All language subtitles for The Harrowing Case Of Colleen Ritzer

to punish the defendant for this
unspeakable murder more than the law

Sentencing a human being to prison comes
with a solemn obligation to craft a

sentence no more or less than justice
requires.

This inexact process is central to the
maintenance of our social compact and

part of the core of the concept of
ordered liberty.

This court will impose the mandatory
life sentence for the murder of Colleen

Ritzer and set a parole...

Danvers,

Massachusetts. Home to around 27 ,000
people.

Originally known as Salem Village,
Danvers has quite a history and is

with various landmarks and tourist
hotspots.

It's probably most well known for its
association with the 1692 Salem Witch

Trials before the town was renamed
Danvers years later.

This particular case begins in Danvers
High School in 2013.

24 -year -old Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer
had been at Danvers High School for

a year and taught 9th grade algebra.

She was born to Tom and Peggy Ritzer and
had two younger siblings.

They all described her as positive and
optimistic, with a big heart and a

genuine passion for helping people.

Family was everything to Colleen and
people said she cherished every moment

spent with them.

Colleen knew from a young age that
teaching was what she had to do.

Her passion for teaching and learning
was infectious, and she often started

classes with inspirational quotes or
pictures.

She was very active on social media,
posting puzzles and games to help her

students learn, and people said she
would always find time to help anyone

struggling with their studies.

Many of her students said they didn't
even like mathematics until they had

Colleen as a teacher, but her unique
style, positive outlook and willingness

help anyone finding things tough meant
she quickly proved very popular with

students.

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013.

As the school day drew to a close and
the building started to empty, Colleen

finishing up some bits in her room.

She left her classroom, A209, and
briefly spoke to another teacher in the

hallway before heading to the second
floor bathroom just before 3pm.

At 6 .30pm that day, a frantic parent
filed a missing persons report.

Diana Chisholm's 14 -year -old son was
missing and he attended Danvers High

School.

Philip Chisholm was a quiet and reserved
teen who had recently moved from

Tennessee with his mother after his
parents' divorce.

He excelled in sports but kept to
himself where everything else was

and he socialised with few of the other
children at his new school.

Mike Chase, the coach from Danvers High
School, had also received word that

Philip hadn't turned up to practice and
had missed the team meal too.

Three hours later at 9pm, Danvers High
School Principal Sue sent a mass email

all school faculty and staff, informing
them that their 14 -year -old student

was missing.

Shortly after this email was sent,
another math teacher called Sarah phoned

Colleen Ritzer's parents had just
contacted her to ask if she had seen

daughter, as Colleen appeared to be
missing too.

Colleen lived with her parents and they
were expecting her home hours ago.

Colleen's father Tom had already gone
looking for his daughter at the school,

but ended up driving home without seeing
her.

He noted her car was still in its
parking spot, but couldn't find her

school.

Tom said he was so proud of her, and all
he wanted to do was tell her how

exciting it was to see her new
classroom.

The more time ticked by, the more
everyone was starting to worry for both

missing teacher and students.

Danvers High School had been shut for
ages.

and there would be no reason for either
of them to still be there.

The teacher Sarah also informed Sue that
Philip had actually been in Colleen's

last class that day, and it seemed too
coincidental that they were now both

missing at the same time.

Sue and a few other teachers went to the
school to look for the pair, but they

couldn't see them anywhere.

Colleen's classroom seemed to be just as
she'd left it, but they noted all her

belongings were missing.

and her car was still in its spot.

At 11 .20pm, with still no word from
their daughter, the anxious Ritzers

officially reported Colleen as missing
to the Danvers police.

Detectives quickly had her cell phone
provider ping the location of her phone,

and her phone's last known location was
around 24 minutes away on foot from

Danvers High School.

They also pinged Philip's phone.

His phone, however, was traced to a
nearby cinema, Hollywood Hits Theatre.

But when the police arrived, he was no
longer there.

Searches were now underway in and around
the school and, to everyone's concern,

Colleen's purse was soon found in the
surrounding area.

It was empty and her cards and ID were
gone.

