NYPD: 14-year-old charged with stabbing death of Tessa Majors

NEW YORK - On Saturday the NYPD announced the arrest of a 14-year-old boy in the fatal stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors in a park during a robbery in December.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance described Tessa Majors’ struggle to get away from three teenage boys who robbed her at knifepoint in Morningside Park on December 11. During a struggle, she scratched at least one of the teenagers, authorities say his DNA was found underneath her fingernails. 

The 14-year-old boy has been indicted by a grand jury and was taken into custody Friday night without incident, New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference. He has been charged with second-degree murder and robbery.

“We are confident that we have the person in custody who stabbed her,” Shea said. “And that person will face justice in a court of law.”

Although the 14-year-old is being charged as an adult, FOX 5 NY is not showing his face or using his name due to his age. Another 13-year-old boy was also charged I December I connection to the murder. His case is being handled in family court. 

Majors, of Charlottesville, Virginia, played in a rock band and had told an editor from a newspaper internship in high school that she planned to take journalism classes in college.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.