GUILTY NY - Tessa Majors, 18, Barnard College student, fatally stabbed, Manhattan, 11 Dec 2019 *13yo arrest

[happyday]

Tessa Majors, Barnard student, stabbed to death just blocks from Manhattan college, official says - CNN


(CNN)An 18-year-old student at Barnard College was stabbed to death just blocks from the Manhattan school in an armed robbery on Wednesday, Barnard College President Sian Leah Beilock said.

There have been no arrests, but "a couple" of people are being questioned by police, NYPD Chief of Patrol Services Rodney Harrison said, stressing the investigation is still in its early stages. Those being questioned are minors, he said.
The student, freshman Tessa Rane Majors, was walking through Morningside Park at 116th Street and Morningside Drive on Wednesday evening when police believe she was confronted by between one and three individuals, Harrison said. A struggle ensued and one of the individuals stabbed Majors with a knife several times.
She staggered her way up to the "surface side" of Morningside Drive, he said, adding that she was found by a school security officer who called 911. She was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.


— I looked everywhere for a thread for this but I couldn’t find one. This is terrible and I don’t even want to think about it, but she deserves a thread.

 

[happyday]

13-year-old boy arrested in murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors

A 13 year old boy has been arrested! 13!!!

 

[mjp1228]

She is also the great-niece of famed college football coach Johnny Majors.

 

[mjp1228]

13-year-old boy arrested in murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors

A 13 year old boy has been arrested! 13!!!

So tragic and senseless.

 

[happyday]

She is also the great-niece of famed college football coach Johnny Majors.

Really??? Wow.

 

[zecats]

Tessa Majors, Barnard student, stabbed to death just blocks from Manhattan college, official says - CNN


(CNN)An 18-year-old student at Barnard College was stabbed to death just blocks from the Manhattan school in an armed robbery on Wednesday, Barnard College President Sian Leah Beilock said.

There have been no arrests, but "a couple" of people are being questioned by police, NYPD Chief of Patrol Services Rodney Harrison said, stressing the investigation is still in its early stages. Those being questioned are minors, he said.
The student, freshman Tessa Rane Majors, was walking through Morningside Park at 116th Street and Morningside Drive on Wednesday evening when police believe she was confronted by between one and three individuals, Harrison said. A struggle ensued and one of the individuals stabbed Majors with a knife several times.
She staggered her way up to the "surface side" of Morningside Drive, he said, adding that she was found by a school security officer who called 911. She was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.


— I looked everywhere for a thread for this but I couldn’t find one. This is terrible and I don’t even want to think about it, but she deserves a thread.

I agree. I looked too and was planning on starting one this morning. Thanks for doing it. Very distressing case. I know that park is not the safest place anyway. But amount of robberies have been up this year compared to last.

Tessa wasn’t out that late. You just never know. Awareness and strategy at all times according to most New Yorkers.

 

[zecats]

13-year-old boy arrested in murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors

A 13 year old boy has been arrested! 13!!!

The NYPD has arrested a 13-year-old boy in connection with the stabbing death of Barnard freshman Tessa Majors.

Police are still looking for up to two other young men. Sources say that the 13-year-old made statements linking himself to the murder.

He is expected to be charged with murder, robbery, and weapons possession.

More information is expected later Friday.

At Barnard College, Tessa Majors' classmates are calling for added security

 

[happyday]

My 18 year old daughter just got home from college for the holidays. It just breaks my heart that Tessa will never go home for the holidays. Her family is probably so proud of her and was excited for her to return home from her first semester. It makes me want to cry.

So it looks like she was murdered for her jacket. Her phone was found on the scene and she didn’t have her purse or wallet with her.

 

[TTF14]

My 18 year old daughter just got home from college for the holidays. It just breaks my heart that Tessa will never go home for the holidays. Her family is probably so proud of her and was excited for her to return home from her first semester. It makes me want to cry.

So it looks like she was murdered for her jacket. Her phone was found on the scene and she didn’t have her purse or wallet with her.

