Crime

3rd Teenager Pleads Guilty in Fatal Stabbing of Barnard College Student Tessa Majors in New York City Park

Rashaun Weaver, now 16, admitted to stabbing Tessa Majors while one of his friends held her in a headlock two years ago in Manhattan’s Morningside Park

By KC Baker

Published on December 17, 2021 01:12 PM

The New York City teenager who fatally stabbed Barnard student Tessa Majors in the shadow of Columbia University two years ago pleaded guilty to murder and robbery Thursday, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office tells PEOPLE.

Rashaun Weaver, who was a 14-year-old middle school student at the time, admitted to stabbing Majors in Manhattan's Morningside Park while his then-14-year-old friend held her in a headlock while trying to steal her phone.

Weaver, now 16, is the last of the three suspects who were arrested and charged in connection with the slaying of the 18-year-old college freshman.

Weaver pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office tells PEOPLE.

During the attack, Weaver stabbed Majors in the heart, prosecutors said, The New York Times reports.

Rashaun Weaver. Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

After the stabbing, the teens fled as Majors stumbled up the stone staircase, collapsing on the street at the top of the stairs on the edge of the Barnard College and Columbia University campuses.

As part of his plea agreement with prosecutors, Weaver pleaded guilty to two similar robberies, The New York Times reports.

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Charged as an adult, Weaver faces 14 years to life in prison for the three crimes and will be sentenced on Jan. 19, 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office spokesperson says.

"It is clear, your honor, that no sentence or outcome will bring back Tessa Majors," prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos said in court, The New York Times reports.

Pleading guilty "will save the Majors family from the trauma of a trial, and that counts for something," he said.

Weaver's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

In court, Lichtman described his client as "deeply remorseful," NBC News and the Associated Press report.

In September, the second of the suspects, Luchiano Lewis, now 16, who was also charged as an adult, pleaded guilty to murder and robbery.

In his allocution, Lewis admitted to being a part of a group of three boys that robbed people after school but said he didn't attack Majors himself and didn't realize she'd been stabbed, according to a summary of his statement previously provided by the DA's office.

He was sentenced to nine years to life in prison.

A third boy, who was 13 at the time of the slaying, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile facility. (PEOPLE is not naming the boy, who was charged as a juvenile.)

Majors was a talented musician who played bass guitar and wanted to pursue a career in journalism.

Tessa Majors, playing in her band, Patient 0. Tess Majors/Instagram

Chris Graham, the editor of the Augusta Free Press in Virginia, where Majors had an internship, told PEOPLE in 2020 that Majors was "a natural journalist" who used the platform to help people, including writing a story on someone creating an app to help people with disabilities.

"It's not fair that her life was snuffed out so senselessly," he said. "The tragedy beyond comprehension is that we will never know what she would have gone on to do."

Graham added, "She was going to make the world a better place. She already was making the world a better place."