Mom of dead teacher says sentence ‘unacceptable’

Enlarge Uncredited/AP Massachusetts teacher Colleen Ritzer was raped and murdered in 2013.

“We are devastated and feel betrayed”, said Colleen’s mother, Peggie Ritzer.

Judge David Lowy pronounced the sentence after hearing victim-impact statements from Ritzer’s loved ones.

“We want to be clear, ” she said.

At the end of next month, Quinn will make her third trip to the parole board to speak for a son who has no voice.

But two months after Ritzer was buried, the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, made life without parole for juveniles unconstitutional, and limited the number of years juveniles could be held without parole.

Chism was 14 when he followed the 24-year-old Ritzer into a school bathroom, strangled her, stabbed her at least 16 times and raped her. His lawyers argued he was mentally ill, a contention rejected by the jury. The goal, he said, was to “right this moral wrong”.

A 14-year-old boy was being held on a murder charge Wednesday after the body of a female teacher (Colleen Ritzer) was found in woods near the high school in Danvers, Massachusetts. He is eligible for parole after 25 years. He receives credit for the 857 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.

“The sentences imposed must allow for the possibility of consideration of release”, she said.

Chism was 14 when Ritzer was killed and he was arrested.

Chism was a 14-year-old freshman who had just moved from Tennessee when he killed Ritzer, cutting her throat with a box cutter and using a recycling bin to dump her body. “I know exactly where she’s at. A dad’s job is to fix things”, he said. “I would do anything to fix this for Colleen”.

Ritzer said said he believed Chism deserved the death penalty. He is awaiting trial on attempted murder charges after he allegedly attacked a female detention worker with a pencil, circumstances prosecutors say are disturbingly similar to the attack on Ritzer. “I hate Colleen’s killer and will never forgive him”.

“Evil”, she said, “cannot be
rehabilitated”.

He recalled the day of her murder, when she didn’t return home from work on time. Months before she died, Colleen started writing a good memory from each day and tucking it inside the jar. “I will never understand how such evil could exist in this world, nor, more importantly, how such evil could cross Colleen’s path”.

All four members of the Ritzer family sat at the front of the courtroom, on the witness stand next to the judge, as they give impact statements. Judge Lowy joined the Rizter family’s sentiments, calling the murder “brutal and senseless”.

Hours after murdering Ritzer, who had stayed late to provide students with extra help, Chism was found wandering along a state highway carrying a bag that contained Ritzer’s identification and the box cutter he had used.

Now the annual picture has only two children. “There was always supposed to be three, and there will never be three again”.

Many of Ritzer’s family, friends and colleagues who attended the sentencing wore pink, her favorite color. The victim’s parents said as they age, Dan and Laura will have to assume the responsibility. “I will never forget what happened that night”.

“It truly makes me proud to have known such a wonderful person”, said Ritzer’s cousin, Gina McDaniel.