A 14-year-old boy was ordered held without bail after he was charged with killing a 24-year-old teacher, whose body was found behind a Massachusetts high school early Wednesday.
Philip Chism was cuffed soon after the beloved math teacher, Colleen Ritzer, was found dead in a patch of woods near Danvers High School shortly after midnight, sources said.
Investigators found Ritzer after they discovered traces of blood in a second-floor bathroom inside the school, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said.
PHOTO: 14-year-old Philip Chism facing murder charge after Danvers, MA teacher found dead; Chism charged as an adult pic.twitter.com/v2gICyW0ab
— NBC Nightly News (@nbcnightlynews) October 23, 2013
@DanversPolice via Twitter
14-year-old Philip Chism was reported missing hours before investigators found the body of Colleen Ritzer, 24, behind Danvers High School late Tuesday. He was later charged with her murder.
"She was a very, very respected, loved teacher," Blodgett told reporters. "It's a terrible tragedy for the entire Danvers community."
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Blodgett said police began searching for the teacher after they were alerted that the woman never returned home from work and wasn't answering her cell phone.
Chism - who plays on the schools junior varsity soccer team - was also reported missing earlier in the day, when he never came home after school.
BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
Investigators, including representatives from the state's Medical Examiner's office, pull the body of Colleen Ritzer, 24, from the woods behind Danvers High School on Wednesday.
The teen was arrested after Topsfield police spotted him a few miles away from where Ritzer's body was found.
Officials said the accused killer was walking against traffic on Route 1 when he was collared.
"We are all terrified," Caitlin McBride, a junior at the school, told the Boston Globe. "It's very scary. No one will ever look at this school the same way anymore."
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BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old math teacher, was found in a patch of woods behind Danvers High School late Tuesday.
Students were notified by text message that the school would be closed for the day.
"I didn't know what to do," another student, Kendall Meehan, told the paper. "It's all very scary. It's not something you see around here."
Authorities did not disclose how Ritzer was killed, or reveal a possible motive for the murder.
Mary Duffy, who lives next door to the woman's family, told the Boston Herald that she knew Ritzer - a 2011 graduate of Assumption College, where she earned a bachelors degree in mathematics with a minor in psychology - her whole life.
Colleen Ritzer, 24, was found dead late Tuesday after investigators found blood in a school bathroom.
"She always wanted to teach math," Duffy told the paper. "She was a quiet, pleasant girl with many friends. She was just like the ideal daughter. She is. This family is a family of America. They are the ideal family. They are friendly; they are loving, close."
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The enthusiastic teacher used her Twitter account to discuss homework assignments with students. On her profile, she described herself as a "math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching."
"I just remember seeing her in the hallway and she always had a smile...and she was just an amazing person," Megan Papagelis, a Danvers High School graduate, told WBZ-AM. "It's just shocking to see that this could happen. Unbelievable."
The 24-year-old math teacher's body was found in the woods behind Danvers High School, about 20 miles north of Boston.
Prayers go out to Mrs.Ritzers family and friends she was a great teacher #RestInPeace
— King Thrower (@Moseph_Janson) October 23, 2013
Chism's mother wiped away tears as her son was arraigned as an adult on murder charges in Salem District Court.. The teen's family had recently moved to the area from Tennessee.
The new DHS slogan should be "Find something good in every day" in honor of a down to earth math teacher, Colleen Ritzer #DanversStrong
— Colby Sedlier (@colbysedlier24) October 23, 2013
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@DanversPolice via Twitter
14-year-old Philip Chism was charged with killing math teacher Colleen Ritzer, 24 - who was found dead behind the school late Tuesday.
Public schools in Danvers — a town about 20 miles north of Boston — were closed for the day.
Ritzer was the second teacher allegedly killed by a student in the U.S. this week. A 12-year-old boy is accused of fatally shooting a middle school teacher in Sparks, Nev., on Monday.
With News Wire Services