On October 22, 2013, Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer was shot and killed by 14-year-old ninth grader Philip Chism.
After school that day, Chism chased Collen Ritzer into the restroom where he attacked her with a box cutter and sexually raped her.
Then he took her corpse to a dumpster in the school woods. Chism was charged as an adult with murder, rape, and armed robbery; he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. After 40 years, he can apply for parole.
Colleen Ritz
Colleen Ritzer’s deadly autopsy: what happened to her?
On October 22, 2013, Philip Chism, a math teacher at Danvers High School, killed and sexually assaulted Colleen Ritzer.
Ritzer taught math. She inspired all her children to seek her help even after school hours, which earned her their admiration.
Colleen has spent her entire life putting her family and her teaching career first. Her life’s goal and dream was to educate everyone around her.
At three o’clock she went to the bathroom and finally Ritzer came with her. Chism wore a hood over his face.
After Ritzer used the restroom, Philip Chism put on gloves, pulled a razor-sharp box cutter from his pocket, slit her throat 16 times, and proceeded to rape her while strangling her.
Even though the attack was likely to be seen, the student thought someone was brewing inside.
He staged her body in a sexually provocative way, stretched her legs under the pile of leaves, pulled up her shirt and shoved a three-forked tree branch into her.
Colleen Ritzer and Philip Chism are missing
After school in 2013, Colleen Ritzer didn’t come home and her phone went unanswered. Along with her, Philip Chism was reported missing before he too disappeared. From the same school, two people were reported missing.
The police began their investigation at the bloody crime scene, which was a toilet. Using school surveillance cameras, police were able to identify Chism as a suspect in the crime.
Even though Chism’s crime had many flaws, as one event led to another, the police were able to gather the evidence, begin their investigation, and find Ritzer’s body in a nearby forest.
An autopsy was performed on the body in a laboratory. The main suspect in the case was Philip Chism, so the police immediately started looking for him.
Philip Chism accuses
In 2016, Chism was arraigned in court as an adult and charged with killing her algebra teacher Ritzer in the first degree. Charges of felony murder, rape and theft have been brought against Philip Chism.
Philip Chism, 14, committed the crime in 2013. Instead of sentencing him to death, the court handed down a 40-year sentence.
Lawyers representing Chism claimed that their client had mental health issues and was unstable, which is why they made such a bad attempt.
He was not paying attention to the moment of the crime. A psychiatrist testified in favor of Chism, saying he had visions and heard voices at the time of the crime.
The autopsy report revealed the gruesome details of the crime, indicating that Ritzer had been sexually assaulted with a weapon and stabbed 16 times in the neck.
Before learning of Ritzer’s death in the surrounding woods, officials were able to piece together Chism’s crime and begin their investigation because of the holes in it. A laboratory received the body for an autopsy.
