This video presents a detailed case study of Philip Chisum, a 14-year-old who murdered his high school math teacher Colleen Ritzer in 2013. The content explores how a juvenile offender with a history of mental health issues (diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia) committed a premeditated crime involving multiple victims. The case illustrates the legal challenges of prosecuting minors for serious crimes, including the insanity defense, and demonstrates how courts balance mental health considerations with public safety. The video also examines the prison system's response to dangerous individuals, including changes made to mental health treatment units after Chisum's violent behavior.
Deep Dive
Prerequisite Knowledge
- No data available.
Where to go next
- No data available.
Deep Dive
I Was In Prison With Philip Chism: He Really IS A Monster!Added:
They got six booking rooms down there.
Four of them are single cell type booking rooms and the other ones are big ones like the ones you'll see in movies where they got a two benches, one on this wall, like an L-shape, and then one on this wall and then a big room with a toilet and a little like guarder [music] before the toilet so you could in private. And uh this kid was in one of the big tanks. I was in one of the little ones. When he was walking through the door, I was already in my tank so I could look out the side and see him walking in. The first thing I thought was, damn, [music] he's a big boy, right?
>> Did assault and beat Colleen Ritz with the intent to murder her and by such assault and beating did kill and murder said calling Ritzer. What's your assert of this indictment? Guilty or not guilty? Not >> guilty.
>> Not guilty. Council, you wave the following reading to the additional indictments.
>> Yes, I did. Phil Chisum, council, have you waved the What's up, guys? Welcome back to the W number. Today, we're going to dive into another scumbag that I was locked up with. This dude is by far the biggest creep and [ __ ] I've ever come across.
Now he wasn't the quiet young kid that everybody saw on the news.
>> Meaning did kill and murder said calling Ritz. What's your shirt took this indictment? Guilty or not guilty?
>> Not guilty.
>> Not guilty. Council, you let the phone ring.
>> He wasn't that kid that got locked up right when he got locked up. How he got locked up. He became even more of a monster. You know, there's certain people that get born, [music] right? and they have that extra level of like animosity. It's like something in their brain. It's like this like the caveman gene is just like full-fledged, dude.
There's nothing else there. No sense of morality whatsoever with an intense desire to great. So he was a fish that swam in the same pond just in a different area of that same pond that I swam in. So you end up hearing everything that goes on behind the scenes in each stop that he made it to, even when he was in Dys, just because of how notorious of a figure he is, right?
But before I even get into all of the crazy stories about him and the things he even changed about the facility that I was at, he literally got things changed forever because he was such a deviant. I'll tell you all those stories. We're going to dive into a video that I found about him that explains his crime, Philip Chisum, who Philip Chisum really was right now. Some of the details of this crime are extremely gory and way worse than I even knew. Right? You could I didn't even know because, you know, all I saw of it was on the news while I was incarcerated. I watched his, you know, his case move along to trial and followed it on TV and through the news.
And what you see on there obviously because everybody saw it that was nationwide. That was worldwide. Like 14year-old boy who murders and grapes his own teacher. I mean what? That's that's freaking diabolical. what 14-year-old boys not not only is he, you know, thinking of deviant sexual things, but he's also plotting to cover up a a sick crime in all these different little ways. Like, he really thought this out without really thinking it out. You know what I mean? Like the kid did some dumbass [ __ ] You know what I mean? Like they they said there was over 180 cameras in that school. You had to have seen them everywhere. Would you think that just, you know, you were going to be so slick to get through that no one would even go over the cameras and be like, "Hey, think to watch them and see you doing all this stuff." Not only that, but there was other students who, one of them walked into the bathroom and caught him changing. And then there was another one who sat with him in detention, you know, while he was sitting in Colleen Ritzer's class with another student. You know, the last moments they were together, and I guess he was angry and in a mood or whatever.
But we're going to go over all this today and then the stories about him locked up in the Massachusetts Department of Correction and throughout his whole stretch. But this is the video I found. Man, do >> punish the defendant for this unspeakable murder more than the law allows. Sentencing a human being to prison comes with a solemn obligation to craft a sentence no more or less than justice requires.
This inexact process is central to the maintenance of our social compact and part of the core of the concept of ordered liberty. This court will impose the mandatory life sentence for the murder of Carlen Ritzer and set a parole.
He wanted to smoke his ass even worse than he [ __ ] [music] Salute to Truly Criminal for making this video. It's actually a really good video. Very descriptive, well-made video.
>> Danver, Massachusetts, home to around 27,000 people. Originally known as Salem Village, Danver has quite a history and is littered with various landmarks and tourist hotspots. It's probably most wellknown for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials before the town was renamed Danvers years later. This particular case begins in Danver's High School in 2013.
24year-old Colleen Elizabeth Ritzer had been at Danvers High School for about a year and taught 9th grade algebra.
She was born to Tom and Peggy Ritzer and had two younger siblings. They all described her as positive and optimistic with a big heart and a genuine passion for helping people.
>> It's always the good ones that get taken too early, isn't it?
