Boy Pleads Guilty To Murder Of Tessa Majors In Morningside Park

HARLEM, NY — A teenage boy pleaded guilty on Tuesday for his role in the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Tessa Majors in Morningside Park nearly two years ago.

Luchiano Lewis, 16, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery for participating in the attack on Dec. 11, 2019, which killed Majors, a first-year student at Barnard College.

Lewis, who was arrested in February 2020, was charged as an adult alongside his classmate Rashaun Weaver, who is accused of stabbing Majors as she fought off the attempted robbery. Weaver pleaded not guilty to murder last year.

Lewis told a judge on Tuesday that Weaver had invited him to come to the park that night along with a third middle-school classmate. The trio had gone to Morningside Park three times beforehand, but only got as far as threatening one man, he said.

The boy said he was unaware that Majors had been stabbed at all that night, though he noticed feathers flying out of her down jacket.

"The next morning, I heard there was a murder in the Park," Lewis said, according to a prepared statement. "I looked up the story on a phone and saw a photo of the dead girl and I realized it was the girl we had robbed."

Lewis will be sentenced on Oct. 14, the Daily News reported. A third defendant, not identified because he was charged as a minor, was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile custody last year.

Majors's death sent shockwaves through the neighborhood, instilling safety fears and stoking concern that the murder would worsen relations between predominantly Black Harlem and whiter, more affluent Morningside Heights.

Earlier this summer, the city secured funding for a new set of security cameras that will be installed in the park. Leaders told Patch that the park has grown safer in recent months after a rise in crime that preceded Majors's death.

Related coverage: Cameras Coming To Morningside Park, Over A Year After Murder