Get breaking news alerts at star-telegram.com/newsletters.
Star-Telegram illustration/Ricky Moon photo
A second murder suspect has been arrested in the death of a Fort Worth man whose body was found buried in a shallow grave last December.
Chase Cook, 23, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder and booked in to the Fort Worth police detention facility.
Cook and another man, Alexander James Nicholas, are accused in the stabbing death of 24-year-old John Richardson, whose remains were found Dec. 22 in a shallow grave in a wooded area, according to arrest warrant affidavits.
Richardson’s family reported him missing weeks earlier on Nov. 30, the Star-Telegram previously reported. Police believe he was killed early on the morning of Dec. 1.
That night, Richardson left a party with Nicholas and was meant to be dropped off at his girlfriend’s house, but never made it, homicide detectives wrote in the affidavits. During an interview with police, Nicholas said that he and Richardson began to argue on the ride to the girlfriend’s house, and that Richardson was dropped off somewhere between Alliance Boulevard and a Buc-ee’s gas station.
A witness told police that earlier in the night, Nicholas was showing everyone a silver and black handgun. Nicholas told the witness a few days after the party that Richardson “wouldn’t be coming around anymore,” according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
Another witness told police that Nicholas was angry with Richardson over a car accident for which the suspect blamed the victim.
Nicholas told police that he met with Cook after dropping Richardson off, according to the affidavit for his arrest. Cook told police that he was drunk at the time that Nicholas picked him up and couldn’t remember if there was anyone else in the car when he got in.
Police found no evidence that Richardson was killed inside the vehicle that Nicholas was driving.
Cook cried and wouldn’t answer when investigators confronted him with his alleged knowledge of Richardson’s location and he did not admit to knowing where the victim’s body was, police wrote.
Cook’s girlfriend later told police that he received a text from Nicholas late on the night of the party and left the house saying that he had to go help Nicholas. Cook returned the next day and would only tell his girlfriend that he had been in the woods, according to the affidavit.
A few days later, when Cook had been drinking, he told her that he and Nicholas dug a six-foot hole in the woods that night, the girlfriend told police.
Cellphone data for Cook, Nicholas and Richardson from the morning of the killing placed all of them at a home near in the wooded area where Richardson’s body was eventually found, according to the affidavits.
Information on Cook’s bond was not immediately available Tuesday.
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.