An 18-year-old former high school student from Milford, Connecticut has accepted a plea deal after allegedly stabbing and killing his classmate in 2014 after she rejected his invitation to prom.
Christopher Plaskon, 18, pleaded no contest to the charge that he murdered 16-year-old Maren Sanchez in the first floor hallway of the Jonathan Law High School on April 25, 2014, the day of their junior prom. At the time, local news outlets reported that Plaskon asked Sanchez, who had a boyfriend, to go to prom with him. She told him no, and "he allegedly tried to strangle her, push her down the stairs and stab her in the throat."
Witnesses say they saw Plaskon attack Sanchez and saw him toss a bloody knife; he also allegedly told police, "I did it; just arrest me."
Sanchez was junior class president at the time, as well as an active volunteer in the community, an athete, and a member of the National Honor Society. "She was very well respected and liked," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elizabeth Feser told reporters after the stabbing.
Plaskon had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorneys had been considering an insanity defense, as the teen had been on anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety medications at the time of the stabbing. No contest is not technically a guilty plea, but judges will treat it as such, and the prosecution has recommended Plaskon be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Plaskon has been at the Manson Youth Institute for the last two years, and he will be eligible for parole after 13 years because he has been charged as a juvenile offender.
Sentencing will take place on June 6th.
