True Crime with Kendall Rae - Beloved Teacher Murdered by Her Student in School Bathroom: The Case of Colleen Ritzer

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Colleen Ritzer was an empathetic, driven, young professional who had spent her entire life dreaming of becoming a teacher. And through her hard work she became one. Though she’d only been a teacher at Danvers High School for one full year, students quickly took a liking to her. But one day, in October of 2013, a student with no moral compass, compassion, or empathy took her life. Philip Chism was quickly arrested for Colleen’s rape and murder, and was prosecuted to the fullest extent that Massachusetts law allowed. Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Fund: https://colleenritzer.org/ Learn more about Kindness for Colleen: https://colleenritzer.org/initiatives... Love, Colleen: https://youtu.be/0qIhRnicBsE?si=TisljcNlwyFvhbD5 Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Huggies Earnin - promo code: Kendall Rae Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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Thank you so much for joining me today and if you're new, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. So guys today we're going to be talking about a case that is just unbelievable. It's heartbreaking. It's shocking. I don't know how I hadn't heard of this one and how it has such minimal coverage. There's really barely anything out there and I think it's a case that really needs to be talked about.

This actually was a request in my members only request form and when I started looking into it, I was just shocked that something like this can actually happen. Like it's hard to believe. We're going to be talking about the murder of Colleen Ritzer, who was only 24 years old when her life was stolen from her in a absolutely brutal way. And it's just beyond heartbreaking because Colleen, not only was she so young, but she was an amazing person, a person that anyone would be lucky to have as a teacher. And it's just beyond devastating to think that not only does her family and friends have to live their lives without her

and the light that she brought to all of them, but also to all of the students who either had her already as a teacher and had a great experience with her. She was so loved as a teacher, but also all of the future students who should have had her and won't ever get that opportunity. Colleen was that type of person that found so much passion and joy in everyday life and really seemed to

bring that out in others, especially her students. She was really into inspirational quotes and there was one specifically that she really liked to live by and that is, every day may not be good, but there is good in every day. And I just love that. And it is great timing to cover Colleen's story because today is October 22nd when this episode is being uploaded. So if you're watching it today, today is kindness for Colleen Day. And so I thought it was a great day to share her story, to inspire others,

to do a random act of kindness. I will talk more about what this means, but it's basically an initiative that her family has started in her honor to encourage others to do something kind for another person on this day. And I would love to hear from some of you guys out there if you know you did do an act of kindness today or you're planning to do one. It would be really cool, especially if her family ends up seeing the comment section to have that filled with random acts of kindness inspired by Colleen.

I also wanted to share her story because her family is absolutely amazing and everything that they have done to honor Colleen's memory and help others and inspire others in the process has been really, really cool to see. And I'm always just so inspired by families who go through the unimaginable tragedies in life and still try to think of ways that they can find that silver lining, find a way to inspire others, find a way for their loved one's memory to live on and help others. There's much more to go over as far as what their family has done. So stay tuned to the end.

I'll tell you more about kindness for Colleen and everything else that they have done as well. But like I said, I just could not believe the details of this case. I couldn't believe it doesn't have more coverage that more people haven't heard Colleen's story. And just that something like this can happen. I mean, when you hear, you're just gonna be blown away. There were so many failures that led to her murder and

God there's just there's a lot to go over. So let's just jump in I want to tell you more about Colleen because she really was such a wonderful wonderful human. So Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer was born on May 13th 1989 to her parents Peggy and. And just a few years later, she became a big sister to her little brother, Dan. And she actually cried the day he was born because she wanted a sister so badly. But she ended up getting her wish of a baby sister too,

named Laura, not long after that. And from a very young age, Colleen's kind, thoughtful, and caring personality really began to shine through. She had this nurturing way about her when it came to her siblings and she was always finding little ways to help out where she could. Throughout her whole life it seems she was really dedicated to helping others and actually was even awarded best helper in her class and I want to say she must have been in kindergarten or first grade but it

just goes to show you how young she truly was when she started exhibiting these selfless behaviors. Colleen's family has shared some home video of her as a child and as a baby and oh my god it just broke my heart to see she was so adorable and you know having a toddler myself it just it hits home. I just can't imagine going through what her family has. What do you think about Kindergarten? Good. What are you going to do with Kindergarten? And as I'm sure you can tell, Colleen made many friends in her life. And I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with Colleen? And she had many friendships that she kept for life. And I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with Colleen? And she had many friendships that she kept for life. She was such a loyal person and anyone who had, you know, the good fortune of knowing Colleen would tell you the same. They would also probably tell you that family was

one of, if not the most important thing to Colleen. Ever since her siblings were born, she always was looking after them, nurturing them. And as they grew older, her support and love for them really only got stronger. She was their leader. She was their biggest supporter and the person that would do anything in the world to make sure that they were happy. Her family also says that her heart was just too big for words.