Ugh, so senseless!!! As if parents don't already worry enough sending their kids off to college. My heart is breaking for her family.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Glad that somebody started a thread on this brutal crime. The 13-year old will get out in a few years and heaven help anyone who gets in his way. This is New York, so I am doubting he will charged as an adult and punished appropriately for this atrocity. I hope I'm wrong.
Parents, think twice before sending your daughter off to college in certain cities.

 

[LietKynes]

So he is 13. That's old enough to understand right from wrong.
Disgusting that he could be free by the time he's 21. Or even sooner.
If he's robbing and murdering now, what's he going to be like as an adult ?
My .02 is that he should never be free.

Rest gently, Tessa !!!

 

[realanastasia]

So it looks like she was murdered for her jacket. Her phone was found on the scene and she didn’t have her purse or wallet with her.

I wasn't sure if this is simply your conjecture, or if you saw this motive mentioned in a source, but I read the articles posted above and haven't seen a single thing about the attackers demanding or taking her jacket (nor have I seen any mention of what kind of coat she was wearing).

I HAVE read that one of the suspects was described by a witness as wearing a "green jacket," but other than that I've yet to read anything about TM's winter coat being the robbers' objective.

Also, they'd have to be pretty stupid to hold someone up at knifepoint if they wanted to steal their coat, IMO. The chances would be pretty good that they'd damage the coat itself in the course of the robbery (thereby devaluing it, at least a little).

I also wonder how likely it is that people would bother holding someone up to steal their coat, even if it was a "prestige" brand. As it happens, I spent a few hours in NYC last night (some of it in the very same area/around the same time as TM was attacked a few days earlier ), and was surprised at how many people--of all ages/races--were sporting Canada Goose and Moncler down-filled coats/parkas (ESPECIALLY when I was on the UWS). I mention this just to say that I would be surprised if the winter coat turns out to be the motive for this attack. IMO, I think it's more likely that the young men were simply enraged by the fact that a young woman refused to immediately comply with their demands, and they killed her as a result.

 

[kaen]

I agree. I looked too and was planning on starting one this morning. Thanks for doing it. Very distressing case. I know that park is not the safest place anyway. But amount of robberies have been up this year compared to last.

Tessa wasn’t out that late. You just never know. Awareness and strategy at all times according to most New Yorkers.

The park is a pretty scary even in the day time (to me anyway). I have had occasion to be in the neighborhood and walk down and up that same staircase. There are often loud arguments among people who hang out there. While there is some police presence at the end or beginning of the school day, there are few people who cut across the park at night or during off-times.
The steep terrain creates an environment where it is hard to move quickly if you need to do so and has some twists and turns that make escaping harm harder. There are also not great sight lines where others can see what is happening or you can see who is approaching. On the other side of Columbia/Barnard is Riverside Park which always has more foot traffic and an easier view of the people and cars near you. And, because of the roads, it is easier to flag someone for help if you need to do so.

From De Blasio and NYPD commit to increased patrol officers in Morningside Heights following homicide of Barnard student :
Harrison said the NYPD is aware of the issues surrounding Morningside Park and the department will update its strategies to ensure safety in the area by expanding on the already existing patrols done by off-the-clock sector cars and neighborhood coronation officers.

“Going forward, we are going to capitalize and make sure all of our resources are plugged into Morningside Heights, including our strategic response groups. We’re going to use different types of logistics like light towers, and we’re going to continue working with the community,” Harrison said.

According to New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, 2,000 additional patrol officers have been added across New York City over the last several years. Despite the increased presence, the major crime rate in Morningside Park has increased by about 50 percent in the first nine months of 2019 relative to 2018 statistics, according to the NYPD website. Between January and September, Morningside Park has seen 11 robberies as well as several incidents of felony assault, burglary, and grand larceny.