>> Colleen knew from a young age that teaching was what she had to do. Her passion for teaching and learning was infectious, and she often started her classes with inspirational quotes or pictures. She was very active on social media, posting puzzles and games to help her students learn. And people said she would always find time to help anyone struggling with their studies. Many of her students said they didn't even like mathematics until they had Colleen as a teacher. But her unique style, positive outlook, and willingness to help anyone finding things tough meant she quickly proved very popular with students. Hey, 24 years old, right? You're still in that very optimistic way of thinking, young, want to, you know, conquer the world with your your virtuism. Like, she still had so much virtue in her and she probably saw the good even in this guy himself. Man, such a sad thing.
>> Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013. As the school day drew to a close and the building started to empty, Colleen was finishing up some bits in her room. She left her classroom A209 and briefly spoke to another teacher in the hallway before heading to the second floor bathroom just before 3 p.m. At 6:30 p.m. that day, a frantic parent filed a missing person's report.
Diana Chisum's 14-year-old son was missing and he attended Danver High School. Philip Chisum was a quiet and reserved teen who had recently moved from Tennessee with his mother after his parents' divorce. He excelled in sports but kept to himself where everything else was concerned. And he socialized with few of the other children at his new school.
>> You know what I want to know is what happened between him and his mother or whoever in his family that made him hate women so much because he hated women.
Mike Chase, the coach from Danver High School, had also received word that Philillip hadn't turned up to practice and had missed the team meal, too. 3 hours later, at 9:00 p.m., Danvers High School principal Sue sent a mass email to all school faculty and staff informing them that their 14-year-old student was missing. Shortly after this email was sent, another math teacher called Sarah phoned Sue. Colleen Ritz's parents had just contacted her to ask if she had seen their daughter as Colleen appeared to be missing too. Colleen lived with her parents and they were expecting her home hours ago. Colleen's father, Tom, had already gone looking for his daughter at the school, but ended up driving home without seeing her. He noted her car was still in its parking spot, but couldn't find her around the school. For those who don't know anything about Massachusetts, let me just say Danvers is one of those towns where, look, it this person goes missing for not even a full 24 hours and you got both families already notifying the authorities. This is a town that is very sleepy. This is a very ritzy town where most of the people who live in it, they live in their own home, you know, own bedrooms, you know what I mean? like this is a nice neighborhood. This is out outrageous for everybody in that town.
It's outrageous.
>> Said he was so proud of her and all he wanted to do was tell her how exciting it was to see her new classroom. The more time ticked by, the more everyone was starting to worry for both the missing teacher and student. Danver's high school had been shut for ages, and there would be no reason for either of them to still be there. The teacher, Sarah, also informed Sue that Philip had actually been in Colleen's last class that day, and it seemed too coincidental that they were now both missing at the same time. Sue and a few other teachers went to the school to look for the pair, but they couldn't see them anywhere.
>> Bet you they didn't see this coming.
>> Seemed to be just as she'd left it, but they noted all her belongings were missing, and her car was still in its spot. At 11:20 p.m., with still no word from their daughter, the anxious Ritzers officially reported Khina's missing to the Danvers police. Detectives quickly had her cell phone provider ping the location of her phone, and her phone's last known location was around 24 minutes away on foot from Danas High School. They also pinged Philillip's phone. His phone, however, was traced to a nearby cinema, Hollywood Hits Theater.
But when the police arrived, he was no longer there. Searches were now underway in and around the school, and to everyone's concern, Colleen's purse was soon found in the surrounding area. It was empty, and her cards and ID were gone. A search of the school found red brown stains on the second floor bathroom.
>> This is this is another funny thing about this case, right, real quick, is that they found some red brown stains on the bathroom, right? And that's because there was a janitor who said because of a language barrier cleaned up the murder scene. He came in there, found all the blood, all this stuff all over the walls and cleaned it up even though he was finding earrings in stuck in his mop, right? Like diamond earrings. Like, duh, there's a freaking ton of blood all over the place and a woman's jewelry still on the floor and you're like cleaning it up and you say it's cuz of a language barrier. I don't think knowing another language makes you stupid, bro. That's just crazy to me.
>> At 12:30 a.m. on what was now October 23rd, police were notified that a pedestrian was walking alone in the southbound lane on Route One North at Salem Lane in Toppsfield. Topsfield police soon realized it was the missing Philip Chisum. The 14-year-old was patted down and police found a knife on him. Following this, they took him to Topsfield Police Station where his backpack was searched. It was here that officers found a bloodied box cutter, Colleen's credit cards, and driver's license. They also found underwear, which would later be confirmed to be Colleen's, too.
>> Old boy took her underwear. Dude, this kid is a monster savage. Wait till you hear what he was like in prison. Philip told officers he innocently found all the items lying around at a stop and shop and just decided to pick them up.
He then said he stole them from a car.
So where did the blood on the box cutter come from? Officers asked. The girl, he finally said, >> "You know what's crazy is that when I was a kid, I got into this cape." They call it like a capewide crime spree they called it, right? where they say I stole multiple cars and you know credit card frauds and things all across the Cape and and it's true I you know we did we didn't steal a second car that was made up but um we did steal the car crashed it went on a crime spree across the Cape and uh the one of the things that I remember is that it was just so sloppy and so unthought out and so juvenile but at the end of the day you don't think about these things as a kid like you just do these crazy crimes and you know you fly by the seat of your pants and hope for the best and that's what this kid did right here.
>> He calmly told police that the woman was in the woods and was beyond help. Philip was then taken to Danver's police station where >> yo that's crazy. He he he he told the wood the police that the the woman was in the woods and beyond help.