And from what I learned about her, that really does feel incredibly true. She was just that type of person who always put the needs of others before her own and was really just defined by her selflessness and ability to help others. As young as just three years old, Colleen had already really developed a knack for helping other people and the older she got, the more obvious it became that she had one true Colleen in life. And that was teaching because Colleen was really a natural born leader and not in the sense that she was like bossy or needed recognition. She just genuinely loved helping people and knew how to

get through to the younger generation. Now her interest in teaching and goal to become a teacher one day started young, but it really blossomed during her senior year of college. In 2011, she was a senior at Assumption College, and part of her degree required that she complete student teaching credits. She was assigned to work with high school students struggling with math. Colleen just had this effortless ability to explain really difficult concepts in math in a way that someone who may not be so good at math like myself was able to understand and feel capable of actually learning these concepts.

Just by listening to how many students she truly impacted and made them excited about their education just shows you that this is what she was meant to do. So Colleen got a job as a math teacher of course at Danvers High School in Danvers, Massachusetts. And although she'd only been teaching there for a year, the students and faculty just absolutely loved her. And she was young. I mean, she was only 24 years old,

but being young seemed to really be one of her many strengths. And that's because she was really able to connect with her students on a level that they could understand. Like for example, using her Twitter to post updates for her students, sharing inspirational quotes, just little things to get them engaged in their learning. I just thought it was really cool that she could relate to her students, but also maintain a level of professionalism.

And I think that's really rare and she was a teacher that anyone would be lucky to have. This episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae is brought to you by Huggies Little Movers. Huggies knows that babies come in all shapes and sizes, and of course their tushies do too. Huggies best fitting diaper is their Little Movers with its curved and stretchy fit. Parents out there, you know there's nothing worse than an ill-fitting diaper, especially for your active babies. We love Huggies in our house. It has been our number one diaper brand since our daughter was born. We've had the best luck with them, especially when it comes to leaks. The real game changer is that Huggies little movers are curved, so my daughter feels comfy no matter how much she's

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like this where it's just, it's hard to even accept that evil like this can exist. So that brings us to Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013. And that day was really like any other day, very normal routine for Colleen. She taught a full day of classes, finishing around 2 p.m. and then planned to stick around for another hour in case students wanted to come in and get some additional help. And I really think the teachers that do that, like offer that extra time, go above and beyond, just sets them so far apart from other teachers. Now, to my knowledge, based on what has been reported,

there were two students that stayed later that day. And one of these students was a new student named Philip Chisholm. Philip had recently moved with his mom to Danvers from Tennessee because his parents had gotten divorced and Philip was quiet. And honestly, there wasn't much else that stood out about him. He was on the junior varsity soccer team and is said to have been pretty decent at that

but besides that he was really just an average student but that Tuesday he actually failed to show up for soccer practice and in all honesty his coach wasn't that concerned because you know students miss practice often for many different reasons. But later that evening around 6.30 PM, he actually didn't end up coming home. So his mother got worried and she ended up calling 911 to report him missing. But she wasn't the only parent

who was missing their child that day. Colleen's parents, Peggy and Tom, noticed that she also didn't come home from school that day. And she was still living at home with her parents and obviously she was an adult and could come and go as she pleased. But Colleen really followed a routine and was very communicative with her parents.

So they thought it was odd that she just didn't come home, didn't tell them where she was or that she was running late. It was just really out of character to them. So her father Tom actually drove over to the school to see if she was there and her car was still parked there but Colleen was nowhere to be found. He couldn't find her in her classroom and he even ended up contacting another teacher to see if she knew where his daughter was but nobody had heard from Colleen. Even her friends hadn't heard from her which was really strange.

And while her parents were trying to figure out where she was, the school principal was alerting the faculty that there was a missing student. So then sometime between 8 and 9 p.m., a mass email was sent out explaining that 14-year-old Philip Chisholm hadn't been seen and that his mother had reported him missing. And not too long after this, two really important connections were made. Not only were people becoming aware that Colleen was also missing, but they realized that the missing student, Philip, was in her last class of the day,

which couldn't be a coincidence, right? And it wasn't. Now, I'm sure you could guess this, but one of the first things police obviously did was try and ping both of their phones and see if they could find their last known location then maybe find them that way now Colleen's phone last pinged about 25 minutes on foot away from the school and Phillips phone last pinged at a nearby movie theater But when police got to the theater Philip was nowhere to be found and according to surveillance footage

Philip did go and see a movie But it wasn't clear where he went afterwards and they also didn't find Colleen where her phone last pinged. So they kicked off searches in the areas where the phones had pinged. And then they also did searches of the school and some major discoveries were found pretty quickly. At around 1030 PM, an officer arrived at Danvers High School and they were tasked with reviewing the school's security footage. And they had actually just installed over 100 new cameras and some incredibly valuable information was discovered. But when the officer first arrived, the computer that stored all of this footage was having

trouble booting up. So while he was waiting for that to start working, he went outside to the wooded area that surrounded the school to speak with some of the officers about how their search was going. And boy did they find a lot. He was informed that they had found a bag, a recycling bin that appeared to have blood inside, some shoes, clothing, and other items believed to belong to Colleen. And then they also discovered reddish brown stains in the second floor women's bathroom,

which they believe to be blood. And so obviously based on these findings, they were now operating under the belief that foul play had likely occurred. And at 11.45 PM, the security footage was finally ready to be viewed. And when they did, unfortunately, that belief was quickly confirmed.

