A 14-year-old boy faces murder charges after allegedly stabbing Colleen Ritzer, a math teacher at Danvers High School where the boy went to school, on Tuesday, The Boston Globe reported.
The 24-year-old was reported missing at 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday after she did not come home and did not answer her cellphone. The 14-year-old boy, who authorities said recently moved to Massachusetts from Tennessee, was reported missing on Tuesday after he did not return home from school, ABC News reported.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said he cannot release the juvenile's information. Blodgett said they discovered Ritzer's blood in the school's second floor bathroom late Tuesday night before finding her body in the woods behind the school on Wednesday morning, according to ABC News.
"The teacher was reported missing and as a result of that, and her not answering her cell phone, police instituted a search and found blood," Blodgett said during a press interview.
He declined to comment on possible motives.
Authorities told ABC News there are surveillance videos from inside the high school, a new building with 130 cameras, which show the teen suspect dragging Ritzer's body from the bathroom toward the woods in a recycling bin.
"She was a very, very, respected, loved teacher," Blodgett said. "It's a terrible tragedy for the entire Danvers community."
The suspect, who was found walking on the side of Route 1 at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, will hear the criminal charges against him in juvenile court. Blodgett said they're taking a "hard look" on whether to charge the juvenile as an adult.
Due to the investigation, parents were contacted around 5 a.m. and told the high school was closed because of police presence, the Globe reported. Danver's public schools were closed on Wednesday and the academic wing of Danvers High School where the murder took place is blocked off with crime scene tape.
Two girls sitting in a parked car across from Danver High told the Globe they couldn't believe this happened in their school and that they didn't know the 14-year-old suspect.
"We are all terrified. It's very scary," Caitlin McBride, a junior, told the Globe. "No one will ever look at this school the same way anymore."
"I didn't know what to do," Kendall Meehan said. "It's all very scary. It's not something you see around here."
