Police have arrested a 14-year-old in the murder of Barnard College freshman Tess Majors.
Majors, a 2019 graduate of St. Anne’s-Belfield School, was murdered on Dec. 11 while walking through a park near the school.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Majors entered the park at around the same time as the defendant, identified by the New York Times as Rashaun Weaver, and two other young males.
The Times report indicated that police investigators had long believed that Weaver had wielded the knife that killed Majors in the robbery, during which Majors was overheard by a witness screaming, “Help me! I’m being robbed!”
Surveillance video showed the three and Majors struggling on a park landing, before she was able to break free.
DNA recovered from Majors’ fingernails match that of Weaver, who will be tried as an adult.
The male has been indicted on one count of intentional murder and a second count for the commission of murder in the course of a robbery.
A second teen, a 13-year-old, had been arrested on Dec. 12 and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the report in the NYT, the 13-year-old implicated himself, Weaver and a 14-year-old middle-school classmate in the attack in a statement to police.
An NYPD spokesman said police are continuing to pursue active leads in the case.
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Chris Graham
