She was a joy at home and in the world, they said. “I will never get to walk Colleen down the aisle, or give her away”. “A dad’s job is to fix things”.
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The courtroom was hushed as he spoke, with the silence broken only by occasional sobs from the gallery.
As he viewed the surveillance video of Chism walking the same halls and stairwells he’d walked while looking for his daughter, Ritzer said, he felt “sick to know how close to her I was”. “He is evil. Pure evil and he must be punished… I would do anything I could if could fix this for Colleen”. “Instead, they move forward knowing that in some point in time, they will sit at a parole board hearing perhaps multiple times in return of the most horrific and devastating event of their lives”. He showed no reaction to the outpouring of emotion by his victim’s relatives.
After listening to victim-impact statements, Judge David Lowy called the murder “brutal and senseless”.
“Apart from his chronological age at the time of the offense, the case is devoid of any sign that rehabilitation is likely, or that the defendant may at some time in the near future no longer pose a threat to the public”, the prosecutors argued in their memorandum.
Prosecutors had asked for Chism to serve at least 50 years before he was eligible for release-two consecutive life sentences for the murder, then the rape and robbery, each with parole eligibility after 25 years. “Chism’s youth and the unknown potential for growth and change are considerations that must be inextricably part of every aspect of the sentencing decisions that the Court must make”.
The family slammed the SJC’s decision as “disrespectful” to both Colleen Ritzer and her loved ones.
Ritzer sent her letters while she was in the academy and walked in her wedding as a flower girl.
On August 28, Colleen wrote about how she was making progress on her classroom.
“Put this animal behind bars”, said Dan, a college student who had left for school and hadn’t seen his sister again before she was killed. Months before she died, Colleen started writing a good memory from each day and tucking it inside the jar.
“This case, and these crimes, go far beyond heartbreaking and horrifying”, she said.
Tom Ritzer thinks about going to Danvers High School that night she was missing, before he knew she was dead.
She reminded the court of pending charges against him in Suffolk County, charges the jury in his murder trial were barred from hearing about.
“You picked the wrong family to mess with and we will not stop fighting”, she said. He chose to hurt Colleen beyond all human recognition.
As sentencing was set to begin this morning, the teenager’s mother released a statement expressing sympathy for the family of her son’s victim.
Lowy ordered law enforcement and the prosecution team not to wear pink, but did not create such a restriction for the Ritzer family, friends or colleagues who will attend the hearing.
She said her prayers were with the Ritzer family “as they continue their journey to heal”. “She was loved and valued by her family, friends, students and so many people whose lives she touched”.
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“To take a picture of them together brings me so much pain”, she said, “because Colleen’s absence is overwhelming”.
