Suspect In Prom Stabbing Described As "Funnier Than Hell" And "Depressed"

Friends, classmates and family members have all begun speaking out about the 16-year-old Connecticut high school student accused of fatally stabbing a teenage girl after she reportedly rejected his prom proposal. Suspect Chris Plaskon has been charged with the murder of classmate Maren Sanchez, who was stabbed just before 7 a.m. Friday at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Connecticut. "They’re looking for the kid in the black cape and the fangs and the black fingernails, but there was no sign," Mark Robinson, who was Plaskon’s football coach, told the Times. "He wasn’t a kid who was in the shadows. He was a well-liked kid. He was funnier than hell. That’s what makes it really strange."

Others disagree, and say Plaskon was a troubled, depressed teen: "He just wasn't right. I know his cousin. He didn't act right," 16-year-old Seamus O’Reilly told the Daily Mail. "He had depression." Tyler Curtin, who played on the football team with Plaskon, said he believed Plaskon struggled with mental illness, including cutting himself. "He had ADHD and took strong medicine for it and had other things, too," he told the Daily Mail, adding that Plaskon may have tried to kill himself last year.

Many other classmates say Plaskon was a class clown always looking to make others laugh: "Chris was always funny and happy. He made everyone laugh," 16-year-old Mick Murray told the Post. "He was always kind of weird, but nothing that made me think he would do this." "He seems like a nice guy, but he’s the class clown,” added Sanchez’s best friend, Imani Langson, about Plaskon. "Then, out of nowhere, he snaps and kills her. It’s obvious that he was planning this."

"He was an all-American kid, the kind of kid you’d want your kids hanging around," Gail Wells, the mother of a student who has known the Plaskon family for years, told the Times.

"I’m mortified that he did this," 17-year-old Emma Grace, a friend of Sanchez, told the News. "Chris was somebody I would never imagine doing this at all. I always thought higher of him. Chris was always someone that was very into sports, nice, friendly, had a lot of friends."

According to his lawyer, Plaskon will be held in a psych ward for at least two weeks; his arraignment is scheduled for Monday, and he will not appear at it. The lawyer added that he expects Plaskon will face a murder charge as an adult offender.