A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in the stabbing death of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors in New York City, police and prosecutors said Saturday.
The boy faces two counts of murder in the second degree—one for intentional murder, the other for felony murder committed during a robbery, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance told reporters. He's also charged with four robbery counts.
The boy was arrested without incident at a Harlem housing project Friday night, police said.
Majors, 18, was walking in Manhattan's Morningside Park near Barnard College on Dec. 11 when she was attacked, NYPD said. She was a freshman at the college.
"Sadly, it cannot bring back this young woman, this student, this victim," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said of the arrest. "That is something even the best most impartial investigation simply cannot do. What we can do is say that we are confident we have the person in custody who stabbed her."
Vance said the criminal complaint includes "substantial blood analysis," smartphone and video evidence and a recorded statement from the defendant.
"It paints a gruesome picture of what this young woman endured in her final moments," he said. "As alleged, some of the last words she was known to have said were, 'Help me. I'm being robbed.'"
The defendant has been remanded into custody and will be arraigned Feb. 19, Vance said. He is being charged as an adult.
Shea said authorities had been in touch with the Majors family.
"Sadly, there is no comfort that we can give them and for that, we are sorry," he said.