’s disappearance.
Police later obtained a search warrant for Nicholas’ phone, car and the handgun.
After the interview with Nicholas, officers spoke with Cook and Cook’s girlfriend. The arrest affidavit said Cook met up with Nicolas the night of Richardson’s disappearance, got into an argument with him, and he went to another friend’s house.
When asked about Richardson’s location, Cook “began to tear up and wouldn’t answer,” and he refused to allow a search of his cellphone, which was ultimately seized by authorities, the affidavit said.
Cook’s girlfriend told police that she remembered him leaving in the middle of the night to “go help Alex,” and he didn’t return until later the next day. She said a few days later, when he had been drinking, Cook shared that he and Nicholas were digging a 6-foot hole that night.
Phone records lead to the arrests of Nicholas and Cook
From Dec. 18 to Dec. 21, police reviewed phone records of both Nicholas and the victim.
Nicholas’s device showed he was at Cook’s home, and then later in a vacant field behind houses in the same neighborhood where a mutual friend of theirs lives. The victim’s device shut off in the same wooded area where Nicholas’s was located, police said.Â
On Dec. 22, the Fort Worth Homicide Unit responded to the wooded area and, during a search, found Richardson’s body in a shallow grave.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Richardson had multiple stab wounds, defensive wounds and blunt force trauma to his head.
On Dec. 24, an arrest warrant was issued for Nicholas, and he was arrested for murder.Â
Detectives later obtained a search warrant for Cook’s cell phone, which showed he was in the same location as Nicholas and the victim. Police also said that the victim was believed to be alive when Cook was picked up. With that evidence, along with the statement that Cook made to his girlfriend, they believed that he helped Nicholas the night of Richardson’s murder.
An arrest warrant for Cook was issued on March 16, and he was taken into custody.Â