Luckily for investigators, this footage revealed a whole lot. And oftentimes I'm not able to find security footage to play it for you, but this time I actually am. So here's what they saw. At approximately 2.54 PM, Colleen can be seen exiting her classroom, waving at someone, and then walking towards the second floor women's bathroom and just as she exits the frame Philip Chisholm can also be seen exiting the classroom and looking both ways down the hall. Colleen then enters the bathroom and around this time Philip takes one step back into the room puts his hood on and then proceeds down the hall in the same direction of the second

floor women's bathroom and as he enters the frame of the camera just outside the bathroom, you can see him putting on a pair of gloves. And this is very chilling and disturbing, but 11 minutes later, another student, a girl, is actually seen entering the same bathroom, but luckily within a second she had turned around and left. And when she was interviewed later on, she said that she thought she had walked in on someone getting dressed, so she immediately shut the door and God just imagine if she hadn't imagine if she had walked in and actually seen what Philip was doing.

I don't even want to think about what could have happened. So then less than two minutes later, Philip can be seen leaving the bathroom and walking down the halls then leaving the building. He returned shortly after and this time he's wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and he has no hood over his head and then he runs down the halls back to Colleen's classroom where he grabs both his and her belongings along with a black ski mask which he puts on and a red hooded sweatshirt which he appears to drape over the ski mask. Then around 3.15, Philip can be seen wearing that same red sweatshirt with no ski mask on,

but now he is wheeling a greenish black recycling bin down the hall. He then enters the women's bathroom on the second floor, the same bathroom that Colleen was never seen leaving, and five minutes later, he leaves the bathroom with the ski mask on, wheeling the recycling bin out. And I just cannot believe nobody, as far as we know, saw him.

Philip then wheels that recycling bin out of the building and through the parking lot. And then about 25 minutes later, he is seen back in the parking lot without the recycling bin. And he proceeds to run back into the building without shoes on, where his jeans were very, very clearly soaked in blood.

And then after this, he goes into a different bathroom, changes his clothes once again, and makes one final trip to the second floor women's bathroom where he stays for a minute before just leaving the building. Following this, he was spotted in the parking lot talking to another student, and he eventually re-enters the building

and basically proceeded to walk the halls. And it's unclear why he was just walking around but this appears to go on for several minutes. And for anyone who's watching this or listening to this episode, I'm sure you are absolutely shocked that something like this could even happen inside a school. And just imagine how investigators thought

when they were reviewing this footage. And really this was as good of proof as they were going to get as far as figuring out what happened here. I mean, it seemed pretty obvious right off the bat. And as we know, they did end up finding other things in the woods, including the recycling bin. And eventually they also found clothes

with blood stains on them, as well as a pair of white bloodied gloves. Canine search teams as well as the fire department's thermal imaging unit were brought in, although neither were able to uncover Colleen's remains. The only reason they were actually able to find her remains was because of Philip. Right around 1230 PM, an officer with the Topsfield Police Department was dispatched to Highway Route 1 after a report came in that a young male was seen walking along the roadway.

And by this point, Topsfield PD had been notified that there was a missing 14-year-old from Danvers, which was just six miles south of where they were, but they weren't aware that the individual on the road was that same person. And at first, because it was so dark and because Philip is pretty tall for his age, they actually believed that he was a man in his 20s. And it wasn't until they started talking with him for a couple of minutes that they actually realized that he was Philip Chisholm, the missing student.

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Bank products are issued by Evolve Bank and Trust member FDIC. What's important to note though is that this officer was actually unaware that there was also a missing teacher who was presumed dead. Regardless, he still asked Philip what was in his backpack and Philip responded that it was filled with survival gear. And the backpack wasn't searched yet at this point but they did ask him to remove the contents of his pockets. And in his pockets, he had been carrying a rock,

a driver's license, an insurance card, a credit card, all with the name Colleen Ritzer on them. Now again, the officer didn't know that a teacher at the school was also missing, but regardless, they obviously thought it was strange that Philip was carrying around several forms of identification belonging to another person. So the officer just straight up asks him where he got these things, and at first he said he found them at Stop-and-shop and then he changed his answer and said that they were from her car So obviously to this officer who doesn't have the full picture doesn't know that Colleen's missing all of these things

Alone are looking very strange. He's definitely concerned So by 1241 a.m. Philip was brought into the Topsfield police station and this is when his backpack was officially searched. And when they did finally search that backpack and removed everything in it, it was shocking to say the least. Inside his backpack, officers not only found a woman's purse and a woman's pair of underwear, but they also found a box cutter that was clearly covered in blood.

