Officials: Teen arrested in killing of college student Tessa Majors

A 14-year-old has been arrested and jailed in the stabbing death of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors during a robbery last year near campus, the NYPD said Saturday.

The teen, Rashaun Weaver, was detained at 10:30 Friday night in a lobby of the Taft housing projects, according to the NYPD. Charges include intentional murder and felony murder, which is when someone dies in the course of certain crimes such as robbery, rape and arson. 

“He is charged as an adult,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. at a news conference Saturday at NYPD headquarters.

Weaver was arraigned Saturday and is to be held at a juvenile detention facility, Vance said.

Reached after court proceedings, the teen's lawyer, Elsie Chandler of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, declined to comment. She referred inquiries to the service's spokesman, Sam McCann, who did not return a message.

Evidence against Weaver includes DNA, files from Weaver's iCloud account, videos and Weaver's own statement, Vance said. 

According to a felony complaint against Weaver, one of the three robbers cursed and said, "Gimme your phone" and demanded marijuana from her.

The complaint says video shows that the group had apparently just cased other people in the moments before the robbery of Majors. 

Majors, 18, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was stabbed repeatedly Dec. 11 as she tried to resist her attackers during the robbery, near Morningside Park in Manhattan, the NYPD has said. The stabbing happened the night before final exams and less than a 10-minute walk from the Barnard campus.

Vance said the complaint “paints a gruesome picture of what this young woman endured in her final moments.” 

Among Majors' last words, according to the complaint, were, "Help me, I'm being robbed." The complaint says that Majors sustained multiple stab wounds to the torso, including one that pierced her heart.

The complaint, based on a sworn statement from the NYPD's Det. Vincent Signoretti, alleges that Weaver's DNA matched material found in one of Majors' fingernail clippings. The teen was identified using surveillance video near the park and the housing project where he lives, according to the complaint.

Weaver is also heard on an audio recording saying he was in the park, tried to take the young woman’s phone, but “she was hanging onto her phone” and that he used the knife on her, according to the complaint. The complaint does not provide the source of the recording.

“We are confident that we are delivering a measure of justice,” New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the news conference, adding: “Sadly, it cannot bring back this young woman, this student, this victim.”

A 13-year-old previously has been charged as a juvenile in Majors' killing. Three teens had been suspected of being involved, according to police, and another remains uncharged.

Vance said Weaver was jailed without bail by the judge, heeding the request by the prosecution, which Vance said noted that the teen had previously tried to hide out during the investigation. Weaver is also charged with robbery.

He was identified by the victim of a previous robbery, committed several days before Majors’, in which he and two others stole the victim’s iPhone XR at knifepoint — and then Weaver logged into his own iCloud account about five hours afterward, according to the complaint, which says that Weaver wore the same navy blue jacket with white and red stripes to both robberies.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.