A search of the school found red -brown
stains on the second -floor bathroom.

At 12 .30am on what was now October
23rd, police were notified that a

was walking alone in the southbound lane
on Route 1 North at Salem Lane in

Topsfield.

Topsfield police soon realised it was
the missing Philip Chisholm.

The 14 -year -old was patted down and
police found a knife on him.

Following this, they took him to
Topsfield Police Station where his

searched. It was here that officers
found a bloodied box cutter, Killeen's

credit cards and driver's licence.

They also found underwear, which would
later be confirmed to be Colleen's too.

Philip told officers he innocently found
all the items lying around at a stop

and shop and just decided to pick them
up.

He then said he stole them from a car.

So where did the blood on the box cutter
come from, officers asked.

The girl, he finally said.

He calmly told police that the woman was
in the woods and was beyond help.

Philip was then taken to Danvers Police
Station where he later met with his

mother. It was noted that his demeanour
then quickly changed and he asked to

talk to officers without his mother
present.

He was placed under arrest.

While Philip was being interviewed, at
around 3am a couple of hours later, a

devastating discovery was made.

Kalimritz's body was found near the
school in the wooded area.

She had been stabbed, strangled and
raped.

She was naked from the waist down.

and her top had been pulled up and her
bra pulled down.

Next to her body was a handwritten note
saying, I hate you all.

She was posed in what was referred to by
police as a sexually suggestive

position and had been violated with a
tree branch which was still inside her.

About 20 yards from her body was a large
recycling bin, some bloody gloves and

clothing. But what had happened that led
to this?

The school and surrounding area had over
100 security cameras and police began

the painstaking task of analysing all of
them.

The footage on them would soon reveal a
horrific and disturbing series of

events.

Another student in Colleen's last class
that day recalled that after the lesson

had finished, she saw Philip and Colleen
talking.

Colleen had spotted Philip drawing
during the class and asked him to stay a

little later to help him do some more
prep for an upcoming test.

The student said that while Colleen and
Philip were chatting, she mentioned

Tennessee in a passing comment, the
state that Philip had left a few months

before.

At the mention of this, he became
visibly upset and started muttering to

himself.

As soon as Colleen noticed this, she
quickly changed the subject, but it

seem to make a difference.

Shortly after the pair finished talking,
Colleen left the classroom, heading for

the second floor bathroom.

A minute later, Philip Chisholm started
to follow her.

He put his hood up and put on some
gloves.

He walked behind her into the bathroom.

He then strangled her, stabbed her 16
times with a box cutter and raped her.

At 3 .06pm a female student entered the
same bathroom.

She told investigators she saw the back
of a person who appeared to be changing.

The person's rear was exposed and the
clothes were piled on the floor.

Not wanting to disturb whoever it was
she thought was changing, she quickly

turned and left.

Philip then left the bathroom.

Over the next few minutes he ran in and
out of the school building.

eventually returning to the classroom
and fetching his and some of Colleen's

belongings.

He puts on a black ski mask before
bumping into another student and taking

mask off.

At 3 .14 he pulled a recycling bin into
the bathroom and put Colleen inside it.

He put his black ski mask back on and
pulled the bin into a lift before

it out towards the student parking lot.

When he got Colleen into the woods using
the bin, he sexually assaulted her with

a three -foot -long tree branch before
leaving her body on the ground,

clothed, covered in sticks and leaves.

At 3 .30pm, the mother of another
student saw Philip running near the

She relayed this information to the
principal at about 6pm that day, around

same time Diana had reported him
missing.

Philip then returned to the building
about half an hour later with blood on

jeans and without his shoes.

He changed his clothes.

Heading back into the second floor
bathroom one more time.

and stayed on site for a while longer,
skipping his after -school sports

practice.

He then left the building completely.

He went straight to the cinema and
purchased a ticket for a 4 .30pm film

showing. He left at around 6pm, and then
used Colleen's credit card at the

nearby Wendy's.