And when they asked Philip whose blood it was, all he said was, it's the girls. And at this point, the officers were still unaware that a woman was missing, but that alone was enough to tell them that something bad happened, that there was much more to uncover here. So one officer left the room to contact Danvers PD and the other officers stayed and continued to ask Philip more questions. And one of those questions and I'm sure you could already guess was where is this girl? And all Philip said was she's buried in the woods and that no they wouldn't be able to help her. And by this, his mom had been notified and was asked to come to the Danvers police

station, which is where Philip was now being transferred. Just after 1 30 a.m., she arrived and was briefly interviewed by police before she and Philip were finally able to see one another. They were given permission to speak privately with one another, but by 2 30 a.m., an official interrogation of Philip began. And of course, because he's a minor, his mother was allowed to stay in the room with him while he was being interrogated,

but interestingly, not long after they began his interrogation, Philip actually told officers that he wanted her to leave. His interview lasted an hour and 44 minutes, and for the most part he pretty much just fessed up and told them what happened. I mean some of his answers were definitely misleading or maybe he was getting confused or didn't really, you know, was still processing what he had done. So some of it was sort of a version of the truth. But for the most part,

he told them pretty much exactly what he had done. And the truth was, he was responsible for killing Colleen and dumping her body in the woods. For example, and this is disturbing, but Phillip explained that he had karate chopped her neck and then cut her throat with that box cutter. The officer drew this sort of vague diagram of her head and neck and asked Philip to draw

where exactly he cut her and how many times. And so it's details like this that he either was trying to be misleading or straight up just didn't remember what he had actually done, but he explained that he had cut her neck twice. He drew the two lines onto this diagram, onto her neck where he said he had cut her neck twice. He drew the two lines onto this diagram, onto her neck, where he said he had cut, but later on when they did an autopsy,

it turned out that she had actually been stabbed 16 times. And then he also did lead them to her body, again, with another diagram. He drew out where exactly he had dumped her body in relation to the recycling bin that they had found. And then he also drew out where he had dumped her body in relation to the recycling bin that they had found. And then he also drew out where he had smashed both of their cell phones. And for him to just be openly sharing all of this and talking about it pretty casually is obviously completely shocking to the officers.

And I'm sure you're wondering why, why would this young student kill his teacher in such a violent and brutal way? I mean, he's 14 years old. It's almost just hard to believe. I mean, I know these things happen and that young people do commit heinous murders and do horrific things that most of us could never imagine doing at that age or ever. But I mean, oh my God, I just have no words. It's unbelievable. And when it comes to why the explanation that Philip gave

was that he was talking to her and that she used some type of trigger word that set him off, but he wouldn't share what that word was. He just said that he felt insulted by it. And then he tells officers that after she insulted me, I became the teacher, which is just bone chilling. And then he went on to explain that he doesn't believe in morals and that he just wanted to get caught and go to juvie. And if what they knew at this point

about her murder, based on what he was telling them, wasn't horrific enough, it made it so much worse when they actually did discover her body and the condition that it was in. Colleen's body was found and she was declared dead at approximately 3 a.m. And when they found her, she was naked from the waist down. She had her bra pulled up. And I don't even wanna say these words, it's horrible,

but I know I have to to explain this case. But they did find a stick lodged in her groin area. They also found this handwritten note that said, I hate you all. And I'm sure that the discovery of her body is an image that will never leave the men and women who found her, and it will definitely never leave the minds of those who loved her. I mean, the violence that Colleen met at the end of her life in such an unexpected way, I'm sure she never could have imagined that she would be murdered in such a brutal and violent way in the school that she loved, where, you know, she had so many

happy, joyful memories and experiences and being killed right there in the school, in the bathroom. Just, I mean, no one could have ever expected it, right? It seems hard to believe that that could actually happen. An autopsy later revealed that she had in fact been sexually assaulted, and not just by the stick, but also by Philip himself. Her official cause of death was determined to be related to the stab wounds as well as asphyxiation. Colleen's wake was held on October 27th and an hour before it even began, a line of hundreds of people started to form.

How an outpouring of grief and compassion at the wake of a beloved teacher, hundreds turning out to honor the memory of Colleen Ritzer. She is the young math teacher who was murdered at Danvers High School last week. Our Julie Lanchek is live in Andover tonight where that wake is happening. Julie? Heather, at times the line of mourners wrapped around St. Augustine's church here in Andover, hundreds coming to pay their final respects to a beloved daughter, sister, friend and teacher. She's an inspiration to all of us. She was an inspiration to me to live my life to the fullest every single day. Colleen's favorite color was pink, a color that dotted the crowd in ribbons and flowers, a crowd that included many of her students and her former roommates at Assumption College.

