The Murder of Colleen Ritzer
Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer
| Full Name | Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer |
| Date of Birth | May 13, 1989 |
| Date of Death | October 22, 2013 |
| Age at Death | 24 years old |
| Hometown | Andover, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Math Teacher — Danvers High School |
| Education | Assumption College, magna cum laude, 2011 |
| Parents | Thomas and Peggie Ritzer |
| Siblings | Daniel Ritzer; Laura Ritzer |
Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer was born on May 13, 1989, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and grew up in Andover as the oldest of three children. From an early age she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She was a cheerleader and National Honor Society member at Andover High School, graduating in 2007. She then attended Assumption College in Worcester, where she earned a degree in mathematics with a minor in psychology, graduating magna cum laude in 2011. She was pursuing a master's degree in school counseling at Salem State University at the time of her death.
After a year teaching eighth-grade math at Hale Middle School in Stow, Colleen joined the faculty at Danvers High School in 2012. She was in her second year there when she was killed. She taught algebra and geometry to ninth graders and quickly became one of the most beloved members of the school community. Her students described her as someone who related math to the real world, who stayed late to offer extra help, and who never let a student feel invisible. Her Twitter profile read: "Math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching." She used social media to send homework reminders and birthday messages to her students.
Colleagues remembered her grace, compassion, and energy. Her school district called her a dynamic and brilliant ray of light. Former students said she always knew how to put them in a better mood, even on the worst days of high school. Teaching was not just her career; it was her calling, and by every account she was exceptional at it.
Colleen was a communicant of St. Augustine Church in Andover. She adored her family, loved spending time at family gatherings, watched Home Alone more times than she could count, and had a Pinterest board titled "Bucket List." She is buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Andover. She was 24 years old. As Judge David Lowy said at sentencing: she lived a life of quiet heroism.
What We Know
On October 22, 2013, Philip Chism arrived at Danvers High School carrying a box cutter, a mask, a pair of gloves, and a change of clothes. He was fourteen years old and a freshman. He had recently moved to Danvers from Clarksville, Tennessee, with his mother and sisters. He was an honor student and a junior varsity soccer player. He was enrolled in Colleen Ritzer's second-period algebra class.
After the school day ended, Ritzer held a help block period for students who needed extra assistance. Chism stayed. A witness who also remained described Ritzer attempting to draw Chism into conversation about how Danvers compared to his hometown in Tennessee. Chism became visibly upset. Ritzer changed the subject. Shortly afterward, Ritzer left the classroom and walked to the second-floor women's bathroom.
Surveillance footage captured what followed. Chism was seen peering out of the classroom doorway after Ritzer left, then retreating and returning moments later with his hood pulled up. He was recorded putting on his gloves as he walked toward the bathroom. Minutes later he emerged carrying the black pants Ritzer had been wearing. He was seen placing her body into a large recycling barrel and wheeling it through the school and out to the wooded area behind the campus. He left the school grounds that afternoon, bought a ticket for the film Gravity at a nearby movie theater using Ritzer's credit card, went to a Wendy's to eat and change his clothes, and then traveled by train toward Boston.
Colleen did not return home that evening. Police were alerted. They found blood in the second-floor bathroom. Her body was discovered in the woods behind Danvers High School just after midnight in the early morning hours of October 23. Chism was found walking in the southbound lane of Route 1 in neighboring Topsfield at approximately 12:30 a.m. He had Ritzer's blood on his hands and her credit card in his backpack. Also in his backpack were the box cutter, the mask, the gloves, and a hooded sweatshirt.
Compounding the tragedy was a significant institutional failure at the school. A cleaning company employee entered the bathroom that afternoon and described it as looking like the scene of a slaughter. He reported what he had seen to a school maintenance worker, who misheard the description and concluded the employee was reporting that something blue was on the floor. He instructed the bathroom to be cleaned. As a result, potentially critical forensic evidence was washed away before investigators were alerted, delaying the discovery of what had happened to Colleen by hours. This failure became a central issue in a subsequent civil lawsuit filed by the Ritzer family.
How It Unfolded
The Investigation
The investigation into Colleen Ritzer's murder was led by the Danvers Police Department in coordination with the Essex County District Attorney's Office. The school's newly installed security camera system, part of a recent renovation and expansion, provided critical surveillance footage showing Chism's movements before and after the attack. Footage showed him peering into the hallway after Ritzer left the classroom, returning with his hood up, pulling on gloves, and following her into the bathroom. Later footage showed him emerging with her clothing, loading her body into a recycling barrel, and wheeling it outside.
A significant investigative complication arose from the actions of a cleaning company employee and a school maintenance worker. Shortly after the murder, an SJ Services employee entered the second-floor bathroom and described its condition as looking like the scene of a slaughter. He reported this to a Danvers High maintenance worker, who somehow understood the report to be about something blue on the floor, not blood. That worker ordered the bathroom cleaned without investigating further or contacting police. The room was cleaned, destroying forensic evidence before investigators were alerted. This failure was later cited by the Ritzer family's attorneys as a significant factor in the subsequent civil lawsuit.
