Massachusetts Teen Charged as Adult in Stabbing Death of Danvers Teacher

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By AARON KATERSKY, MICHELE McPHEE and ALYSSA NEWCOMB - ABC News


http://i.imgur.com/Z1rSiJf.jpg

A 14-year-old Massachusetts boy was charged as an adult and held without bail today in the stabbing death of a beloved high school math teacher.

Philip D. Chism remained silent during his first court appearance today where he was charged with murdering Colleen Ritzer, 24, who taught math at Danvers High School. He was dressed in a white jail jump suit and exhibited little emotion.

The boy's lawyer put her hand on Chism's back and told the judge "he's only 14," but the judge replied that it was an "adult court and an adult proceeding."

A probable cause hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 22.

Prosecutors allege the teen, who was a transfer student to the school, stabbed Ritzer and then dumped her body in the woods behind the campus.

"She was a very respected, loved teacher," said Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. "At 24 years of age it's a terrible tragedy for the entire Danvers community."

Police discovered Ritzer's blood in a second floor bathroom late Tuesday night before her body was later found behind the school, Blodgett said.

Blodgett declined to say what the motive might have been.

"The teacher was reported missing and as a result of that, and her not answering her cell phone, police instituted a search and found blood," Blodgett said.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News there is surveillance video inside the high school that shows the student hauling Ritzer's body from the bathroom toward the woods in what appeared to be a recycle bin. The school is a new building and is equipped with 130 cameras, officials said.

All public schools in Danvers were closed today.

Chism had been reported missing Tuesday after he failed to return home from school. He was found Tuesday night in a neighboring community.

Several student athletes at Danvers High School told ABC News the suspect was a junior varsity soccer player and said they had searched for him when told he was missing.

Ritzer was described by her students as an "amazing teacher."

Her passion for her students shined through on her Twitter account, where she described herself as a "math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching."

Ritzer's family released a statement mourning their "beautiful daughter and sister."

"Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion for teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students. We would like to ask everyone to respect our privacy at this most difficult time. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers," the Ritzer family said.

Salem State, where Ritzer was a graduate student in the school counseling master's program, released a statement remembering the "dedicated teacher."

"She believed children have much to offer and often do not realize how special they are as individuals," the school said.

Earlier this week police in Danvers, a community north of Boston, had sent well wishes via Twitter to Sparks, Nev., after a school teacher was killed there by a student.

"Thoughts are with those families affected by the Sparks Middle School Shooting today & especially with 1st responders from Sparks PD," according to the Danvers Police Department Twitter feed.

[deebakes]

:rip::wank:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Caitlin Nolan - Inside Edition


A teenager accused of brutally raping and killing his math teacher at school allegedly told police he "became the teacher" after she set him off with a "trigger" word.

Philip Chism is headed to trial as an adult in Massachusetts on Wednesday. In 2013, he was charged for the murder, rape and robbery of his algebra teacher, 24-year-old Colleen Ritzer, who was found with her throat slit by a box cutter in the woods near their Danvers school.

She was sexually assaulted twice, once with a stick, and a note was found nearby that read “I hate you all,” the Associated Press reported.

On October 22, 2013, Ritzer asked Chism, then 14 and in ninth grade, to stay after class when she noticed he was drawing in a notebook instead of taking notes, student Rania Rhaddaoui reportedly said at the time.

Another student who overheard Ritzer and Chism speaking that day told police that when Ritzer mentioned Tennessee, where Chism previously lived, the boy became “visibly upset” and began talking to himself, according court documents.

School surveillance footage reportedly shows Chism following Ritzer into a school bathroom wearing a hood and gloves. The boy— described as quiet and a standout athlete on the soccer field— walked out of the bathroom alone 12 minutes later, AP reported.

Chism was then seen in the video pulling a recycling barrel through the school and outside; the bin was later found near Ritzer’s body, according to search warrant documents filed in court.

Ritzer, who described herself on social media as a "Math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching," was found partially covered by leaves in a wooded area near the school.

http://i.imgur.com/avdVwmj.jpg

The teen was found hours later walking along a highway and carrying a bloody box cutter, the teacher’s ID, credit cards and a pair of women’s underwear inside his backpack, the AP reported.

When asked whose blood was on the box cutter, Chism reportedly said: “It’s the girl’s.”

In a videotaped interview with police, Chism said Ritzer provoked the attack with a "trigger" word, which he would not reveal, the AP reported.

"After she insulted me, that's when I became the teacher," Chism said, according to a description Judge David Lowy gave in his written ruling that held prosecutors will not be allowed to tell the jury about the confession he allegedly gave to Danvers police. Lowy ruled that Chism did not fully understand his constitutional rights before he spoke to police.

The teen’s lawyers plan to use a mental health defense, as his mother told cops that her son had been under stress from her divorce from his father and their move from Clarksville, Tennessee, to Danvers, according to reports. Though insanity defenses rarely work in Massachusetts, Chism’s age might work to his benefit, legal experts told the AP.

"I assume the defense will tie it into research on adolescent brain development, in particular, adolescents have a difficult time calculating the future and having a sense of the ramifications on their future lives,” Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University, said to the AP.

[Pony]

This poor unarmed kid was attacked by words that offended him.

[HyperV12]

Bye-bye.