Colleen was a wonderful person. Our room was decorated with inspirational quotes everywhere. It was such an uplifting place to live. A math teacher at Danvers High, Ritzer was murdered last week at the school she loved, allegedly by one of her own students. But friends say she wasn't just a victim, she was a vibrant young woman with an infectious smile and outlook on life.

The following morning, her funeral services were held and over a thousand people, including friends, family, students, co-workers, members of the community, all gathered there to support her and her family. It was a loss that this community had never experienced before, never expected to experience. And of course, just a reminder of how precious life can be.

But knowing who Colleen was, they knew that she wanted them to focus on the good. So for all the sadness that they felt, they did their best to make that day a celebration of the life that she lived. I just have so much respect and admiration for the way that her family was able to come together in those moments so soon, never expecting that

that was going to happen and really honor her life. And for the community too, all coming together, it's beautiful to see even after such a horrific event. I mean, you would never know how you personally would handle something like this until you've actually lived it. But, and of course there's no right or wrong way to grieve. I just think that the way that they went about things is,

is so inspirational to me. I mean, their strength as a family and the community as well is, yeah, it's amazing to me. I'm truly moved by the way that they have honored Colleen. And as soon as I get through telling you, you know, the rest of the details of the case and the trial, I want to talk more about what they have done to honor her because it's incredible.

Now, as for Philip, he was arrested in those very early morning hours of October 23rd, 2013 and charged with murder, aggravated rape, and robbery. And that robbery charge was related to the fact that he had stolen her credit card and used it at a nearby Wendy's. Imagine doing something like that and then just rolling over to the Wendy's. It's like, oh my God. Now investigators were able to figure out a little bit more when it comes to the why, what was the motive here?

What made Philip want to do this? And some of that came from a fellow student who was also in the classroom after school hours with Colleen and Philip. And then some of it also came from a teacher that she had spoken to right before she was murdered So starting with what the student had to say investigators learned that Philip wasn't really paying attention in class that day

So Colleen had asked him to stay late and chat with her and this wasn't surprising to me considering how Much Colleen was able to connect with their students and truly seemed to care about them But she wasn't even angry with him at all. He wasn't being punished. She just wanted to check in, see how things were going, seeing if he was understanding the concepts in class. And according to this student, while Colleen was talking with him, she said the word Tennessee.

And if you remember, Philip had actually just moved to Danvers from Tennessee because of his parents divorce. And I can't say for certain, I mean nobody knows for certain if the word Tennessee was the word that Philip said triggered him, but the student said that after Colleen had said Tennessee, Philip became noticeably upset. The student said that Colleen noticed he was upset so much so that she ended up changing the subject after to make sure he wasn't feeling uncomfortable. But according to that other teacher that she spoke with just before she was murdered,

Colleen mentioned that she didn't know why Philip was still hanging around. Now, obviously these statements are a bit contradictory, so I wasn't able to get much clarity but my guess here is that it's possible that Colleen asked him to stay after class but she was confused why he kept hanging around after she was done speaking to him. And after this point, well we all know what happened. Philip was ultimately held without bail and despite the overwhelming evidence against him he decided to plead not guilty, Specifically not guilty by reason of insanity which I'm sure a lot of you guessed would be his plea. He and his attorneys were planning to say that Philip suffered a psychotic break and that led him to this

violent outburst and that this was a one-time thing that did not reflect on who he was as a person. Here's the thing though, he had another one of these violent outbursts while he was awaiting trial. In 2014, Philip attacked a Department of Youth Services worker who he'd followed into the bathroom and proceeded to choke

until he was stopped by other people who intervened thankfully. This of course resulted in additional charges, including attempted murder, which he only recently in April of 2024 has pleaded guilty to. But anyway, in 2015, Philip's trial for the murder of Colleen Ritzer began,

and as I was saying, he was trying to use insanity as his defense. His defense attorneys had a psychiatrist testify that he suffered from early onset schizophrenia and also other mental health problems that resulted in this temporary psychosis. Now, at the end of his stay in 2015, did you read to diagnosis for Philip Chisholm?

I did. And what was that diagnosis? I made two diagnoses. One was a depressive state, best described in my view as a 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 from early in the, done early in the fall. And I know mental health is a very sensitive subject that people feel differently on,

but for the sake of this trial, this was the major element that needed to be addressed. Because as a reminder, Philip wasn't just pleading not guilty, he was pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. So of course, determining Philip's sanity was the difference between a guilty and not guilty verdict. But a psychiatrist for the prosecution argued something completely different, that Philip was completely sane at the time of the murder.

And with respect to whether Philip Chisholm was suffering a mental disease or 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 despite having reached that opinion, did you go on to march along through the rest of the standard? Yes, I did.

