--- description: A North Carolina man pleaded guilty to killing a former Food Network contestant, her husband and unborn child and then burning their remains title: Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Former Food Network Contestant image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Former Food Network Contestant, Her Unborn Child and Husband by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 28, 2017 7:01 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 28, 2017 7:01 PM CUT A [North Carolina](http://time.com/4744914/bathroom-bill-ncaa-north-carolina/ "undefined") man pleaded guilty to killing a former [Food Network](http://www.extracrispy.com/video/134/make-food-network-star-justin-warners-inception-omelet "undefined") contestant, her unborn child and husband and then dismembering and burning the remains. Cristie Schoen Codd, who appeared on the eighth season of _Food Network Star_, and her husband Joseph “J.T.” Codd had been reported missing March 14, 2015\. Robert Jason Owens, who was working for the Cobb family as a contractor at the time, was established as a suspect, after he was seen placing large trash bags in a dumpster, according to the [Asheville _Citizen-Times_](http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/04/27/owens-pleads-guilty-codd-killings-may-avoid-death-penalty/100921986/ "undefined"). Owens said he accidentally ran the couple over with his truck, dismembered and burned their bodies out of fear that he would be facing a minimum of manslaughter charges, then sold some of the their belongings to make it look like a robbery, the _Citizen-Times_ reported. Owens, who faces 59.5 to 75.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole, has also been linked to the Jan. 2, 2000, disappearance of [Zebb Quinn](http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/crime/2017/04/27/owens-tie-zebb-quinn-disappearance-still-mystery/100992686/ "undefined"). Owens is the last known person to have seen the 18-year-old alive. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4759816/food-network-contestant-murder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4759816/food-network-contestant-murder/"},"headline":"Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Former Food Network Contestant, Her Unborn Child and Husband","datePublished":"2017-04-28T19:01:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:39:52.018Z","description":"Robert Jason Owens faces up 59.5 to 75.5 years in prison","url":"https://time.com/4759816/food-network-contestant-murder/","keywords":["Crime","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4759816/food-network-contestant-murder/","name":"Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Former Food Network Contestant, Her Unborn Child and Husband"}}]}] ```