13-year-old boy questioned in NYC killing of college student from Charlottesville
By Michael Gold and Edgar Sandoval, © 2019 The New York Times Company 3 hrs ago



Photo by Conrad MacKethan/Courtesy of the Majors family

NEW YORK — A 13-year-old boy was taken into custody Friday in connection with the killing of Tessa Majors, an 18-year-old Barnard College student who was fatally stabbed while walking through a park near campus, law enforcement officials said.

Investigators believe that the boy was part of a group that attacked Majors on Wednesday night as she was walking through Morningside Park in Manhattan, one official said.

Police were not sure what role the teenager played in the stabbing and have yet to charge him with a crime. One official said the boy had implicated himself in the attack in his statements to police, but had not confessed.

Investigators believe two other people also participated, the official said.

The killing of Majors, a first-year college student from Virginia who was interested in journalism and played in a rock band, rattled university students and other city residents.
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13-year-old charged in fatal stabbing of Barnard student; others sought
College freshman Tessa Majors, 18, was stabbed repeatedly in Morningside Park, not far from Barnard's campus.

Stabbing death of 18-year-old student shocks college community

DEC. 13, 201901:36
Dec. 13, 2019, 8:42 AM EST / Updated Dec. 13, 2019, 12:29 PM EST

By Elisha Fieldstadt

A 13-year-old has been arrested and charged in the stabbing death of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors in a New York City park, according to multiple senior law enforcement officials.

The teen faces charges of second-degree murder, robbery and a weapons-related charge, the officials said. His specific role in the death was not immediately clear.

The juvenile was apprehended at about 11 p.m. Thursday, and as of Friday was not being charged as an adult.

Investigators are seeking two other people whom they believe had a role in the attack.

Majors, 18, was stabbed repeatedly in Morningside Park, not far from Barnard's campus, before 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the New York Police Department.
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Majors, who was from Virginia, played in a band and had recently played her first gig in New York City, according to her Instagram. She graduated from St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville this year before beginning at Barnard, according to an obituary in the Augusta Free Press, where she interned in spring.

“Tess was a light that shined brightly and our hearts will never be the same," the Majors family said in a statement. "She was very special and very loved."
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We were blessed to know Tess

Published Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019, 6:08 pm

St. Anne’s-Belfield alum, former AFP intern, dead following stabbing in NYC

Published Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019, 8:59 am

Tess Majors, a 2019 graduate of St. Anne’s-Belfield School who interned in the spring of 2019 with Augusta Free Press, is dead after being stabbed in an apparent robbery attempt near Columbia University on Wednesday.

Majors, 18, the daughter of JMU professor and acclaimed novelist Inman Majors, was a freshman at nearby Barnard College.

According to a report in the Columbia Spectator, a group of suspects approached Majors and demanded her property before stabbing her several times.

Officers responded to a 911 call from a security guard at 5:36 p.m., and arrived to find Majors unconscious with multiple stab wounds, a New York Police Department spokesperson said.

The New York Times is reporting that a 16-year-old suspect is in custody in connection with the slaying.

Search Tessa Majors on Augusta Free Press.