Cape Cod Times staff writers Karen Jeffrey and Emily C. Dooley report. Excerpt:
Asking a murder victim’s father to take a polygraph test is not an unusual tact for police, according to experts on both sides of the polygraph issue.
Family and close associates of a victim are the first people police should look at during a homicide investigation, said David Lykken, a leading critic of polygraphs and author of the book “A Tremor in the Blood.”
“Where I diverge from police is in the use of a polygraph in general,” said Lykken, a professor emeritus from the psychology department at the University of Minnesota. “Polygraphs are not accurate indicators of truthfulness.”
Christopher Worthington, father of Truro murder victim Christa Worthington, is one of several people police will ask to take what is commonly known as a lie-detector test.
Another potential candidate for a polygraph could be Tony Jackett, the father of Worthington’s 21/2-year-old daughter, Ava.