A 14-year-old boy killed a math teacher and dumped her body behind the Massachusetts high school where she taught, police said Wednesday.
Philip Chism showed no emotion in Salem court as he was ordered held without bail for the murder of Colleen Ritzer.
The beloved 24-year-old math instructor was found dead in a patch of woods near Danvers High School after midnight Tuesday, authorities said.
“Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion, her teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students,” Ritzer’s heartbroken family said in a statement.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said, “She was a very, very respected, loved teacher. It’s a terrible tragedy for the entire Danvers community.”
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The teen suspect was found a short time later wandering along a state highway in the neighboring town of Topsfield, about 24 miles north of Boston.
Chism will be tried as an adult. His mother wiped away tears during his courtroom appearance.
Police began searching for Ritzer after being alerted that she did not return home from work Tuesday or answer her cell phone.
Cops combed the area around the school after finding blood in a second-floor bathroom, Blodgett said.
Police did not release a motive or the cause of death.
“She was just filled with joy,” said Charlotte Dzerkacz, a middle school Spanish teacher and Ritzer’s best friend.
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Chism — a 6-foot-tall star junior varsity soccer player — was also reported missing Tuesday when he failed to come home from school.
He was last seen at the local Hollywood Hits movie theater. A manager there said he had bought a ticket for a 4:30 p.m. showing of the Woody Allen movie “Blue Jasmine.”
A police report indicated Chism knew Ritzer through Danvers High, but didn’t elaborate. The report also noted statements by Chism and evidence, including video, collected in the school and nearby wooded area.
Students were stunned that Chism, who had easily made friends after recently moving to the area from Tennessee, was accused of murder.
“We’re all just a family. It just amazes me really,” said Kyle Cahill, a junior who also plays soccer at the school. “He wasn’t violent at all. He was really the opposite of aggressive.”
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But other students said Chism served several detentions since starting school in September, sometimes going at least twice a week and on Saturdays.
Public schools in Danvers, which has a population of roughly 26,000, were closed Wednesday.
The Red Sox held a moment of silence to honor Ritzer before Game 1 of the World Series.
Hundreds of students and locals turned out for a candlelight memorial service organized by members of the school’s National Honor Society.
“She made it fun for us to go to math class,” said Marisa Belthoff, 14, a student in Ritzer's geometry class.
“It still doesn't feel real,” Belthoff added. “It feels like she's still going to be there when we get back.”
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Ritzer lived with her parents in Andover and graduated magna cum laude from Assumption College in 2011 with a degree in math and a minor in psychology.
She was pursuing a master’s degree at Salem State University.
The enthusiastic teacher used her Twitter account to assign homework and wrote she was a “math teacher often too excited about the topics I’m teaching.”
With News Wire Services
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@joekemp
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