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GRUESOME DETAILS in rape and murder of teacher Collen Ritzer. Body left sexually defiled

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Chism raped and murdered Ritzer in school restroom.

Gruesome new details of the rape and murder of Colleen Ritzer, 24, by her student Philip Chism, 14, have been released by authorities. According to the reports, Ritzer was raped and murdered, and her body dumped and defiled with a stick placed inside her.

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Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
11/22/2013 (1 decade ago)

Published in U.S.

Keywords: Chism, Ritzer, murder, brutal, gruesome, details, stick, sexually suggestive, pose, note, motive

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The crime is exceptionally heinous. According to police, student Philip Chism, 14, raped and murdered his math teacher, Colleen Ritzer, after she asked him to stay after school for additional study on his classwork.

Police now say that Chism assaulted his teacher in the bathroom, and that a possible witness entered the room, but immediately exited on the notion that someone was changing. Chism was allegedly engaged in raping Ritzer. After murdering her with a box cutter, he took her partially nude body to the woods behind the school, concealed in a recycling bin, and dumped her body in a sexually suggestive position. A three-foot stick was inserted into her and a note was left next to her body.

On Oct. 22, Ritzer asked Chism to stay after school. The pair were last seen alive with him sitting at a  computer and Chism next to him. There is no evidence that Ritzer engaged in anything inappropriate with Chism. By all indications, RItzer's interactions were entirely professional and appropriate.

However, it is suspected that Chism was infatuated with Ritzer and he possibly became infuriated with her after she spurned his advances. Being asked to stay after school may have been the breaking point for Chism who was enduring the divorce of his parents at home.

Chism's father had left the house over the summer.

According to police, and CCTV footage, Chism donned a mask and gloves when he followed Ritzer into a second-floor restroom around 3 PM. Alone in the restroom, Chism raped Ritzer and slit her throat. At one point during the crime, a woman, unidentified in the release, walked into the restroom and reported seeing clothes on the floor. Assuming someone was changing, she quickly left, and was likely unaware of what was happening.

Chism then dragged Ritzer's lifeless body and placed it into a recycling bin then wheeled it to the woods behind the school. There he left her body in a sexually suggestive position, placed a three-foot stick into her body, and dropped a note that read "I hate you all."

Her pants and underwear were removed and her shirt was pulled up, her bra down, exposing her breasts.

After the crime, Chism walked to a movie theater and sitting alone he watched "Blue Jasmine" by Woody Allen.

Police caught up with Chism and arrested him. They found her iPhone, credit cards, underwear, and a bloody knife in his bag.

Police reiterated there is no evidence of misconduct on the part of Ms. Ritzer.

The case will now go before a Grand Jury. A clear motive has not yet been shared with the media. It has become known that another student saw Chism drawing pictures before being asked to stay after. It is possible those pictures could form part of the case against Chism.

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