On December 11, 2019, Charlottesville native and Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors, 18, was stabbed to death.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Murder of Tessa Majors

Coordinates: 40.8057°N 73.9594°W


Undated photo of Tessa Majors

Location: Morningside Park, New York City, New York, U.S.
Coordinates: 40.8057°N 73.9594°W
Date: December 11, 2019; c. 5:30 p.m. (EST)
Attack type: Murder by stabbing, robbery
Weapon: Knife
Victim: Tessa Rane Majors

The murder of Tessa Majors occurred near Morningside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on December 11, 2019. Majors, an eighteen-year-old student at Barnard College, was attacked and stabbed by three teenagers as part of a robbery. Majors was discovered collapsed and bleeding on a staircase exiting Morningside Park and transported to a nearby hospital, ultimately succumbing to the injuries.

One of the suspects, a thirteen-year-old, was arrested the following day and charged with felony murder. Two months later, two fourteen-year-old suspects, Luchiano Lewis (born February 22, 2005) and Rashaun Weaver (born April 3, 2005), both residents of New York City, were also charged with murder. On June 3, 2020, the 13-year-old (since turned 14) pleaded guilty in family court to robbery in the first degree. On September 21, 2021, Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. In December 2021, Weaver pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and second-degree robbery. The 13-year-old was sentenced to 18 months of detention at Horizon Correctional Center in the Bronx, while Lewis was sentenced to nine years to life in prison, and Weaver was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison.

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Victim
Tessa Rane Majors (May 11, 2001 – December 11, 2019), also known as Tess, was from Charlottesville, Virginia. Majors graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield School in May 2019, and was a first-semester freshman at Barnard College, a private all-women's school in Manhattan. Majors sang and played bass in a band, Patient 0, which had recently released an album. The band had played its first gig in New York City that fall and was scheduled to play two more shows in Charlottesville during winter break. Majors also led the creative writing club in high school, ran cross-country, and volunteered on political campaigns. An intern at the Augusta Free Press during the spring of 2019, Majors had an interest in journalism and planned to study journalism in college. Majors' father is an English professor at James Madison University, and the author of six books.

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Thu Oct 14, 2021: Teen sentenced to maximum for killing of Barnard student Tessa Majors, parents speak on their grief

Fri Dec 13, 2019: 13-year-old charged in fatal stabbing of Barnard student; others sought

[Bread and Circuses]

1. Condolences for the family

There is no greater sadness than the loss of a child. That three young teens decided to rob and murder another is tragic.