And did you reach an opinion to a reasonable degree of psychological certainty as to whether he understood the wrongfulness of his conduct and could conform his conduct to the requirements of the law? I did reach an opinion on to that. What was that opinion? My opinion was that although Mr. Chisholm at the time may have been showing some indications of distress or emotional disturbance, that to the extent to which they were present, they did not substantially impair his capacity

to distinguish the wrongfulness or criminality of his act to identify that, nor did it substantially impair his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. And I'm sure the jury struggled with what to believe. I'm sure some of you are struggling with what to believe. I mean, here were two professionals testifying, each running their own tests and coming up with two completely different conclusions. But what I think is most important to remember here is that Philip

did come to school that day completely prepared to commit this murder. He had a ski mask, he had a box cutter, he had a change of clothes, so it wasn't like any of this was a spur of the moment attack. I mean, is that really the backpack of a student that came to school with no intention to commit murder? I don't think so. Given what he had brought with him that day, it was argued that Philip 100% without a doubt

plotted Colleen's murder. And for those who took the stand, there was a lot of compelling testimony, but there's one person's testimony that I want to specifically mention mention and that's the custodian from Danvers High School Because I'm sure a lot of you are wondering Where was all the blood? I know I had mentioned that there was some blood found in the bathroom some reddish brown stains But obviously there would have been a lot more right? I haven't yet mentioned any, you know, super obvious crime

scene. Well, that's because unfortunately, this custodian completely by accident ended up cleaning up the crime scene. I mean, I'm sure it was the last thing that he was thinking could be in a school bathroom. His English isn't very strong. And according to sources, he alerted a staff member of what he found. And there was basically a miscommunication. I don't really understand what the miscommunication was, but because of whatever miscommunication happened, that blood ended up being cleaned up. When you opened up the door to that bathroom, can you describe to the jurors what you saw? So in closing statements, the defense reminded the jury of Philip's psychiatric evaluations, and she went on for almost an hour talking about how the evidence proved that he was

suffering from early onset schizophrenia. Now the evidence is clear that Philip Chisholm has suffered from a psychotic disorder, most likely early onset schizophrenia, from the time he was young. Now what's the evidence of that? Well first you have the testimony of three experienced psychiatrists. Lastly, in the prosecution's closing remarks, the prosecutor gave a very passionate speech about how the evidence proved the opposite. How Philip Chisholm actively and knowingly committed this heinous murder and did so with no remorse. Ladies and gentlemen, the terrible, horrible event of October 22nd, 2013 didn't unfold

in 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, stripped, battered, brutalized, and violated, framed by the fallen fence. The defendant's schoolbag discard nearby with his ID like some kind of terrible signature. That is the only still image in this case that tells you what was happening

in the mind of Philip Chisholm on October 22nd, 2013. And that's the image that Dr. Dudley, despite his thorough preparation, never considered. Because what did he say about the sexual aspect of this crime? Well, it left him with a lot of questions. Questions he didn't do much to answer. Because there were no answers, and the only sources

of information he actually relied on, what the defendant told him and what the defendant's mother told him. Because ladies and gentlemen, let's be clear. That is the sole basis for Dr. Dudley's opinion. If Philip Chisholm didn't start hearing voices when he's 10, then there is no evidence that Philip Chisholm began experiencing psychosis at 10.

And if Philip Chisholm wasn't hearing voices, and the only basis I would suggest to you of that opinion was Philip Chisholm, then Philip Chisholm isn't mentally ill. Early onset schizophrenia. What did Dr. DeVere tell you? And let's be very clear, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. DeVere has never met Philip Chisholm.

Dr. DeVere has never evaluated Philip Chisholm. Dr. DeVere has no opinion about Philip Chisholm. And Dr. DeVere told you the frequency of early onset schizophrenia is one in 10,000, less than 1%. And you heard from the people in Tennessee, wonderful, loving people with background and child development. They didn't see anything

going to your friend's house because your family is chaotic, is not coping with a mental illness. It's a survival skill by a teenager growing up in less than ideal circumstances." And the jury agreed. So in the end, Philip Chisholm was found guilty on almost every count. The only charge they did not find him guilty on was the second charge of rape, which was related to the assault that she'd experienced in the woods. "...our family would like to thank the jury for their fair and careful consideration of

the evidence and overwhelming facts presented during the past few weeks. While we are pleased with the verdict, we are aware the judicial process will continue. Appeals will certainly be filed and given the state's guidelines for so-called juvenile sentencing, we may be forced to once again publicly endure this pain suffering the parole hearings. This guilty verdict, while the beginning of justice for Colleen is certainly no cause for celebration as there can never be true justice for the crime committed. There remains a tremendous and painful absence in our lives, one that sadly can never be replaced. Our family enters a new phase in our lives, one that we have no choice but to begin.

