True Crime Collection

Mackenzie Cowell

Mackenize Cowell was 17 years old at the time of her disappearance. She lived in Orondo, Washington and was a senior at Wenatchee High School, where she was a member of the school dance team. She also worked as a model and studied cosmetology at the Wenatchee Academy of Hair Design in downtown Wenatchee.

Mackenzie went missing shortly after 3:00pm on February 9th, 2010. She was last seen on surveillance video leaving the Academy of Hair Design, walking to her car and driving away. She had told classmates that she would be back in less than 15 minutes. Around this time, she sent a text message  to her boyfriend that said, "Hey, what's up". This was the last time she is known to have used her phone.

Mackenzie's father attempted to contact her at around 5:40pm, but his calls went straight to voicemail. Her family became increasingly concerned after Mackenzie missed her 8:00pm curfew. Later that night, a homeowner in remote Chelan County reported an abandoned car near his driveway. Police traced the car's registration to Mackenzie's father, who informed them Mackenzie was missing. The car was located near Mission Ridge, about 40 miles from her home in Orondo. Mackenzie's purse and some clothes were found in the car, although her debit card and cell phone were missing. According to police, only one pair of footprints was found at the scene.

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office began the investigation into Mackenzie's disappearance by using a helicopter to search the area near where her car was found. Search warrants were issued for Mackenzie's phone records and social media activity. At the request of the sheriff, the FBI was called in to assist with the investigation.

On the afternoon of February 13th, Mackenzie's body was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River near Quincy, Washington, at a resort community about 20 miles away from Wenatchee. She was found fully clothed, with her feet in the water. A vacant house for sale was located about 50 yards from where her body was found.

An autopsy determined the cause of death had been strangulation and stab wounds to the neck. Mackenzie also suffered blunt force trauma to the head. The killer had apparently attempted to cut off one of her arms after her death. A knife was found, still stuck into her shoulder. Investigators found no evidence thar Mackenzie had been sexually assaulted.

On February 25th, around 1,800 people attended a memorial service for Mackenzie, which was held at the Town Toyota Centre in Wenatchee.

The investigation was headed by the Mackenzie Cowell Task Force, a multi-agency police group assembled after the recovery of Mackenzie's body. The task force included law enforcement agents from the cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, and from the counties of Chelan and Douglas. An FBI agent and two officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also assisted the task force. The case was the largest multi-agency investigation in the Wenatchee area since an attempted serial bombing in 1997. Police interviewed over 800 people throughout the course of the investigation.

Police started looking into Mackenzie's boyfriend, Joaquin Villasano;  as well as her mother's boyfriend, Joey Fisher. According to police, Joaquin had failed a polygraph when asked if he knew what happened to Mackenzie. Joey had allegedly gotten into a big argument with Mackenzie the day before she went missing. However, both Joaquin and Joey were later completely cleared by police.

The next lead in the case came from Liz Reid, a college student, police informant and former drug dealer. Liz told police that two drugs dealers, Sam Cuevas and Emmanuel Cerros, had murdered Mackenzie in a case of mistaken identity. The two had supposedly believed Mackenzie was an informant. Liz claims she saw a snuff film of the murder, and that Sam admitted to her: "I choked that bitch to shut her up".

Liz was able to describe the murder weapon before it was made public, and gave police a ring  which she claimed had belonged to Mackenzie. She said Emmanuel had sent her to the murder site to find the ring. None of Mackenzie's family members recognised the ring as belonging to Mackenzie. Liz later retracted her claim of seeing a video of the murder. As a result, police began to question Liz's credibility. Sam and Emmanuel were interviewed by police and produced alibis, witness statements and phone records placing them elsewhere on the day of Mackenzie's disappearance.

After receiving several tips, police began to focus the investigation on Christopher Scott Wilson, a 29-year-old classmate of Mackenzie's at the Academy of Hair Design. Police received a letter in August which claimed that Christopher had an "obsession with death, dead bodies and serial killers". One of Christopher's classmates told police that Christopher had said he used to work in funeral homes and that he "liked to cut people up".

On October 6th, Christopher was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and held on $1 million bail. DNA found on duct tape near where Mackenzie's body was discovered linked Christopher to the crime. According to investigators, Christopher left the beauty school shortly after Mackenzie did on the day she disappeared. Three witnesses reported seeing a man matching Christopher's description nearby her car when it had been abandoned. A search of Christopher's apartment revealed the presence of blood which matched Mackenzie's DNA.

In December, the Cowell Task Force  made a second arrest. Christopher's friend Tessa M. Schuyleman was accused of - but never charged with - helping Christopher to conceal the crime. She was instead charged with obstruction of justice  for an unrelated case. Detectives claimed that many photos were found on Christopher's computer of Tessa "posing as a dead person" on the spot in Christopher's apartment where Mackenzie's blood was found. Tessa claims she had no knowledge of the blood stain and that Christopher had told her to pose there.

Prosecutors upgraded Christopher's charge from second-degree to first-degree murder in April 2011, stating that his actions constituted premeditation. If convicted, he would face a sentence of 20 to 26 years in prison. Before the trail began, Christopher rejected a plea deal in which he would have received a prison sentence of about six and half years in exchange for pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

Christopher's defence team was led by John Henry Browne, a prominent Seattle attorney who had previously represented high-profile defendants such as Ted Bundy and Colton Harris Moore. John intended to argue that Mackenzie's blood had been planted in Christopher's apartment. According to John, more blood should have been found at the apartment, given the violent nature of Mackenzie's death. The presiding judge ruled that the defence would be allowed to present evidence implicating Sam and Emmanuel as the killers. The judge also ruled that the prosecution would not be allowed to bring up Christopher's work history at area funeral homes, his tattoo of Hannibal Lecter, or his online activity on DeviantArt and on serial killer forums.

After jury selection for the trial had begun, Christopher accepted a new plea deal. He pleaded guilty to the first-degree manslaughter of Mackenzie Cowell, as well as first-degree robbery for taking her cell phone and second-degree assault for an unrelated case. He was sentenced to 14 years and 3 months in prison. Christopher would later maintain his innocence, stating that he only pleaded guilty because he did not believe he would receive a fair trial. According to Christopher, around 80% of juror candidates answered questionnaires stating either that they believed Christopher was guilty or that they had knowledge of evidence which was ordered to be suppressed at trial. Christopher filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, but the motion was rejected by the Washington Court of Appeals. He is imprisoned at Clallam Bay Corrections Centre and is scheduled to be eligible for parole in 2023.