Despite the evidence destruction, investigators reconstructed the sequence of events with substantial precision using the surveillance footage, Chism's physical evidence including the box cutter, mask, gloves, and sweatshirt recovered from his backpack, and transaction records showing the use of Ritzer's credit card at the theater and Wendy's. Blood was confirmed in the second-floor bathroom and on Chism's hands at the time of his arrest. DNA evidence confirmed Chism's presence in the assault. The speed and completeness of the evidentiary case against Chism made a successful prosecution achievable despite the bathroom cleanup.
At trial, the prosecution was led by Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall. The defense argued that Chism suffered from a psychotic disorder and had heard voices commanding him to commit the crime, making him not criminally responsible for his actions. The jury deliberated and rejected the mental illness defense entirely, finding Chism guilty on all counts. A prosecution psychologist testified that Chism did not meet the criteria for legal insanity.
The Ritzer family later filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against the Town of Danvers, Danvers Public Schools, SJ Services, and DiNisco Design Partnership, which had designed the school's security system expansion. The lawsuit alleged that failure to monitor the security system and the destruction of evidence by the cleaning crew had contributed to institutional failures that allowed the murder and its aftermath to unfold without intervention.
The Accused
Evidence and Method
Chism arrived at school on October 22 carrying a box cutter, a mask, gloves, and a change of clothes. Prosecutors argued at trial that these items demonstrated the attack was premeditated rather than spontaneous. The jury agreed, returning a verdict of first-degree murder after deliberation.
Chism had previously attended Ritzer's algebra class that morning, suggesting the decision was made before or during the school day rather than on impulse in the hallway.
The school's recently installed security camera system captured a detailed record of Chism's movements throughout the building before and after the attack. Footage showed him peering into the hallway after Ritzer left the classroom, returning with his hood pulled up, and putting on his gloves as he walked toward the bathroom.
Later footage showed him emerging from the bathroom carrying Ritzer's pants, loading her body into a recycling barrel, and wheeling it out of the building toward the woods. This footage was central to the prosecution's case.
When police apprehended Chism on Route 1 in Topsfield, he had Ritzer's blood on his hands and her credit card in his backpack. The backpack also contained the box cutter used in the attack, the mask, the gloves, and a hooded sweatshirt. Ritzer's pants were recovered at the crime scene.
Transaction records confirmed Chism used Ritzer's credit card at a nearby movie theater and a Wendy's restaurant after the murder, establishing his movements in the hours following the attack.
A significant forensic failure occurred when a cleaning company employee reported the state of the bathroom to a school maintenance worker, who misheard the description and ordered the room cleaned without investigating. Potentially critical biological evidence was destroyed before investigators were alerted.
The Ritzer family's civil lawsuit identified this failure as a contributing institutional breakdown. At trial, a police officer testified about difficulties retrieving surveillance images due to problems with the school's security monitoring system at the time of the murder.
Chism's defense team argued he suffered from a psychotic disorder and heard voices commanding him to commit the crime, making him not criminally responsible under Massachusetts law. They argued at his 2024 SJC appeal that the trial judge improperly excluded expert testimony on brain scans they claimed would have supported this defense.
The jury rejected the mental illness defense unanimously in 2015. The Massachusetts SJC rejected the appeal in February 2025, finding no errors in the original trial proceedings.
Less than eight months after Colleen's murder, Chism attacked a 29-year-old female clinician at a DYS facility in Dorchester, attempting to strangle her in a bathroom with a pencil while she was alone. The attack closely mirrored the method and setting of Ritzer's murder. The victim sustained serious injuries and stated she still feels the terror of the attack ten years later.
Prosecutors noted at the 2024 guilty plea hearing that there are very few juvenile defendants in the Massachusetts system with a documented pattern of behavior this dangerous.
She Is Not Forgotten
Colleen Ritzer stayed after school because that is what she did. She stayed late for her students. She sent birthday messages on Twitter. She tried to make geometry feel like something worth caring about. She was relentlessly enthusiastic and she was very good at her job and she was 24 years old and it was her second year teaching and she loved every moment of it.
She graduated magna cum laude. She was working on a master's degree. She had a Pinterest board called Bucket List and one of the things on it was having a daughter. She watched Home Alone over and over again. She was the kind of person who made every room feel more alive, and the Danvers High School community felt her absence in every corner of every hallway for years after she was gone.
Her parents Tom and Peggie have fought for her in every courtroom since the night she died. They fought for a sentence that would keep her killer behind bars. They fought when he appealed. They filed a civil lawsuit because they wanted answers about why no one was watching the monitors and why no one saw what was happening and why the bathroom was cleaned before anyone called for help. They have never stopped fighting for her.
The Colleen Ritzer Memorial Scholarship Fund continues to support students pursuing education. Kindness for Colleen carries her spirit into the lives of people who never met her but know her name. Judge Lowy said she lived a life of quiet heroism. He was right. Colleen Ritzer is not forgotten.