However, we do so knowing the remarkable difference Colleen made in her short life and continues to make in the lives of so many. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, but Philip was being tried as an adult for the charge of murder, but for the charges of rape and robbery, he was being tried as a juvenile.

But just two months after Colleen's murder, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that minors cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole. So Philip ended up receiving a sentence that Colleen's family find to be incredibly unfair. And before he was officially sentenced, nine people read victim impact statements

just begging the judge to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law, but that still didn't feel like enough. In the end, on the charge of first degree murder, Philip was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 25 years. And on the charges of rape and robbery, he was sentenced to an additional 40 years each to be served concurrently. So because of this, he will be officially eligible for parole in 40 years. And her killer, Philip Chisholm, stood silent as the judge sentenced him to life in prison.

But because he was only 14 years old when he committed this crime, there is the possibility that he could get parole in 38 years. I'm David Wade. I'm Lisa Hughes. Colleen Ritzer's loved ones are determined to make sure that does not happen. Christina Hager is live for us tonight in Salem. the the police. The police are investigating a man who's been referred to as a bright light over and over again. And

then Judge David Lowy came back with his sentence. For the period of not less than 40 years and Philip Chisholm will serve 40 years in prison before he gets a chance for parole. His mother broke down in tears on hearing it. The parent's family was shocked when they heard the news of the victim's death on hearing it. The parent of the Danvers

High School math teacher he murdered had asked for more, and they gave him whole in our lives will never be filled. This victim impact statement as an image of Colleen Ritzer and her siblings shown overhead. Her mother brought

Colleen's jar stuffed with happy memories she jotted down daily until the day she was killed in the hospital. She was in the hospital for nearly until the day she was killed. He is pure evil and evil can never be rehabilitated. You must imprison this killer for the rest of his life. Colleen's brother

described the agony of knowing how she suffered as Chisholm, her own student and only 14 at the time. Raped, strangled and stabbed her. Put this animal behind bars the maximum possible sentence. Do not give this coward the opportunity to shatter another family's lives. Chisholm watched without expression as tearful friends described the

loss the fellow teacher seen in surveillance during the trial with Colleen in her last moments alive. I miss her friendship. I miss Colleen Chisholm will be 54 when he gets his first chance at freedom cuffed and let out in

front of Colleen's family in her favorite color pink, his mother leaving without a word. Ultimately, Phillip will be eligible for parole when he's in his 50s, which is something that Colleen's family definitely does not agree with. And I know people have a lot of different opinions

when it comes to child murderers. So I definitely wanna hear your thoughts on this. It just broke my heart to hear this, but Peggy says that she has trouble even leaving the house because pretending to be happy is so difficult. I, I don't know how you would ever pretend to be happy or to find happiness again after something so horrific happens to your child, to your baby. I don't think I would ever recover. No mother, no person should ever have to feel like that. It is just beyond devastating. The

trial is over, but the heartache continues for family and friends of Colleen Ritzer, who was raped and killed by Philip Chisholm in 2013. Chisholm was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison, at which points he will become eligible for parole. We are devastated and feel betrayed with Judge Lowy's inability to give three consecutive life sentences without the eligibility of parole. Just two months after their daughter was killed, the Supreme Judicial Court decided juveniles who deliberately commit heinous crimes cannot be sentenced to life without parole.

The Essex District Attorney said this decision redefines justice for families like the Ritzers. They move forward knowing that at some point in time they will sit. At a parole board hearing, perhaps multiple times and return the most horrific and devastating

event of their lives. Peggy Ritzer said as she and her husband age the burden of those hearings will fall on Colleen's siblings, but the family made it clear that at every future parole hearing their voice and Colleen's voice will be heard. We pledge as Colleen's loved ones to

apply the same vigor for life that Colleen demonstrated every day to righting this moral wrong. Now, Philip's mom, Diana, has also released a statement and this is what it says. Words can't express the amount of pain and sorrow these last 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 continue their journey to heal." And she's absolutely right. No one has suffered more here than the Ritzer family and what they have been through is something that no family should ever have to go through. And what's horrible at the end of the day is no justice will ever bring Colleen back. And they did end up filing a civil lawsuit against Danisco Design, which is the architecture company that designed the section of the school where she was killed, as well as the security

system that was put in place. They felt that it failed to protect their daughter because of security flaws that were overlooked and I could not agree more. In 2022, the company agreed to settle the case for an undisclosed amount and the Ritzer family did say that they felt they got answers to their questions regarding school security at Danvers High School. Their goal has always been justice and to make sure that nothing like this happens to another person again. And for as unimaginably painful as all of this has been for them, they have tried to follow Colleen's lead and do what she would have wanted, which is try to see the positive. So in the wake of her murder, the Ritzer family created the Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Fund,