>> He later met with his mother. It was noted that his demeanor then quickly changed and he asked to talk to officers without his mother present. He was placed under arrest. While Philip was being interviewed at around 3:00 a.m. a couple of hours later, a devastating discovery was made. Khimmeritz's body was found near the school in the wooded area. She had been stabbed, strangled, and raped. She was naked from the waist down, and her top had been pulled up and her bra pulled down. Next to her body was a handwritten note saying, "I hate you all." She was posed in what was referred to by police as a sexually suggestive position and had been violated with a tree branch which was still inside her.
>> See what I mean about the uh hating women and like what could this kid have been through to make him feel like this?
It's insane.
>> 20 yards from her body was a large recycling bin, some bloody gloves and clothing. But what had happened that led to this? The school and surrounding area had over 100 security cameras, and police began the painstaking task of analyzing all of them. The footage on them would soon reveal a horrific and disturbing series of events. Another student in Ken's last class that day recalled that after the lesson had finished, she saw Philillip and Colleen talking. Colleen had spotted Philip drawing during the class and asked him to stay a little later to help him do some more prep for an upcoming test. The student said that while Colleen and Philip were chatting, she mentioned Tennessee in a passing comment, the state that Philip had left a few months before. At the mention of this, he became visibly upset and started muttering to himself. As soon as Colleen noticed this, she quickly changed the subject, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Shortly after the pair finished talking, Colleen left the classroom heading for the second floor bathroom.
A minute later, Philip Chisum started to follow her. [music] It's crazy how fate goes down. You know what I mean? She had no idea these were the last moments of her life. But this kid the whole time had this crazy plan in his head. You can tell he planned this all out. Watch. [music] >> He put his hood up and put on some gloves.
>> Like he brought gloves with him.
>> He walked behind her into the bathroom.
He then strangled her, stabbed her 16 times with a box cutter, and raped her.
At 3:06 p.m., a female student entered the same bathroom.
She told investigators she saw the back of a person who appeared to be changing.
The person's rear was exposed and the clothes were piled on the floor. Not wanting to disturb whoever it was she thought was changing, she quickly turned and left.
>> Good thing she didn't say nothing because she could have been victim number two. Word, bro. And like I said about fate, it was crazy how it goes down. And what do you do to protect a situation like this from happening? Like what can you do to stop something like this where you got a kid, you don't know what his motives are, but like you know this woman goes into the bathroom, falls in. Like how do you how do you stop something? How do you prevent something like this? You know, it's crazy.
>> Philillip then left the bathroom. Over the next few minutes, he ran in and out of the school building. [music] >> [music] [music] >> eventually returning to the classroom and fetching his and some of Colleen's belongings.
>> That's a very wellthoughtout thing right there to go grab her belongings knowing that if they found them in there, they'd be like, "Oh, well, where is she? Her car's still here. Her stuff's still here. She must be still here somewhere, right? He wanted to make it seem like she left, so he grabbed her stuff. Like, wow. For 14 years old, that's diabolical.
[music] He put on a black ski mask before bumping into another student and taking the mask off.
[music] At 3:14, he pulled a recycling bin into the bathroom and put Collehen inside it.
[music] [music] He put his black ski mask back on and pulled the bin into a lift before dragging it out towards the student parking lot.
[music] When he got Ken into the woods using the bin, he sexually assaulted her with a 3-ft long tree branch before leaving her body on the ground, partially clothed, covered in sticks and leaves.
>> Like that's true sickness right there.
You know what he was thinking is like this [ __ ] dirty bench like sticking a tree branch in her like oh that's some crazy type of wicked diabolical thinking for a 14-year-old like what kind of sick demon infected this man's brain.
>> At 3:30 p.m. the mother of another student saw Philillip running near the school. She relayed this information to the principal at about 6:00 p.m. that day around the same time Diana had reported him missing.
Philip then returned to the building about half an hour later with blood on his jeans and without his shoes.
[music] >> He changed his clothes.
[music] Like I wonder what he was thinking like going back into the school with no sneakers on. Like is that more or less suspect than someone with sneakers on that might have some specks of blood on it? Was but he had blood all over his pants, but he took his sneakers off.
Like the kid obviously wasn't right in the head going in and out of the building, but you know, he was doing it all with deliberate intelligent plan.
That's the difference. It's like, yeah, he might not have been the brightest kid, but he was still only 14 years old and just committed a crazy crime and was all hopped up on adrenaline. And um, you know, knowing him and knowing how he is, I could see that he was just like thinking in his head like, "Yeah, you know, I just did some gangster [ __ ] or whatever the hell he was thinking in his head like he would he just did some something that he'd been waiting to do for a long time and felt good about it kind of thing." like and he's going around changing his clothes, doing all this stuff, but he's probably a little nervous that he might get caught, but maybe not that nervous because look it like he's just going about his business, >> heading back into the second floor bathroom one more time.
[music] He was making sure he didn't leave nothing behind.
and stayed on site for a while longer, skipping his after school sports practice.
He then left the building completely.
That shows that he might have already gave up on getting away with it. I think in his own mind that he skipped his sports practice because if he was trying to truly get away with it, he would have just hit sport. He would have hit practice and acted like nothing happened. But I think he kind of gave up and was like, "Ah, [ __ ] you know, he already went that far and he just said, "Fuck it." You know, >> he went straight to the cinema and purchased a ticket for a 4:30 p.m. film showing.
