Tessa Majors Murder Latest: One Teen Charged, Another Released

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY —A 14 year old who was being questioned in connection with the murder of Barnard College freshman, Tessa Majors, has been released. Officials tell Patch that the teen was allowed to go on Saturday.

A 13 year old still in custody, is charged as a juvenile with Majors murder in Morningside Park on Wednesday.

Police picked up the second teen based on information from the 13 year old.

Officials say that the 13 year old was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon after police spotted him nearby wearing clothes matching a description provided by witnesses. The teen had a knife on him though police have not said if it was the knife used in the attack.

With a family member with him as police questioned him, the teen told how he'd been there as Majors was killed. Officials say that while he admitted having handled the knife , he said that he did not participate in the stabbing.

On Saturday, officers continued their search in the park for the evidence. They were also still trying to track down the second person identified by the teen.

Charges against the teen, who, at this point, is being prosecuted in family court because of his age, include second-degree felony murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison announced one arrest in the case Friday, but did not state the suspect's age or charges against them. Harrison described the investigation as active and ongoing.

Majors was walking through Morningside Park, blocks away from the Barnard and Columbia University campuses, on Wednesday night when she was stabbed multiple times, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said. She was able to stagger to a nearby Columbia security post, where the guard on duty rushed to her aid and called police, Harrison said.

Police had said two minors were being questioned Thursday in the 26th Precinct.

"Tessa was just beginning her journey at Barnard and in life," Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock said in a statement. "We mourn this devastating murder of an extraordinary young woman and member of our community."

Beilock described the killing as an "unthinkable tragedy that has shaken us to our core," and added that the school reached out to Majors' family. Her parents were making the trip from Charlottesville, Virginia, to New York City after speaking with Barnard officials, the school announced.

Majors' family released a statement Thursday through the publisher for her father, Inman Majors, a novelist and professor at James Madison University.

"We lost a very special, very talented, and very well-loved young woman. Tess shone bright in this world, and our hearts will never be the same," the family statement said.

Patch's Colin Miner contributed reporting to this story.