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Crime

On Oct. 22nd, 2013 14-year old Philip Chism, who was seen by classmates as soft spoken and pleasant, committed an unthinkable crime when he violated and murdered his 24-year old teacher, Colleen Ritzer, in his high school bathroom.

People across the world were stunned by his young age and the location of the crime. Even more stunning was seeing many of his movements before and after the crime on surveillance video.

As Ritzer walked down the hall, Chism looked around to see if there were any witnesses.

He seemed reluctant to act on his devious thoughts and turned back towards the classroom. Seconds later, he put on his hood and followed his teacher into the bathroom as he pulled out the gloves from his pocket.

11 minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom alone as the 24-year-old’s body remained inside.

He later brought a garbage can into the school and wheeled it into the bathroom. He put his teacher, who police believe was still alive at the time, in the garbage can. He then rolled it out to the woods, where he finished Ritzer off and posed her in a sexual manner.

She was reported missing later that night when she didn’t come home and was not answering her cellphone. Investigators found blood in the school bathroom and eventually located her body in the woods, naked from the waist down, with her throat slit. Her killer’s ID and backpack were found 10 feet from her body.

Chism, who went to see the movie Blue Jasmine after the murder using Ritzer’s credit card, was also reported missing when he did not go home that night. He was found walking the streets at 12:30 am the next day and taken into custody.

Police later found a bloody box cutter, a mask, a hooded sweatshirt, and gloves in his backpack. He also had his dead teacher’s identification, credit cards, and her underwear.

When questioned about the murder, he confessed, although prosecutors weren’t unable to use the confession in court because it was ruled that he didn’t understand his rights at the time.

He was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, rape, and robbery, and pleaded not guilty.

Legal Proceedings

His lawyer tried to argue that he was insane, saying that he was suffering from early-onset schizophrenia. He added that Philip “was responding to terrible hallucinations that were in his head. He didn’t choose to do this.”

The jury didn’t buy it. They found Chism guilty, and he was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

CBSNews reported in 2024, that he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping after attacking a 29-year-old clinician on June 2nd, 2014, while he was locked up in a youth detention center. He was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison. That sentence will run concurrently with his sentence for the crimes against Ritzer.

He will be 54 when he faces a parole board for the first time.