>> But that right there kind of changes that a little bit. You know, he went there, tried to get the ticket, make it look like he was somewhere like creating an alibi type of thing, but you know, who knows what he's thinking at this point.
>> He left at around 6:00 p.m. and then used Khen's credit card at a nearby Wendy's near the cinema. Police later found both Philip and Colleen's smashed phones, indicating that Philip had destroyed Khen's phone near the school surroundings, which is why her phone's last known location was there. The pathologist said there were two causes of death, asphyxiation and the 16 stab wounds to the neck, three of which hit major blood vessels. They said it was not possible to say which killed her, but the pathologist said that she believed the esphyxiation happened first because the knife wounds to the neck was so severe it would have been too difficult to strangle her after stabbing her.
>> You know, he got pleasure out of doing all that cuz that's overkill. You know what I mean? Straight >> back strangulation as well as the sharp force injuries are both lethal in their own right and separately. Um I couldn't be certain. Again, we talked about the sequence with which injuries occur. I couldn't be certain whether the asphixxia um occurred and then uh the deedent lived through that episode.
Therefore, I combined them as essentially a hybrid cause of death.
Medical examiners believe Khen was likely still alive when Philip dragged her body into the woods behind the school and subjected her to the horrific sexual assault with the tree branch. A professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School said cases such as these were off the charts rare.
>> [snorts] >> I personally have never seen anything like this in the hundreds of cases I've had and the thousands of cases I've supervised. He said, >> "Let me just second that. It is extremely rare. After meeting him and seeing how he was in there and in the stories that I hear, look, trust me, he was rare and he was a very rare [ __ ] person."
>> We're also working developing news tonight in a shocking high school homicide this afternoon. A Massachusetts teenager was arraigned on charges that he robbed, raped, and murdered his high school math teacher. Eyewitness News anchor Shannon Heggy joins us now live with the developing details.
>> And this is all the stuff that I saw while I was in prison following his case along before I ever even ran into him.
>> Mike, 14-year-old Philip Chisum said next to nothing during today's arraignment, except to plead not guilty to murdering 24year-old Colleen Ritzer.
>> Take us straight to this indictment.
Guilty or not guilty? Not guilty. Those were the only words to come out of the mouth of Philip Chisum at Salem Superior Court. The 14-year-old is charged with murder, aggravated rape, and armed robbery in the October 22nd killing of Denver's high school math teacher, Colleen Ritzer. Her body was discovered in the woods near the school with her throat slit and a note reading, quote, "I hate you all." Prosecutors have not yet released a motive for the killing.
Chisum was ordered held without bail and is due back in court for a pre-trial hearing on January 30th. Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence, including Philillip's partial admission, he pled not guilty. In Massachusetts, anyone 14 years old or above who is charged with murder, is automatically tried as an adult. Philip was tried as an adult on the murder charge and as a youth offender on the charges of armed robbery and aggravated rape. While he was awaiting trial, Philip attacked a youth services worker. He followed her into a locker room where he choked and beat her before other workers intervened. That's not the last time it happened either. This kid was a savage.
He never stops. Watch. You'll see. I'll tell you these stories after. But let's listen to this.
>> The worker suffered injuries to her face, jaw, neck, and back. And Chisum then faced further charges and a separate trial for attempted murder in this case. His trial in Khen Ritz's case, however, began in 2015. Philip's lawyers did not dispute Philillip killing Colleen, but argue that it happened during a psychotic episode that had been triggered by Colleen mentioning the word Tennessee to him. Like, what is that? A [ __ ] hypnotism thing? Like, you just mentioned the word Tennessee and he turns into a sick, demented, murdering rapist. Like, what kind of [ __ ] is that, dude? It said him off the handle. She's mentioned the word Tennessee, so he had to rape and kill her. Like, what kind of nonsense is that? That's a That's a defense attorney reaching like seriously reaching at this point.
>> On this basis, they asked for the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. Defense attorney Denise Reagan said that Philip's family also had a history of mental health issues and that he likely suffered from them too from an early age. A psychiatrist that testified for the defense also said that Philip probably has early onset schizophrenia and that this also accounted for his actions. So, what is this case about?
This case is about why did this happen?
Why did a 14-year-old boy, well-behaved, quiet one month into high school do these terrible things? The answer is he was severely mentally ill. He had been suffering from a psychotic disorder since the age of 10. Now, at the end of his stay in 2015, did you reach a diagnosis for Philip Chisum?
>> I did.
>> And what was that diagnosis?
>> I made two diagnosis. One was a depressive state, best described in my view as a major depressive [music] state, and another was a brief or transient psychotic episode.
>> Now, in forming um your diagnosis, what did you rely on?
>> I relied on my clinical observations.
the observations of the clinical team I had available to me two psychological reports from early in the [music] uh done early in the fall.
>> But a doctor who testified for the prosecution argued that Philillip was not psychotic and that his symptoms were inconsistent.
>> This is the thing, right? [music] I can say that most doctors that step up for the prosecution are going to be, you know, basically they're going to be paid and they're not going to be paid to go against what they want. You know what I mean? They're not going to put a doctor up there that's going to go against the narrative for the prosecution. [music] But in this case, I can really second that. I I agree with not only this doctor, but the other doctor >> and Dr. Um, Heaven, what were the results of Philip Chisum's MMPI for adolescence?