 

[realanastasia]

Barnard Student Who Came to NYC Full of Hope Has Unimaginable End

 

[zecats]

The park is a pretty scary even in the day time (to me anyway). I have had occasion to be in the neighborhood and walk down and up that same staircase. There are often loud arguments among people who hang out there. While there is some police presence at the end or beginning of the school day, there are few people who cut across the park at night or during off-times.
The steep terrain creates an environment where it is hard to move quickly if you need to do so and has some twists and turns that make escaping harm harder. There are also not great sight lines where others can see what is happening or you can see who is approaching. On the other side of Columbia/Barnard is Riverside Park which always has more foot traffic and an easier view of the people and cars near you. And, because of the roads, it is easier to flag someone for help if you need to do so.

Agreed. I never really walked in Morningside Park - my kids always warned me about the same things you mention. We had dinner up that way once and I did walk to the stairs. It's a shame because it's pretty place. I have however, walked all over Central Park at all times of day and evening, and quite frankly, though I do keep my eyes and ears open, never felt afraid.

It's sad this place is so close to Columbia and Barnard, yet seems inaccessible for the most part.

 

[zecats]

Glad that somebody started a thread on this brutal crime. The 13-year old will get out in a few years and heaven help anyone who gets in his way. This is New York, so I am doubting he will charged as an adult and punished appropriately for this atrocity. I hope I'm wrong.
Parents, think twice before sending your daughter off to college in certain cities.

It's not only the cities. My daughter was at Penn State, in a town basically in the middle of nowhere among the mountains of PA, and there was a shooting/killing on campus. Aniah, the young lady who attended school in the Auburn, AL area was abducted and murdered from a convenience store parking lot. And close to me is small Rowan University (used to be Glassboro State College) and there remains an unsolved murder of a student (victim of a cell phone wallet robbery) who was walking back from a convenience store in 2007.

No matter where, unfortunately, we should be aware of our surroundings, who else is in our surroundings, and trust our inner sense.

 

[riolove77]

I'm glad someone opened this thread, I was looking for one last night.

I prosecute in California, and handle the juvenile caseload for our office in addition to my adult caseload. When I saw this morning that they've arrested a 13 year old, my heart sank. In no way, shape, or form will this child be reprimanded as he should be for this crime. He will be out walking among the general public within a few years and it is obvious people should be very afraid.

Rest easy, Tessa. Merry Christmas in heaven.

 

[borndem]

Here's a sweet and sad article from WaPo. Please forgive if it is a repeat.
It shows her to have been a real up & comer. Another beautiful human being gone much too early. Due to violence.

‘Tess shone very bright in this world’: Barnard College and Charlottesville mourn freshman stabbed to death in armed robbery
By
Susan Svrluga and
Lauren Lumpkin
Dec. 12, 2019 at 7:05 p.m. EST
Tessa Majors was a lot more interested in music — the songs she was writing, the instruments she played, the gigs her bands scored — than in journalism when she got an internship with a local Virginia paper as a high school senior.
But she threw herself into the internship full tilt this past spring, her editor said. She essentially interviewed him when they first met to talk about the job, and for her first story, instead of an easy feature, she asked to cover a contentious public hearing over a local school budget.

She nailed it. She was a naturally good reporter, said Chris Graham, editor of the Augusta Free Press in rural Virginia. He joked with her that she could skip college and go straight to a newsroom.

More of the article here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/educ...m_source=Newsletter&wpisrc=nl_lclheads&wpmm=1

 

[rodneymullenmg]

I'm glad someone opened this thread, I was looking for one last night.

I prosecute in California, and handle the juvenile caseload for our office in addition to my adult caseload. When I saw this morning that they've arrested a 13 year old, my heart sank. In no way, shape, or form will this child be reprimanded as he should be for this crime. He will be out walking among the general public within a few years and it is obvious people should be very afraid.

Rest easy, Tessa. Merry Christmas in heaven.

BBM.
He's a child and should have a chance at rehabilitation. IMO.

Wasn't it deemed unconstitutional by supreme court to jail a minor for life?

 

[riolove77]

BBM.
He's a child and should have a chance at rehabilitation. IMO.

Wasn't it deemed unconstitutional by supreme court to jail a minor for life?

Not for murder it wasn't. It was ruled that an LWOP sentence is unconstitutional for non-homicide crimes.