NEW YORK _ The father of slain Barnard student Tessa Majors came face-to-face with one of her accused killers in a Manhattan courtroom during a long pretrial hearing Tuesday.
Novelist Inman Majors stared intently at the 13-year-old stabbing suspect, who is accused of playing a part in the December murder of the Virginia freshman who was killed in a park near the campus.
The teen avoided the grieving dad's gaze, swearing to tell the truth in a voice that was barely audible. He yawned and stretched at times during the three-hour hearing, but managed to follow along.
Majors sighed and closed his eyes at times. He wore a blue and red bracelet with Tessa's full name on it in lettered beads.
During the hearing, lawyers discussed several pieces of video evidence that will be submitted when the case goes to trial.
Prosecutors said Majors, a Barnard College freshman, was killed Dec. 11 after her evening jog through Morningside Park was interrupted by several young roving marauders looking for an easy score.
Majors tried to fight off her attackers on a set of steps in the park near Morningside Drive and even bit one of them on the finger, an NYPD detective testified.
The 5-foot-5 suspect _ five years younger than the victim _ admitted his role in her death, according to police, but pinned the actual stabbing on one of his middle school buddies.
The teen was arrested by police who said they saw him lurking in a nearby building. Officer Randy Ramos Luna said the boy was wearing clothes, including red sneakers, that matched the description of one of the suspects captured on camera.
"He said he was inside the vestibule getting warm," Luna said, after claiming he was visiting a relative. "That raised my suspicions."
The boy is charged with murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
The random murder of the promising student from Charlottesville, Va., who played in a band with her high school buddies, put the college campus and neighboring Harlem community on edge.
