Additional Charges for Black Schoolboy Who Raped and Murdered His White Teacher

CNN
January 26, 2014

Police discovered high school teacher Colleen Ritzer's body in a wooded area near the school, covered with leaves and debris.
Police discovered high school teacher Colleen Ritzer’s body in a wooded area near the school, covered with leaves and debris.

A 15-year-old Massachusetts boy was indicted Friday on an additional count of aggravated rape in connection with the death of his high school math teacher, authorities said.

Philip Chism pleaded not guilty last December to murder, aggravated rape and robbery charges stemming from the killing of Colleen Ritzer, 24, on October 22 in the girls’ bathroom of Danvers High School. Police said a box cutter Chism had taken to school was the murder weapon.

The Essex County district attorney’s office said Friday that it presented a grand jury with additional evidence. The new youthful offender indictment alleges that Chism forcibly had sexual intercourse with the victim.

“Aggravated rape is charged when there is serious bodily harm and/or when the rape was committed during the commission of another felonious and assaultive crime,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Denise Regan, Chism’s public defender, could not be reached for comment.

Obama look-a-like Philip Chism has had an additional charge of aggravated rape added to the list.
Obama look-a-like Philip Chism has had an additional charge of aggravated rape added to his list of crimes against the school teacher.

Chism, who is being held without bail, is set to appear January 30 in Salem Superior Court for a pre-trial conference.

According to a police affidavit, a ninth-grade student told investigators that Chism became visibly upset when Ritzer spoke after class on the day of the crime about his home state of Tennessee.

When Ritzer noticed that Chism was upset, she changed the subject, said the unidentified student, who described Chism as “talking to himself.”

The affidavit includes testimony from witnesses as well as a school video surveillance timeline showing Chism and Ritzer in the same area of the school during the teacher’s final moments.

In the video, Ritzer appears to enter a second-floor girls’ restroom — apparently a faculty restroom was occupied — and Chism, wearing gloves and red sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, appears to enter the restroom about a minute later, according to the affidavit.

Shortly after, a female student enters the bathroom and then quickly walks out, according to the court papers. She told investigators she saw the back of a person who appeared to be changing clothes; the person’s rear was exposed, with clothes piled on the floor.

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