>> Um, the results suggested that it was likely invalid um because his F minus K scale was excessively elevated um and suggested that he was attempting to fake bad um and to demonstrate um [music] uh that he was uh severely mentally ill. The reason why [music] this even it sounds even more true like he was he was trying to fake that is that you know going through the Bridgewater and the psychiatric cycle of the system. I've seen so many dudes go in there and try to put on like they're crazy, try to act like they're crazy, especially dudes who are fighting a trial, uh, you know, reaching for the insanity defense. And I've seen people actually get it. I actually have a good friend of mine who was there for uh murdering his stepfather and his mother.
His stepfather happened to be a state trooper and his mother was going out with him and you know there was some serious things that resulted in him actually getting an insanity defense in and [music] winning with that. But this kid here, he was not insane. He was deliberate. He was intelligent. He was maneuvering in ways that that display [music] something way beyond someone who was psychotic and doing something that they don't understand. Right. This kid understood exactly what he was doing.
>> He was attempting to demonstrate that he was severely mentally ill. Is that correct?
>> Correct.
>> I interviewed uh Philip Chisum um on a number of occasions between July and October 3rd of this year for a total of approximately 13 hours. Um, I'm first looking for whether or not there is evidence of a mental disease or defect as it's understood under the law. I then look to see whether or not if there was a mental disease or defect, there is evidence that the defendant was uh substantially impaired in their ability to either appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of their act or to conform their conduct through uh to the requirements of law. So, I'm essentially marching through the legal [music] standard trying to uh put the information and evidence that I have into this kind of uh logical progression.
>> And with respect to whether Philip Chisum was suffering a mental disease or defect on October 22nd of 2013, did you reach an opinion to a reasonable degree of psychological certainty? [music] >> I did.
>> What was that opinion?
My opinion is that on the date of the alleged offense, uh, Mr. Chisum was not suffering from a mental disease or defect.
>> And did you reach an opinion to a reasonable degree of psychological certainty as to whether he understood the wrongfulness of his conduct and could conform his conduct to the requirements of the law?
>> I did reach an opinion under that.
>> What was that opinion?
>> Uh, my opinion was that although uh, Mr. Chism at the time may have been showing uh some indications of uh distress or emotional disturbance that to the extent to which they were present, they did not substantially impair his capacity to distinguish uh the wrongfulness or criminality of his act to identify that uh nor did it substantially impair his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. They said that it was obvious that Philillip had planned the attack in advance as he already brought a ski mask, gloves, and a box cutter to school that day, and this was not a psychotic break based on the conversation they had had in the classroom.
Philip's defense lawyers also fought hard for him to be acquitted of the sexual assault in the woods. They disagreed with medical examiners saying that they thought Colleen had already died by the time the assault with the tree branch happened. Meaning that Philillip should be acquitted of that part of the crime on that basis alone.
>> I told you at the beginning of this case. It's not in question who did these terrible acts.
You're >> damn right about that. Your your thing was that, you know, oh, he should be acquitted of the the rape that took place in the woods. Okay. Well, what about the rape that took place in the the the bathroom, right? And that's like he's like what are we what are you arguing here now, right? Like piny winks. Like that's the that's what you're shooting for. Like he's going to go to prison for life, but you're you're going to try to get that that knocked off, right? Like who gives a [ __ ] about that part, dude? like you should have been [ __ ] piling on on this insanity defense rather than worrying about [ __ ] like that because then obviously I feel like you're already agreeing that he's not insane. You know what I mean? Like >> and the evidence has borne me out.
>> The defense acknowledges the enormity of this task and thanks you for your commitment to this. The evidence is clear that Philip Chisum has suffered from a psychotic disorder, most likely early onset schizophrenia from the time he was young. Now, what's the evidence of that? Well, first you have the testimony of three experienced psychiatrists.
>> Yeah. They all said that he wasn't wasn't crazy.
>> The terrible horrible event of October 22nd, 2013 didn't unfold in a screen capture. They didn't unfold in a still image. They happened in real time, in real life, in a place, at a time at Danver High School in the middle of what should have been a normal day in the middle of the afternoon.
And make no mistake, they didn't happen to Philillip Chisum.
He did these terrible things to Colleen Ritzer, and she was only 24 years old.
And the only still image that matters in this case is the image of Colleen in the woods.
I feel like that is not a legal [music] like prosecution. Like that's like an emotionally charged statement. [music] That sounds kind of idiotic. Not for nothing. I mean, I'm just saying that I feel like she sounds kind of stupid. I'm not going to lie. Really? [music] It happened at a place in a time. And make no mistake, it wasn't Philip Chisum that it happened to. [music] Like, who's mistakenly thinking it actually happened to Philip Chisum? I don't know. He's sitting right there in the chair, isn't he?
>> The image that the defendant painted of Colleen stripped, battered, brutalized, and violated. Life sentences without parole for juveniles have been found to be unconstitutional in Massachusetts.
And under separate decisions made by the US Supreme Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Philip could not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for murder.
>> When something terrible happens, people will often say it could always be worse.
It is difficult for this to this court to imagine what could be worse for an individual or a family to endure.
>> Can't argue with that.
