Tessa Majors suspect ‘says the Barnard student was stabbed to death by his 14-year-old accomplice because she bit his finger as she fought for her life’
- One of the teen suspects in the fatal stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors in a Manhattan park says she may have bitten on his accomplice’s finger
- Tessa bit down on the accomplice’s finger while fighting for life, setting him off in a rage which lead to the December 11 fatal stabbing, the suspect told cops
- The unnamed youth, 14, was questioned and released Thursday morning pending a court-ordered DNA test, police officials said
One of the suspects in the fatal stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors has told investigators that the 18-year-old victim may have bitten down on an accomplice’s finger, prompting the deadly knife attack.
The accomplice, a 14-year-old boy, was enraged when he was bitten and stabbed Majors, the suspect told investigators, sources told the New York Post.
The accomplice was brought in for questioning after he was picked up by police in the Bronx Thursday.
An unnamed 14-year-old boy (pictured in an image released by the NYPD) allegedly became enraged when he was bitten by Tessa Majors, a Barnard College freshman who was stabbed to death in a Manhattan park on December 11
Tessa Majors (pictured) was fighting for life when she was stabbed to death in a Manhattan park on December 11 during a botched mugging, police said
He was later released pending a court-ordered DNA test, officials said.
The unnamed youth was taken into custody following a two-week search.
Police had been hunting for the suspect since Majors was attacked in Manhattan’s Morningside Park on December 11.
Majors was stabbed while walking in the park just before 7pm – two days before the start of final exams at Barnard, which is an all-women’s school that is part of the Ivy League’s Columbia University.
She staggered up a flight of stairs to street level and collapsed in a crosswalk.
It’s believed the 14-year-old detained Thursday was one of three male juveniles involved in the fatal attack on the college freshman.
The two other teenage boys were present at the time, police said.
One of them, a 13-year-old boy, was arrested December 13 and charged as a juvenile with felony murder.
He told detectives he was at the park with the other youths during the botched mugging, but wasn’t the one who stabbed Majors.
The youth is currently being held in a juvenile detention facility, and investigators are also reportedly in the process of trying to get his DNA.
Meanwhile, a third juvenile suspect was questioned for several hours, also on December 13, but police let him go.
Cops, as they searched for the alleged stabber had made the unusual move of releasing his photo, but not his name, asking for the public’s help in locating the youth.
Cops, as they searched for the suspects after Tessa Major (left) was slain had made the unusual move of releasing photos of the alleged stabber (right), but not his name, asking for the public’s help in locating the youth.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted on Thursday morning that the 14-year-old had been found.
Investigators told the Post that he may have laid low to allow his bitten finger to heal.
‘He must not have had a bite mark’ on his finger when he was taken in, a source familiar with the case said, reports the Post. ‘If he did, that would have been enough corroborating evidence to hold him’.
Harrison said finding the youth ‘was a significant development in the investigative process’.
‘After being taken into custody, his attorneys were present at the 26 precinct for the entire investigative process.
‘Although he has since been released to the custody of his attorneys, the investigation remains very active. Our detectives are the best at what they do and are committed to finding justice for all parties involved’.
A police spokeswoman refused to answer questions about where and how the teen was located.
Pictured are the steps leading out of Morningside Park, where Tessa Majors was stabbed to death on December 11