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Family of murdered Danvers teacher sues town, school department

DANVERS, Mass. — The family of Colleen Ritzer, a Danvers High School teacher murdered inside the high school in 2013, is suing over her death.

Ritzer, a 24-year-old Andover woman and Danvers High School math teacher, was raped and murdered by a Phillip Chism, a student in her class who is now serving a sentence of 40 years to life.

The suit was filed Tuesday in Essex Country Superior Court against the town of Danvers, the school department, the architectural firm that designed the wing where Ritzer was killed, and the cleaning company whose workers potentially washed away important evidence instead of calling police.

The lawsuit goes through a timeline of the murder, from the rape in the bathroom to Chism taking Ritzer's body to the woods.

"Despite he fact that many of the aforementioned activities were captured by the numerous cameras, inside and outside the building, no one was monitoring the activity on the computer located in the front office," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit asks for compensation to enhance school safety programs and a contribution to nonprofit program in honor of Colleen Ritzer; the Ritzer family isn't asking for any personal financial compensation.

When the cleaning services arrived, an SJ Services employee went into the bathroom where the attack happened and saw the blood, says the lawsuit, describing it as a "slaughter" scene.

The cleaner reported it to a school employee, but there was a language barrier and the DHS employee thought it was blue ink instead of blood, says the lawsuit.

"The DHS employee instructed the SJ Services, Inc's employee to clean the ladies room and no one reported the gruesome scene," says the suit.

The lawsuit asks for a series of questions to be answered:

The lawsuit alleges the firm that designed the school's wing where the murder occurred failed to implement a a system to provide a safe and secure environment. It also says the town and public schools failed their duty of care to keep Colleen safe.

In a statement, the town told FOX25 that "Colleen’s death was a tragedy for the whole community and our hearts continue to go out to the Ritzer family.  We respect the legal process that the family is pursuing.  As this is now a matter of pending litigation, we will have no further comment.  Thank you for understanding.”

The lawsuit asks for a trial by jury.