>> The brutal and senseless murder of Colleen Ritzer. Colleen Ritzer lived a life of quiet heroism. That's what most teachers do. Henry Adams observed that a teacher affects eternity. She can never tell where her influence starts. Colleen Richard's parents, more than most, have learned the reach of their daughter's influence, but at a cost no parent should have to endure. While the extent or lack of extent of the defendant's mental health was the subject of exhaustive testimony at trial, the Commonwealth presented overwhelming evidence that the defendant had substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct [music] and had the substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. I will punish the defendant for the murder of Carlen Ritzer [music] and I will punish him for the rape as well as the armed robbery of the underpants she put on in the morning of her death. It is such a weird statement like the way you put it like and I will punish him for the robbery [music] of the underpants that she put on the morning of the murder. Like why' you have to say it like that? You know what I mean? It's so odd to me. It's like [music] why not just be like and I'm going to in the robbery of the underpants >> the horrific rape and robbery of Colleen Ritzer to punish the defendant for this unspeakable murder more than the law allows.
This court will impose the mandatory life sentence for the murder of Colleen Ritzer and set a parole eligibility date of 25 years, the highest level our law allows. This court will impose a concurrent sentence of 40 years to 40 years in one day for the rape of Carlen Ritzer and a concurrent sentence of 40 years to 40 years in one day for the armed robbery.
>> So basically the kids he's never getting out and I'll tell you why in a second.
But even if he did get parole and it was to that 40 years, then he wrapped up that whole 40 years and he's still at his parole [music] and went home or he was they were saying, you know, you're going you're leaving here. He never goes home. He goes to another facility for the sexually dangerous where they will hold someone like him and come up with whatever excuse to keep him there forever. In imposing a sentence for the rape at a date in excess of the parole eligibility date [music] for the murder, the court is not suggesting that the rape, as he as it was, was more egregious [music] than the murder. Rather, this court is constitutionally obligated to set a parole date no more than 25 years for her murder. While Colleen Rich's rape and murder were inextricably intertwined, this court may not punish the defendant with more prison time for the rape than justice demands for [music] the purposes of avoiding constitutional limitations imposed by our Massachusetts declaration of rights as interpreted by a Supreme Judicial Court for the murder committed by a juvenile. See, you know, like, you know, this is like a Danverse court because the way they talk there, it sounds it sounds ridiculous to me. I'm not going to lie. Like, doesn't it sound kind of weird and off and a little different? I don't know. Maybe that the court that you guys go to I the court that I went to, I don't think he would have gotten like I don't think the explanation or like the the speech would have sounded the same in the same wording. You know what I mean? It might have been a little different and less opinionated, less extra like but like more to the point and intelligent. I I don't.
>> Ultimately, the jury rejected the insanity defense that Philip Chisum's lawyers had put forward and found him guilty because the judge also imposed concurrent sentences of 40 years for rape and 40 years for armed robbery.
This means he will not actually be able to apply for parole until he is in his 50s. Philillip was however acquitted of the second count of rape committed using the tree branch in the woods during the 10 hours of deliberations. This was the only question juries had and had to ask the judge to clarify this. Defense attorneys argued that Khim was dead when she was in the woods and when Chisum violated her with the branch. A medical examiner said they couldn't say with certainty that she had died by this point. Jurors ultimately believed she was no longer alive at this point and Massachusetts law requires a live victim to convict someone of rape. Unlike other states >> Wait, what? That's insane.
>> Massachusetts doesn't have a law against abuse of a corpse. Philip Chisum was placed in a state juvenile detention facility and will stay there until he turns 21. He will then be sent to a state prison.
>> This high school math teacher will be back in court this morning. The 16-year-old is facing attempted murder charges for attacking a youth worker while he was awaiting trial. Fox 25's Michael Henrik live outside juvenile court in downtown Boston with more in the story for us. Good morning, Michael.
Good morning. This is the first time we'll see Philip Chisum since that guilty verdict in the trial, the murder trial regarding victim Colleen Ritzer.
This court hearing is happening here at Suffach County Juvenile Court on that attempted murder charge that he tried to kill a Department of Youth Services worker in Dorchester while awaiting trial.
>> Philip's mother reached out to the Ritzer family and said, "Words can't express the amount of pain and sorrow these past 2 and 1/2 years have been.
However, there is no one who has suffered more than the Ritzer family. My utmost esteem, prayers, and humble respect is with them today as they continue their journey to heal. Tom Ritzer said, "It makes me sick to know that I walked the same halls as her killer. It makes me sick to know I drove by her in the woods and drove home. A dad's job is to protect his family. I didn't protect Colleen. A dad's job is to fix things. I can't fix this." Peggy said she often has to stay isolated from people because pretending to be happy is so difficult.
Colleen Ritzer loved nothing more than inspiring and supporting people, teaching them, and helping them to learn and grow. The difference Khen made to so many people's lives was clear by the outpouring of heartfelt messages following her passing. Over 1,000 people turned out to pay their respects at Colleen's funeral, and hundreds of students and teachers participated in numerous vigils and other community events to celebrate her life. Her family established the Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Scholarship in her honor, which since October 2013 has awarded over $370,000 in college scholarships to 82 future teachers. One of Colleen's friends also started the Kindness for Colleen campaign. This encourages everyone to perform random acts of kindness on October 22nd each year and share them on social media. A >> that's a beautiful way to celebrate her life. Not for nothing, what a kind lady.