Near the cinema, police later found both
Philip and Colleen's smashed phones.

indicating that Philip had destroyed
Colleen's phone near the school

surroundings, which is why her phone's
last known location was there.

The pathologist said there were two
causes of death, asphyxiation and the 16

stab wounds to the neck, three of which
hit major blood vessels.

They said it was not possible to say
which killed her, but the pathologist

that she believed the asphyxiation
happened first because the knife wounds

the neck were so severe it would have
been too difficult to strangle her after

stabbing her.

Asphyxia by strangulation as well as the
sharp force injuries are both lethal in

their own right and separately.

I couldn't be certain, again, we talked
about the sequence with which injuries

occur, I couldn't be certain whether the
asphyxia occurred and then the decedent

lived through that episode, therefore I
combined them as essentially a hybrid

cause of death.

Medical examiners believe Killeen was
likely still alive when Philip dragged

body into the woods behind the school.

and subjected her to the horrific sexual
assault with the tree branch.

A professor of psychiatry at Harvard
Medical School said cases such as these

were off the charts rare.

I personally have never seen anything
like this in the hundreds of cases I've

had and the thousands of cases I've
supervised, he said.

We're also working developing news
tonight in a shocking high school

this afternoon. A Massachusetts teenager
was arraigned on charges that he

robbed, raped, and murdered his high
school math teacher.

Eyewitness News anchor Shannon Heggie
joins us now live with the developing

details.

Mike, 14 -year -old Philip Chisholm said
next to nothing during today's

arraignment except to plead not guilty
to murdering 24 -year -old Colleen

Ritzer. We'll take a stretch of this
indictment. Guilty or not guilty?

Guilty.

Those were the only words to come out of
the mouth of Philip Chisholm at Salem

Superior Court.

The 14 -year -old is charged with
murder, aggravated rape, and armed

the October 22nd killing of Danvers High
School math teacher Colleen Ritzer. Her

body was discovered in the woods near
the school with her throat slit and a

reading, quote, I hate you all.

Prosecutors have not yet released a
motive for the killing.

Chisholm was ordered held without bail
and is due back in court for a pretrial

hearing on January 30th.

Despite the overwhelming amount of
evidence, including Philip's partial

admission, he pled not guilty.

In Massachusetts, anyone 14 years old or
above who is charged with murder is

automatically tried as an adult.

Philip was tried as an adult on the
murder charge and as a youth offender on

charges of armed robbery and aggravated
rape.

While he was awaiting trial, Philip
attacked a youth services worker.

He followed her into a locker room.

where he choked and beat her before
other workers intervened. The worker

suffered injuries to her face, jaw, neck
and back, and Chisholm then faced

further charges and a separate trial for
attempted murder in this case.

His trial in Colleen Ritzer's case,
however, began in 2015.

Philip's lawyers did not dispute Philip
killing Colleen, but argued that it

happened during a psychotic episode that
had been triggered by Colleen

mentioning the word Tennessee to him.

On this basis, they asked for the jury
to find him not guilty by reason of

insanity.

Defence attorney Denise Reagan said that
Philip's family also had a history of

mental health issues and that he likely
suffered from them too from an early

age. A psychiatrist that testified for
the defence also said that Philip

probably has early -onset schizophrenia
and that this also accounted for his

actions.

So what is this case about?

This case is about why did this happen?

Why did a 14 -year -old boy, well
-behaved,

quiet, one month into high school, do
these terrible things?

The answer is he was severely mentally
ill. He had been suffering from a

psychotic disorder since the age of 10.

Now, at the end of the day in 2015, did
you reach a diagnosis for Philip

Chisholm? I did. And what was that
diagnosis?

I made two diagnoses. One was a
depressive state, best described in my

major depressive state, and another was
a brief or transient psychotic episode.

Now, in forming your diagnosis, what did
you rely on?

I relied on my clinical observations,
the observations of the clinical team.

I had available to me two psychological
reports done early in the fall.

But a doctor who testified for the
prosecution argued that Philip was not

psychotic and that his symptoms were
inconsistent.

And Dr.

Heaven, what were the results of Philip
Chisholm's MMPI for adolescence?

