‘Food Network’ chef ’s killer linked to murder
A man in prison for the 2015 murders of a Food
Network Star finalist, her husband and her unborn child has been linked to one of the area’s longest-running murder mysteries.
Robert Jason Owens was charged Monday with first-degree murder for the death of Zebb Wayne Quinn on Jan. 2, 2000.
In April, Owens, 37, admitted killing Food Network Star chef Cristie Schoen Codd, 38, Joseph “J.T.” Codd, 45, and their unborn child in March 2015. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of dismembering human remains in a grisly case that drew national attention.
Investigators said they found human remains inside a wood stove in the Codds’ home.
Owens, who had done remodeling work for the couple, admitted to investigators that he had hit Codd with a pickup truck, according to a search warrant. The documents had no indication of how Schoen Codd, who went by her maiden name of Schoen professionally, was killed.
In a plea deal his attorneys reached with Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Wil- liams in the Codd killings, Owens agreed to spend a minimum of 59.5 years to a maximum of 74.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Quinn case first brought Owens’ name to prominence, as the Codd case spawned national media attention.
Owens and Quinn had known each other after working together at a Walmart and would occasionally play pool together.
The night of the disappearance, Quinn clocked out of his job at 9 p.m. with plans of checking out a new car with Owens.
The pair stopped at a convenience store at 9:14 p.m. to buy soft drinks, and soon after Owens’ truck passed the gas station followed by Quinn’s Mazda Protégé, according to surveillance footage released by city police in 2004.
Quinn followed Owens, who later told police Quinn had signaled for him to stop. When the two stopped, Quinn said he received a page he needed to answer and left to find a pay phone, according to Owens’ account.
He returned 10 minutes later and bumped into Owens’ truck. Quinn promised to pay for the damages, then said he had to leave, according to Owens. Investigators have said that was the last time anyone reported having seen Quinn.
Two days after the disappearance, a Walmart supervisor received a call from a man claiming to be Quinn, saying he would not be at work. When she dialed *69, she found the call had come from Volvo Construction Equipment, where Owens was then working.
Owens told police Quinn asked him to make the call.
Two weeks later, Quinn’s car turned up with a puppy inside and a large pair of lips drawn in lipstick on the rear window.
Shortly after, investigators considered Owens a top suspect in the case.