And who knows how many positive influences she could have made in this world if she did not get murdered.
Because good teachers like that who shine light on their students, their students [music] are affected by them and go on to do similar things for people because you just can't you can't downplay the the role a positive influence like her could have on the world. Wow. I couldn't imagine a more gruesome case than Philip Chisum. That poor woman, right? But this kid was evil by birth. I'm not gonna lie. The first time I ever met him was in booking down in the ma in the maximum security prison sus correctional center. In booking they got about five different rooms. They got two big ones and then two small ones over here and then two small ones over here. So actually that's they got about six rooms. They got six booking rooms down there. Four of them are single cell type booking rooms and the other ones are big ones like the ones you'll see in movies where they got a two benches. One on this wall like an L-shaped and then one on this wall and then a big room with a toilet and a little like gardener before the toilet so you could pee and [ __ ] in private. And uh this kid was in one of the big tanks. I was in one of the little ones. When he was walking through the door, I was already in my tank so I could look out the side and see him walking in. The first thing I thought was, damn, he's a big boy, right? That is a big boy right there.
They put him in the tank to the left of me, the the one directly to the left of me, so I wouldn't be able to look out and see him. He was off to the side, but I could look out the crack of my door and see him because he was standing at the door being super aggressive. There was two other dudes in the tank with him and they were going back and forth with him. I can hear him. They were going back and forth with him and he was getting brolic with him and then spitting out the door and [ __ ] calling people [ __ ] and [ __ ] you know, the kid was acting super aggressive, dude. Right. And I remember thinking, dude, I can't wait to see you, bro. I'm going to try to [ __ ] you up. And I and he tried to spit at me, so I spit back at him when I was walking out. They had me in handcuffs and they were bringing me to the boss chair room. The cops didn't even write me a ticket. That's how much they hated this [ __ ] right? It was a sucker move to try to spit at me while I was walking with the two cops. And the cops were probably more mad that they could have got spit on than that he actually spit in general. But they didn't really care that I [ __ ] turned around and try to hakalookie right back at him, dude.
Right. The kid was super aggressive is the point though. Like what kind of individual is built that way where he's just super aggressive all the time.
right now. He before he ever reached the max, they had him in Bridgewater State Hospital. And that's exactly where he was coming from when he walked through those doors that day is he got kicked out of Bridgewater State Hospital after he attacked one of the nurses down there. Right. He attacked a nurse.
This is the same behavior he's exhibited not only at Danver School, but at the DY facility he went to and then the Bridgewater facility he went to. And then when he got to the max, something so bad happened that it changed the rules there forever. They put him in a population type block, which was the RTU, which is the residential treatment unit of the MAX for mental health type individuals, right? You could go down there. I actually been down there as a step down from STP after I did long stretches in solitary confinement. They put me down there before I went back to population a couple times and right before I went home on my first bit to kind of give you like uh you know some mental health treatment and get your mind right a little bit almost like a hospital section of the facility that treats mental health or whatever but you get more open cell time. Um they do things like incentives. So at the end of every month you save up points from going to programs and groups. At By the way, almost all of them are run by females and all the clinicians are basically females. There was one dude there that was nonfemale clinical staff and his name was Brad and I happened to have him as a clinician for a little while on my first bid and he's not a bad dude, right? What's up Brad if you ever watch my channel? But yeah, he was there forever. He was he was a decent dude. He was hip to all the [ __ ] that happened up there. But there was mostly female staff and you would go to groups with them.
They would come around talk to you at your door a lot. They would come on and do the incentives every month and they would come and do unit meetings every week on Wednesday. [music] This kid while he was down there got into multiple fist fights and then [music] as required by law now every 30 days they're required to come around and meet with you as a clinician and talk to you and see how you are, you know, and note down all your mental health issues, right? If you have any or if you feel like speaking to them, they bring you in a little room on the side of the block.
Now, there's two different rooms that they could bring you in. One that's on the back right of the desk and one that's in the front left of the desk.
Either one is right in view of the desk.
They have windows on the doors and then windows beside the doors so they could see right into the room each room, but you go right in there and you sit down right across from your st the [music] clinician or whoever it is. And sometimes they do dboards in there, whatever. That's where they do IPS meetings after fights and stabbings and [ __ ] So they bring him into the room to meet with this clinician. They pat him down. You go in, he sits down across him. What's this dude do? He tries to peg the door and grabs the woman, tries to rip her clothes off and rape her.
Dude, those cos actually ran in there and saved that woman's life that [music] day cuz that kid is an aggressive, big, sexually deviant dude that, you know, I I bet you if they if there was nobody there that day to save her, she would have been the next victim. You know, it it was just like that. The kid is so bad. He's not stopping for nothing. What it did was it changed that facility forever for good in every single block.