The results suggested that it was likely
invalid because his F minus K

scale was excessively elevated and
suggested that he was attempting

to fake bad and to demonstrate that he
was severely

mentally ill.

He was attempting to demonstrate that he
was severely mentally ill. Is that

correct? Correct.

I interviewed Philip Chisholm.

On a number of occasions between July
and October 3rd of this year for a total

of approximately 13 hours, I'm first
looking for whether or not there is

evidence of a mental disease or defect
as it's understood under the law.

I then look to see whether or not if
there was a mental disease or defect,

is evidence that the defendant was
substantially impaired in their ability

either appreciate the wrongfulness or
criminality of their act or to conform

their conduct to the requirements of
law.

So I'm essentially marching through the
legal standard, trying to put the

information and evidence that I have
into this.

kind of logical progression.

And with respect to whether Philip
Chisholm was suffering a mental disease

defect on October 22nd of 2013, did you
reach an opinion to a reasonable degree

of psychological certainty?

I did. What was that opinion?

My opinion is that on the date of the
alleged offense, Mr. Chisholm was not

suffering from a mental disease or
defect.

And did you reach an opinion to a
reasonable degree of psychological

as to whether he understood the
wrongfulness of his conduct and could

his conduct to the requirements of the
law.

I did reach an opinion on that.

What was that opinion?

My opinion was that although Mr.
Chisholm at the time may have been

indications of distress or emotional
disturbance,

that to the extent to which they were
present, they did not substantially

his capacity to distinguish the
wrongfulness or criminality of his act

identify that, nor did it substantially
impair his ability to conform his

conduct to the requirements of law.

They said that it was obvious that
Philip had planned the attack in

he already brought a ski mask, gloves
and a box cutter to school that day.

and this was not a psychotic break based
on the conversation they had had in the

classroom.

Philip's defence lawyers also fought
hard for him to be acquitted of the

assault in the woods.

They disagreed with medical examiners,
saying that they thought Colleen had

already died by the time the assault
with the tree branch happened, meaning

Philip should be acquitted of that part
of the crime on that basis alone.

I told you at the beginning of this
case, It's not in question who did these

terrible acts.

And the evidence has borne me out.

The defense acknowledges the enormity of
this task and thanks you for

your commitment to this.

The evidence is clear that Philip
Chisholm has suffered from a psychotic

disorder, most likely early -onset
schizophrenia, from the time he was

Now, what's the evidence of that?

Well, first you have the testimony of
three experienced psychiatrists. Ladies

and gentlemen, the terrible, horrible
event of October 22, 2013 didn't unfold

a screen capture.

They didn't unfold in a still image.

They happened in real time, in real
life, in a place, at a time.

at Danvers High School in the middle of
what should have been a normal day in

the middle of the afternoon.

And make no mistake, they didn't happen
to Philip Chisholm.

He did these terrible things to Colleen
Ritzer, and she was only 24

years old.

And the only still image that matters in
this case is the image of

Colleen in the woods.

The image that the defendant painted of
Colleen, strict, battered,

brutalized and violated.

Life sentences without parole for
juveniles have been found to be

unconstitutional in Massachusetts.

And, under separate decisions made by
the U .S. Supreme Court and the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court,
Philip could not be sentenced to life

without the possibility of parole for
murder.

When something terrible happens, people
will often say it could always be worse.

It is difficult for this court to
imagine what could be worse for an

or a family to endure than the brutal
and senseless murder of Colleen Ritzer.

Colleen Ritzer lived a life of quiet
heroism.

That's what most teachers do.

Henry Adams observed that a teacher
affects eternity.

She can never tell where her influence
starts.

Colleen Richer's parents, more than
most, have learned the reach of their

daughter's influence, but at a cost no
parent should have to endure.

