Student Charged in High School Teacher’s Murder
DANVERS, Mass. – A Danvers High School math teacher was found dead Wednesday morning in the woods behind the campus. A 14-year-old student has been charged in her murder.
The victim was Colleen Ritzer, 24, who was reported missing late Tuesday night when she didn’t come home from work or answer her phone. According to CBS News, on Tuesday evening the male suspect, Philip Chism, was also reported missing.
Investigators found blood in a bathroom at the high school, and then about an hour later police located the suspect walking along a turnpike. Ritzer’s body was found shortly after that.
CNN is reporting that Chism attacked Ritzer with a box cutter in a school bathroom and then wheeled her body out of the building in a recycling bin, dumping Ritzer’s corpse in a wooded area by the school.
The teen will be charged as an adult and is being held without bail. Ritzer and Chism knew each other from school. The suspect, who played on the school’s varsity soccer team, has been described as soft-spoken and pleasant. He had just moved to the area with his family.
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