which is a nonprofit organization to carry on Colleen's legacy through a handful of different initiatives. The Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Scholarship was established by their family to benefit students in the Andover and Danvers area who demonstrate a passion for teaching, academic excellence, and also love of family. Family and teaching were two of Colleen's biggest passions and so they wanted to give back to students who share in those passions. They have an aspiring teacher scholarship, an inspire kindness scholarship, as well as a graduate school scholarship. And in the 11 years since they created it, they have awarded scholarships to 114 recipients with over $593,000 granted. The impact they are

making for future teachers in Colleen's honor in her memory, I just have the utmost respect for it. That's why today I wanted to support their mission by making a donation to the Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Fund on behalf of this channel so that we can help them to support their mission by making a donation to the Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Fund on behalf of this channel so that we can help them to support teachers in Colleen's honor. But that's actually not all that they do. Another one of their initiatives is the step up for Colleen 5K walk slash run.

Colleen's friends and family created this 5K to celebrate Colleen's life and honor all that she did to inspire others. And this event really seeks to bring the community together and bring a all that she did to inspire others. And this event really seeks to bring the community together and bring a sense of goodwill to those who come together in honor of Colleen. The proceeds raised by this event are then used for the scholarship and it's a way for everyone to really be involved in every aspect of what they're doing. And so if maybe you live in the area and you want to support, that would be a great way to get involved. And another

one of their initiatives, which I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, is kindness for Colleen. A very good friend of hers, Jen, recognized that the anniversary of her death should not be a day to mourn, but instead should be a day to honor Colleen's life. And what better way to remember who she was and to honor her than to be kind to others, which is what Colleen was all about. I think anyone who's kind of gone through a loss the way that we lost Colleen

has probably felt kind of some level of, you know, you're out of control, there's nothing you can do. The person was there one day and they're gone the next. And I know I was hurting, but I also realized that it wasn't just me that was hurting at that time. It was the Danvers community, the Andover community.

There were people who didn't even know Colleen, who I think felt the impact of her death, because they learned her story and were really touched by it. So I wanted to create a day. Today, people all over the state really focused on doing good deeds in memory of a teacher who was killed at Danvers High School. This campaign is called Kindness for Colleen,

and friends and family members say it is just what she would have wanted. And I chose to do the day of kindness on the anniversary of her passing because we can focus on the fact that she's gone or we can focus on the fact that she would live. And I wanted to be able to really funnel my energy towards remembering my friend in the way that I remember her, which is not the way

necessarily the news was portraying her when she had passed. And it's not about how she died. It was really about how wonderful and beautiful of a person she was and how she made people feel. So every October 22nd is kindness for Colleen day where they encourage people to do that random act of kindness. And if you are tuning in the day that this episode goes live, it is October 22nd and it's a great day to do that act of kindness for Colleen.

And if you plan to, or maybe you've already done something kind today, I would love to hear about it in the comments. And I thought this was so cool, but they have these cards that you can print out and give to people to encourage them to take part as well. And if you wanna take it a step further and share that act of kindness

while also encouraging others to participate in kindness for Colleen day, you can use the hashtag kindness for Colleen on social media. And I'm sure if you did, I know that would mean a lot to her loved ones. Now, as I mentioned earlier, Philip recently pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of the DYS worker.

And for that, he received an additional 17 to 20 years, which will also be served concurrently. All I've got to say is that at the end of the day, the Ritzer family has been through more pain than they should have ever had to endure in their lifetime for absolutely no reason. I mean, this was so unnecessary, so brutal, so it's hard to even find the words. It's evil. And I just hope the justice system recognizes that.

Colleen, come on. I'm trying. Okay, ready? Laura can do it. Yeah, who's better than you? justice system recognizes that. You know, that was it. She was going to be a teacher. And she never, I don't think she ever thought about doing anything else, because would be like, you know, teachers don't necessarily make a lot of money. I used to give her hard times, are you sure that's what you want to do? Because you're not going to make a lot. You're going to work a lot.

It's a lot of work and she gets so mad at me. Like, that's what they want to do. Don't discourage it. Like, just ask it. She would create a test and she'd be like, hey Laura, can you take my test to see if it's, to see if it's too hard or too easy or if they'll like it or if they won't understand it. So I used to have to take some of her math tests

to see how her students would react to it. So you two were like guinea pigs with her. Yeah, I don't think she ever asked me to do it. She probably knew I wouldn't succeed at it regardless. Colleen was sharp enough to know who might've needed some help, jumped right in and would help those that were in need of help. She would have these huge binders, like the biggest ones, you know, the like really big ones, full of lesson plans. She started bringing the fun aspects of it in.

So she was, you know, saying when it was Pi Day and like where she would find like a just a funny math, like joke type of geeky thing. Every day in class would share like a quote or a little picture of the day, depending on whatever season it was. When the math was tough or hard or like didn't seem to make any sense, it didn't feel like something that we couldn't figure out.

These people never knew her, but they so understand who she was and they want to be supportive. That's to me, that says it all. It says it all. I mean, right there. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.