Accused Killer Of Pregnant Food Network Star Is Suspect In Other Missing Person Case

Friends pay tribute to Cristie Schoen Codd as police look into her suspected killer.

The Food Network is in shock today over the murder of one of its former contestants.

Cristie Schoen Codd and her husband, J.T., were found slain and a neighbor hired to work on their home is now charged with the murders.

Adding to the senseless tragedy, Cristie was five months pregnant with her first child.

Thirty-eight-year-old Cristie was a contestant on Season Eight of Food Network Star in 2012.

Cristie was a finalist on the show. A lot was at stake - if she'd won, she would have been given her own show.

But, Cristie showed a lot of class when she was booted off. She said, "It's been an amazing experience for me, thank you."

Cristie became close friends with fellow contestant Emily Ellyn.

She told INSIDE EDITION, "Everybody was really speechless. And I found out she was five months pregnant - oh gosh it's just so sad."

Cristie got married to J.T. Codd last October.

They bought a home near Asheville, North Carolina, and the suspect hired as a contractor lived in a house about a half-mile away.

Thirty-six-year-old Robert Jason Owens is now charged with the double homicide and the death of an unborn child.



One tribute to Cristie was just posted by a friend. It shows her snorkeling, fishing in a raft, and at target practice.

And, of course, she was always cooking something. 

Ellyn added, "She had this radiant energy. She was sunshine."

The accused killer is reportedly a suspect in a cold case involving the unsolved disapperance of 18-year-old Zebb Quinn in 2000. The Asheville Citizen-Times reports the two worked together at a Walmart at the time and went looking for a car for sale together when Quinn disappeared.