Police are seeking a search warrant to get access to Phillip Chism's phone where they believe he may have stored video, photographs or audio of the rape of Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer, the Associated Press reported.
Chism, 15, will be arraigned on Thursday in Salem after pleading not guilty to aggravated rape charges in the death of Ritzer last October, according to the AP.
Chism was accused of killing and raping Ritzer after she asked him to stay after school for academic help, the AP reported. Chism was indicted on Friday by an Essex County grand jury on a second count of aggravated rape and for forcibly having sexual intercourse with Ritzer's dead body, though he denies any sexual assault.
State Trooper Steven Buccheri filed a search warrant affidavit on Friday in the Salem Superior Court for access to Chism's cellphone after Chism admitted to killing Ritzer but denied any type of sexual assault on her body, according to the AP.
During the interview, Chism was accompanied by his mother and "waived his Miranda rights and agreed to talk" and admitted to killing his teacher, the AP reported. Investigators had not yet found Ritzer's body in the woods located behind the school, the AP reported.
"Chism admitted murdering Colleen Ritzer. During the course of the interview Chism denied having committed a sexual assault or any sexual touching of Ritzer whatsoever," Buccheri wrote in the affidavit, according to the AP.
It because of his not guilty stance that Buccheri want to search Chrism's phone because he believes evidence of the rape and murder may be found on the device, based on his past experience, the AP reported.
"Based on my training and experience and the experiences of others that assisted in the investigation ... I know that it is not unusual for individuals involved in homicides, particularly sexually violent homicides, to memorialize their victims' deaths through photographic, audio and or video media for further humiliation of the victim or later viewing, for guilt relief or for enjoyment," Buccheri wrote, according to the AP.
Buccheri previously asked Chism about his cellphone, but the teen said he destroyed his phone and Ritzer's and through it in a wooded area because he was afraid police would use the GPS signal to find him, the AP reported.
"I destroyed them so that you would be unable to locate or track me due to the GPS capabilities of the phone," Chism said, according to the affidavit, the AP reported.
According to Buccheri it is likely Chism destroyed the phone "in order to hide incriminating evidence contained on it" because "it is widely understood that GPS may be disabled without destruction of the phone itself," according to the AP.
Besides the murder chargers, Chism was also charged with aggravated rape after admitting to have sexually assaulted Ritzer with a stick, although he now states he did not commit any type of sexual assault on Ritzer's body, the AP reported.
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