Cuz now [music] to meet with your clinician on every unit, even though there's nobody else like Philip Chisum, when I go to meet with my clinician now, on any block I'm in, you have to sit in a little cage inside of these rooms because they built little cages in every single block that separate you from your clinician. So you basically you volunteer to walk into this little room and then get locked into this little cage where you're looking through this little grate to see your clinician. And now you can't look through that great without kind of going crosseyed and getting dizzy after a little while of looking through it. Right? I literally could I couldn't look through it. If I go in there, I'd have to like keep my eyes closed like this while I talked or I'd have to get down like this and look through the food slot. So like where they handcuff you and take your cuffs off and [ __ ] so that I could see my clinician without the grate in front of me because that [ __ ] caused like some type of weird like vertigo type feeling when you look through it. Huge detriment to the facility and to the already failing mental health mission in that place because now you just don't want to talk to your mental health staff. you just don't like meeting with them because you just can't talk to them like that. Bending down to look through that little hole like that hurts your neck cuz the chair and the stool the way it is, that angle, it's just not a good angle to do that unless you're really short or something. But this kid gets kicked out of the RTU for doing that, right? They kicked him out of the RTU.
Dude, he was so aggressive and so adamant. He didn't want to go to PC. He wanted to go to a regular block. So they tried to send him to N1 and dudes hopped on him like flies on [ __ ] dude. Right when he walked through the door. Boom, boom, boom. They pieced him the [ __ ] [music] up. That was the last time he tried to come to a population block. And it's lucky that nobody knew that he was coming because he would have definitely got stabbed. That's somebody I can say would have not made it out of that block alive had he made it into that block any further [music] than the door. And dudes were out at wreck when they saw him coming in. And I feel like that was definitely something that the administration saw coming because they're like, "Yeah, he wants to go to pop. All right, we got a block for him.
Send him to the most aggressive block in the [ __ ] camp."
Dude, he got wiped all the way down. I guess like three or four random dudes just jumped on his ass. As soon as they seen him walking through the door, they're like, "Oh, hell no. This dude ain't coming on the block." It was all over the news. You know his face when you see him. And he's a big dude, bro.
And not only that, but dudes were talking about him all over the camp as soon as he [music] hit the camp because like you know Philip Chisum's coming to this place there like like [ __ ] that.
Now I think he's in some PC or he's you know PCed himself into solitary confinement somewhere like into STP or something. And um he's very aggressive towards staff. So I can see him like getting in arguments and fights with with staff spitting on him trying to throw stuff at him and stuff like that.
Like this is the type [music] of individual he is. And [snorts] not to mention, he's going to try to do this again. Guarantee it. Right. Philip Chisum has tried to do this in every place he [music] went to. He tried to do it in Bridgewater State Hospital before he ever reached the max. He did it in the Max. He did it in Dys. He did it out on the streets in Danvers. If he ever is released from his bid, [music] say he does good for whatever reason, gets parole to his second sentence, which is that 40 years on and after and the concurrent 40 [music] years that goes with it. and somehow, you know, figures out how to get good time enough [music] to wrap that up while he's still breathing air. He's going to go to a place called the treatment center and he's going to end his days there because they will not ever let a dude like that out on the streets. It's the same thing with the kid Jose Rivera. These are the individuals that you end up bumping into once in a blue moon. Philip Chisum was not a population inmate. I didn't live amongst him because if I did he would have been a he would have been on the plate. I would have had to hurt this dude in a bad way. [snorts] Yeah, Philip Chisum is an evil man and nobody like him should be kept around to suffer and to make others suffer around him. I think that he would be the exception for me in a death a death penalty type case and I think that you know as a society we should able to be use judgment when it comes to this. Just because I say like yeah I think he should die. I don't agree with the death penalties make me a death penalty supporter. It just means that I think using reasonable judgment.
I don't know if there's ever fixing a person like that, but you know that's above me and that's a choice only God can can make and so it's out of my hands. But man, he's a dangerous individual. I hope you guys like this video today. Um, hit the like button, hit the subscribe if you want. You can join the channel and become a member for $2.99. I have a lot of great content.
I'm gonna start making every one of my videos a membersonly video before [music] it pops. So, you'll get two days to watch the membersonly video. And every time I put out another video, one goes for the members only. So, you'll get to watch a video that's not out yet and is fire plus all the membersonly content that stays members only content.
And there's a lot of it and a lot of good content. Also, [music] I have an Instagram, a Tik Tok, and a Facebook. Go follow me there. I'll leave all the [music] links in the descriptions. Peace out. I hope you know what time it is right now. And that's W number.
Hey.
Hey.
Related Videos
BREAKING: Judge Kathleen Issues Emergency Arrest Warrant After Trump Defies Order
Frontora
2K views•2026-05-29
8 Hidden Things About Mackenzie Shirilla Netflix's 'The Crash' Didn't Show You
MarvelousVideos
2K views•2026-05-28
MP Garnett Genuis warns Canada’s MAiD system has ‘gone too far’
WesternStandard
187 views•2026-05-28
THE STREISAND EFFECT AT BARBARA STREISAND’S HOUSE! - First Amendment Audit
KULTNEWS
1K views•2026-05-30
Trump Impeachment STORM IGNITES as 29 Judges Vote for Conviction!!
DanielBriefDaily
2K views•2026-06-02
EBK Jaaybo Won’t Be Going To Trial?! | Criminal Lawyer Reacts
floridadefenseteam
404 views•2026-05-29
OFFICE HOURS: The Theft of Black Brilliance... AI and Intellectual Property (w/ Lisa E. Davis)
marclamonthillnetwork
2K views•2026-05-29
सुप्रीम कोर्ट में 5 जजों का शपथग्रहण समारोह #supremecourt #judges #oathceremony #shorts #ytshorts
Bharat24Liv
4K views•2026-06-02











