Surveillance Shows Chism Pulling Barrel Through Danvers High School After Murder
SALEM (CBS) - Surveillance video shows Philip Chism, who was only 14-years-old at the time, with a mask on, pulling a recycling barrel through the halls of Danvers High School. It's the barrel prosecutors say he used to move the body of his murdered math teacher, Colleen Ritzer.
It was a newly-built school with a newly-installed surveillance system, that's now providing the most compelling evidence in the case against Chism. He's accused of stalking Ritzer as she went into the bathroom after school, raping and killing her, before pulling her body in that barrel to the surrounding woods.
During the trial Friday, prosecutor Kate MacDougall brought out evidence found near a shallow grave, including a handwritten note with the words, "I hate you all". She also displayed Chism's photo ID police found about ten feet from the body.
The surveillance shows a dizzying series of clips starting from the moment Ritzer got to school the morning of October 22, 2013. It shows Chism arriving with several bags, which he put in his locker. Ritzer is seen leaving class that afternoon, and Chism following her into the bathroom.
Later, he's seen pulling the recycling barrel through the halls, and outside the school. He's seen in several different outfits walking from one hallway to another, upstairs, downstairs, leaving the building and reentering. He began the day wearing a blue top, then changed to a white top, then red, then black. He went from jeans and sneakers, to barefoot with shorts, and then in sneakers again as he left the school for the last time.
Also Friday, police gave some of the most graphic testimony yet, describing Ritzer's body. Her mother bowed her head down. So did Philip Chism's mother, as police displayed a stick that was used in the assault. Jurors passed one crime scene photo in a folder, sparing Ritzer's parents from having to see it.