Video shows teenager following murdered teacher into bathroom, emerging with a bloody hand
Prosecutors showed the video in the murder trial of 16-year-old Philip Chism.
At first, he hesitated. Walking out of his math teacher’s classroom, Philip Chism looked left, then right. He started in the direction Colleen Ritzer had gone, then stopped and returned to the classroom.
Seconds later, surveillance video shows the lanky 14-year-old emerged again, drew his blue hoodie over his head and slowly followed Ritzer into the girls’ bathroom. Along the way, he pulled gloves over his hands.
Eleven minutes later, Chism exited the bathroom with his hoodie on, face tilted down. His hand was bright red, apparently covered in blood.
He descended the stairwell, moving faster now, carrying something black in his hands. They looked like the pants Ritzer had been wearing minutes before.
Prosecutors showed the surveillance video of Philip Chism and Colleen Ritzer at Danvers High School from the afternoon of Oct. 22, 2013, the day the 24-year-old teacher was raped and stabbed to death.
Chism has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, murder and robbery. It was the first time the video was shown in the two years since Ritzer was killed.
Prior to her murder, more than 140 cameras had recently been installed at the remodeled high school. School resource officer Steven Baldassare spent four days after the killing piecing together the videos, he testified Wednesday.
Chism, 16, seated at the defense table, didn’t watch the video.
He was present in the courtroom, despite an earlier request from his attorney saying he wanted to waive his appearance. But under questioning from the judge, Chism changed his mind and said he wanted to be there.
Prosecutors say Chism slashed Ritzer’s throat 16 times in that bathroom – something the cameras didn’t capture. They say he raped her, put her body in a rolling recycling bin and dumped it in the woods outside the school. Then he allegedly used a tree branch to violate her before covering the body in leaves.
Before police arrived that night, the bathroom was inadvertently cleaned — a miscommunication, prosecutors said, with the Spanish-speaking cleaning crew.
One of the cleaners testified Wednesday that nearly the entire floor of the bathroom was covered in blood.
Chism’s attorney, Denise Regan, said in opening statements that he did everything he’s accused of. But it wasn’t a premeditated act, she said. Instead, the defense has argued it was a psychotic break that had been building for years before Chism moved to Danvers from Tennessee that summer.
Testimony is expected to continue through December. The jury will have to decide which version of the tragedy they believe.
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