A 23-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of a man whose body was found in a shallow grave in Denton County in December.
Chase Cook was booked into the Tarrant County jail at 1 p.m. and faces a murder charge in connection with the killing of 24-year-old John Richardson, according to jail records.
Fort Worth police also arrested Alexander James Nicholas, 23, on a murder charge on Dec. 24 in connection with Richardson’s kill.
Nicholas was supposed to drop Richardson off at home after they both attended a party together on Nov. 30.
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But Richardson was reported missing on Dec. 1 by his roommate, who, along with Richardson’s girlfriend and others who attended the same party, had not seen or heard from him since, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The case was initially assigned to the Fort Worth police missing person’s unit, but officers suspected foul play and reclassified it as a homicide case on Dec. 10, the affidavit said.
Multiple interviews conducted by homicide detectives revealed that Nicholas gave different accounts as to where he dropped Richardson off and what happened after the party, according to the affidavit.
Nicholas initially said during a phone interview that he had gotten into an argument with Richardson before dropping him off between Alliance Boulevard and a nearby Buccee’s north of Fort Worth, according to the affidavit.
A witness, who also attended the party, told officers that Nicholas had shown everyone at the party a black and silver handgun during the party. A few days after the party, Nicholas allegedly told the witness that Richardson “wouldn’t be coming around anymore.”
Officers learned that Nicholas had been arrested in October 2025 by Justin police with a handgun matching what witnesses at the party saw. Cook was with Nicholas at the time and was also arrested, the affidavit said.
The car described in the prior arrest also matched what witnesses saw Nicholas leaving the party in that night, a red 2012 Chevy Cruze, according to the affidavit.
Nicholas agreed to be interviewed by police again on Dec. 15, the affidavit said, where he denied having any involvement in Richardson’s disappearance.
He said Richardson initially agreed to go with him to a friend’s house before being dropped off and then changed his mind, saying he would take an Uber instead.
Nicholas said he dropped Richardson off on the northbound service road of Interstate 35 between Alliance Boulevard and Eagle Parkway, according to the affidavit.
Investigators determined that the location was miles away from any businesses that would provide Wi-Fi or be open to the public and that Richardson likely would not have been able to call an Uber there.
Nicholas said he then met up with Cook after dropping off Richardson, according to the affidavit.
Cook agreed to be interviewed by police on Dec. 17, the affidavit said. He told officers Nicholas picked him up to talk about “making music” before the two got in an argument.
Nicholas kicked Cook out of the car, and he walked to a nearby friend’s house, the affidavit said. Cook told police he couldn’t remember if anyone else was in the car because he was drunk, the affidavit said.
Police interviewed Cook’s friend, who confirmed that he had been there around 3:30 a.m. asking to borrow his phone to contact Nicholas.
The friend told police Nicholas and Cook came by for dinner the following day, which was when Richardson was reported missing, the affidavit said.
Cook denied knowing where Richardson’s body was and teared up when asked, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also interviewed Cook’s girlfriend on Dec. 17. She said she remembered him leaving in the middle of the night after receiving a text from Nicholas.
She told officers he returned the next day and wouldn’t tell her anything besides that they were in the woods. A few days later while he was intoxicated, she said Cook told her they had been “digging a 6-foot hole” that night, according to the affidavit.
On Dec. 18, investigators received a digital forensic report from Nicholas’s phone.
The report showed his phone was shut off around 1:55 a.m. on Dec. 1 in a vacant field and turned back on almost four hours later in Fort Worth, the affidavit said.
On Dec. 22, officers received AT&T cell phone records for Richardson’s phone, the affidavit said.
Richardson’s phone records showed its last location was in the same cell tower coverage area as the wooded area where Nicholas’s phone was during those hours.
After a search warrant was obtained for Cook’s phone, investigators determined he was with the two in the wooded area.
Fort Worth police’s Homicide Unit conducted a search on Dec. 22 within the wooded area where all three devices had been located last and found a body buried in a shallow grave, the affidavit said.
The body was confirmed to be Richardson by the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office on Dec. 23. The medical examiner noted that Richardson had sustained multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma to the head.
Police have not publicly said what they believe led to the fatal attack.
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