Latest School Killing

[Ahriman238]

Shortly after midnight last night, the corpse of a math teacher was discovered in Danvers. The Danvers public schools shut down for the day. Danvers High is maybe a thirty minute drive from my home. Apparently police are/were searching for a freshman in connection with the murder, conflicting reports on whether or not they have taken him into custody.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

A math teacher was found dead Wednesday in the woods outside her Massachusetts high school, and authorities said they would charge a 14-year-old student with murder.

The body of the teacher, identified as Colleen Ritzer, 24, was found just after midnight in the woods near Danvers High School, about a half-hour outside Boston. Blood was found in a second-floor bathroom at the school, authorities said.

Authorities said their murder investigation was connected to their search for a missing 14-year-old boy the day before, but they did not explicitly say that he was the juvenile charged in the killing.

They said the 14-year-old charged with murder would be arraigned later Wednesday. They did not discuss a motive, nor how the teacher was killed.

Jonathan Blodgett, the Essex County district attorney, told reporters that it was a “terrible tragedy.”

“She was a very, very respected, loved teacher,” he said.

On what appeared to be her Twitter profile, Ritzer posted about her enthusiasm for geometry proofs and listed homework assignments. Earlier this month, a tweet encouraged her followers to “find something good in every day.”

Her students took to Twitter to express their shock and grief. One called Ritzer “literally the sweetest, most harmless person ever. she always wanted to help anyone in any way she could.” They also spread word of a candlelight vigil at the high school Wednesday night.

Ritzer graduated magna cum laude from Assumption College in Massachusetts with a math degree, the school confirmed.

Public schools in Danvers were closed for the day.

Everyone here is rattled, the teachers are discussing it in the break-room, the students are asking for news in class.

[Ahriman238]

Appended, there is definitely a teenager in police custody. Further details are not being released for the protection of the youth, a position I understand and support even as I find it damn frustrating.

[Raw Shark]

[snip] in the woods near Danvers High School, about a half-hour outside Boston.

"About a half-hour," in this case meaning, "anywhere from 10-50 minutes depending on time of day." It's just on the other side of Peabody, in the former part of Salem where we actually hung all those people and squished Giles Corey.

“find something good in every day.”

Calling It: As we find out more, this is going to get not just sad, but weird.

[Borgholio]

Calling It: As we find out more, this is going to get not just sad, but weird.

Saw a pic of the teacher online while reading about this. She's kinda cute. My money is on either the boy killing her because he couldn't have her, or a relationship between the two that ended when she tried to break it off.

So yeah you're probably right, it's going to get weird.

[JLTucker]

I love the hilarious speculation by a bunch of morons who don't know specifics. She's cute = killed over a relationship or lack thereof. How do you even get to only those two possible motives? Perhaps there's something deeper going on? Do you think before you speak, Borgholio?

[Borgholio]

I never said there were only two motives, dumbass. I said those are the two most likely. Do you even know what speculation means? It's nothing more than guessing based on incomplete evidence. So how did I form that opinion? Here's how:

Young boy at the age of 14, at the age when hormones are in the process of raging, in a bathroom with an attractive young teacher. No mention of any accomplices or witnesses, so at this point we assume they were in there alone together. Three reasons why they could be in there together: First, a relationship between the two that ended with her death. Second, he tried to force himself on her or propositioned her and she refused and got killed. Third, he wanted something else out of her and killed her for it, or just killed her for the simple pleasure of it.

So given the information that has been released already, it's not unreasonable to suspect there was something between them. Once the police release more info, then we can draw more definite conclusions at that time.

[Lagmonster]

Hell, my first reaction was also that 23 was young enough for a teenage boy to have a crush on, but it's only one of a dozen possible scenarios and more, so who the hell knows? I certianly don't get hostility towards speculation that the teenage sex drive could lead to a crime.

[Ahriman238]

I'd prefer it if they weren't having sex, both because I hate it when teachers exploit their students that way and I'd rather not deal with a witch hunt for pedophile teachers. But if they were, my personal preference won't affect the reality of the situation. If they weren't, the truth will out and there's no reason to get my shorts in a twist over speculation.

[RogueIce]

So according to this article she was stabbed and then the suspect dragged her body into the woods behind the school. He's also been charged as an adult and so his name has been released.

[Borgholio]

Law enforcement sources told ABC News there is surveillance video inside the high school that shows the student hauling Ritzer's body from the bathroom toward the woods in what appeared to be a recycle bin

Swell.

Oh and watch the video? Sticking his lip out in the "tough guy" attitude. Yeah, he'll be crying for mommy soon enough.