While the extent or lack of extent of
the defendant's mental health was the

subject of exhaustive testimony at
trial, the Commonwealth presented

overwhelming evidence that the defendant
had substantial capacity.

to appreciate the wrongfulness of his
conduct and have the substantial

to conform his conduct to the
requirements of the law. I will punish

defendant for the murder of Colleen
Ritzer and I will punish him for the

well as the armed robbery of the
underpants she put on in the morning of

death. But I may not utilize the
horrific rape and robbery of Colleen

punish the defendant for this
unspeakable murder.

more than the law allows.

This court will impose the mandatory
life sentence for the murder of Colleen

Ritzer and set a parole eligibility date
of 25 years, the highest level our law

allows.

This court will impose a concurrent
sentence of 40 years to 40 years and one

for the rape of Colleen Ritzer and a
concurrent sentence of 40 years to 40

and one day for the armed robbery.

In imposing a sentence for the rape at a
date in excess of the parole

eligibility date for the murder, the
court is not suggesting

that the rape, as heinous as it was, was
more egregious than the murder.

Rather, this court is constitutionally
obligated to set a parole date no more

than 25 years for her murder.

While Colleen Rich's rape and murder
were inextricably intertwined, this

may not punish the defendant with more
prison time for the rape than justice

demands for the purposes of avoiding
constitutional limitations imposed by

Massachusetts Declaration of Rights as
interpreted by a Supreme Judicial Court

for the murder committed by a juvenile.

Sentence may be imposed.

Ultimately, the jury rejected the
insanity defence that Philip Chisholm's

lawyers had put forward and found him
guilty.

Because the judge also imposed
concurrent sentences of 40 years for

years for armed robbery, this means he
will not actually be able to apply for

parole until he is in his 50s.

Philip was, however, acquitted of the
second count of rape committed using the

tree branch in the woods.

During the 10 hours of deliberations,
This was the only question juries had

had to ask the judge to clarify this.

Defence attorneys argued that Colleen
was dead when she was in the woods and

when Chisholm violated her with the
branch.

A medical examiner said they couldn't
say with certainty that she had died by

this point.

Jurors ultimately believed she was no
longer alive at this point and

Massachusetts law requires a live victim
to convict someone of rape.

Unlike other states,

Massachusetts doesn't have a law against
abuse of a corpse.

Philip Chisholm was placed in a state
juvenile detention facility and will

there until he turns 21.

He will then be sent to a state prison.

This high school math teacher will be
back in court this morning. The 16 -year

-old is facing attempted murder charges
for attacking a youth worker while he

was awaiting trial. Fox 25's Michael
Henrich, live outside Juvenile Court in

downtown Boston with more on the story
for us. Good morning, Michael.

Good morning. This is the first time
we'll see Philip Chisholm since that

verdict in the trial, the murder trial,
regarding victim Colleen Ritzer. This

court hearing is happening here at
Suffolk County Juvenile Court on that

attempted murder charge that he tried to
kill a Department of Youth Services

worker in Dorchester while awaiting
trial.

Philip's mother reached out to the
Ritzer family and said...

Words can't express the amount of pain
and sorrow these past two and a half

years have been.

However, there is no one who has
suffered more than the Ritzer family.

My utmost esteem, prayers and humble
respect is with them today as they

their journey to heal.

Tom Ritzer said, It makes me sick to
know that I walked the same halls as her

killer. It makes me sick to know I drove
by her in the woods and drove home.

Peggy said she often has to stay
isolated from people because pretending

happy is so difficult.

Colleen Ritzer loved nothing more than
inspiring and supporting people,

them and helping them to learn and grow.

The difference Colleen made to so many
people's lives was clear by the

outpouring of heartfelt messages
following her passing.

Over 1 ,000 people turned out to pay
their respects at Colleen's funeral and

hundreds of students and teachers
participated in numerous vigils and

community events to celebrate her life.

Her family established the Colleen E.
Ritzer Memorial Scholarship in her

which, since October 2013, has awarded
over $370 ,000 in college scholarships

82 future teachers.

One of Colleen's friends also started
the Kindness for Colleen campaign.

This encourages everyone to perform
random acts of kindness on October 22nd

year and share them on social media.

A beautiful and fitting tribute for the
kind, positive and compassionate Colleen

Ritzer.