A 16-year-old female student was stabbed to death by a 16-year-old male student at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn., some hours before the school’s junior prom.
Christopher Plaskon was arraigned Tuesday, accused of fatally stabbing Maren Sanchez inside the high school just after 7 a.m. Friday. Plaskon has been charged with murder, and will be tried as an adult.
Plaskon was seen with blood on his hands and clothing following the stabbing, police said. “I did it. Just arrest me,” he said, according to police paperwork released Tuesday.
Milford Police Chief Keith Mello said the assault happened about 7:15 a.m. A staff member witnessed part of the assault, he said, and tried to help, attempting to perform life-saving measures on Sanchez.
EMS personnel soon arrived to take Sanchez to Bridgeport Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:43 a.m., Mello said. Police said that Sanchez suffered multiple cuts to her neck, chest and face.
The decision was made to release students shortly after the stabbing occurred, as Jonathan Law High School let classes out early to allow police to investigate. Investigators recovered a knife at the scene, and police have executed a search warrant for the suspect’s house.
Police are investigating whether or not the suspect had wanted to take Sanchez to the prom Friday evening, and the assault was connected to the dance. Milford Superintendent Elizabeth Feser announced in a press conference that the school was postponing the prom to a later date.
Feser said Jonathan Law is “devastated by the loss of one of our students,” a teen she described as an athlete and a member of the National Honor Society. She called Sanchez “vibrant” and “an incredible contributor, someone who was respected.”
About 200 people turned out for a memorial Friday night at Walnut Beach in Milford, releasing balloons with the message, “Love you, Maren,” written on them, calling out words that described the teen, and even dressing up in their prom dresses and tuxedos, carrying what would have been Sanchez’s green prom dress.
