Honor Student Stabbed Dead in Her Own School; Is "Prom Killer" Set to Walk Free? CNN Hero Helps Ex-Offenders Get Back on Track
GRACE: Prom season approaching all over America, but not for gorgeous 16- year-old Maren of Jonathan Law High. This honor student girl stabbed dead in the hallway of her very own suburban high school. By whom? Her would-be junior prom date, angry, because she says no to the prom. In the last hours, a sweetheart deal? Is the so-called prom killer set to walk free and did this teen girl victim warn the school before her murder and they did nothing?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say high school junior, Maren Sanchez, was attacked by a classmate. She was slashed in the neck, chest and face. They say the attack happened at a stairwell at her school around 7:00 in the morning.</s>GRACE: Straight to Steve Kalb, reporter with the Connecticut Radio Network. Steve, thank you for being with us. Could we start at the beginning? What happened?</s>STEVE KALB, CONNECTICUT RADIO NETWORK REPORTER: The report goes like this. Apparently, it was Christopher who asked Maren if he could take her to the prom. She said no. He was upset, came back and -- it was the next day -- and slashed her and stabbed her and killed her. Then, went to the school and said -- was asked and said, I did it, arrest me.</s>GRACE: Everybody, you are seeing shots of this young girl, this teen girl, honor student who turned down an invitation to the prom. Tonight, we are learning not only is there a sweetheart deal in the works for this guy, could essentially walk free in less than half the time the law calls for. But not only that, did she tell a guidance counselor that she was afraid of him, that he`d been acting erratically and was focusing a lot of his anger on her? And they did nothing? Steve, joining us from Connecticut Network, what do we know about that?</s>KALB: What we know is that she informed the school that, in fact, she was concerned. The school is now one of those being sued in a complaint because they told his parents, they told Christopher`s parents, the guidance counselor did, but didn`t do anything else. Christopher was out of school for a week, and then came back. And apparently all of the checks that were supposed to be in place to ensure that nothing happen to her, at least from the appearances at this point, fell through.</s>GRACE: Stunned. I mean, you take your child to school, you watch them go in the door, you assume they are safe. And here, this little girl had told the school she was afraid of Plaskon, afraid of telling him no. and they did nothing? And she is stabbed dead, a bloody death, lying in a pool of blood right there in the school hallway? This is what her family says.</s>EDWARD KOVAC, MAREN SANCHEZ`S COUSIN: Maren should be celebrating at her prom this evening with her friends and classmates. Instead, we are mourning her death and we are trying as a community to understand the senseless loss of life.</s>ELIZABETH FESER, MILFORD SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS: Vibrant, very, very involved in Jonathan Law High School, an incredible contributor, someone who is loved and respected by both her peers as well as her students.</s>GRACE: To Joseph Scott Morgan joining us tonight, Certified Death Investigator, Professor of Forensics at Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, you have studied the injuries and the mortal knife wounds to her. What did you learn?</s>JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR, PROFESSOR OF FORENSICS AT JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY: This is a slashing, Nancy. This is an excruciatingly painful, painful death where she was left to bleed out in a stairwell. She`s slashed across the surfaces of her face, the anterior neck and also her chest as well. She essentially bled to death, exsanguinated. This is not a quick death. She would have been left to lay there and essentially, the life just leeched out of her body, in this environment which our children are supposed to be safe.</s>GRACE: Justin Freiman, help me understand why he is getting to plead Alford. In other words, he has gone into court, Justin, and he is neither confirming nor denying that he did this thing, and the judge is considering sentencing him to less than half of what he could get on this. Let me tell you something. Justin, it would be a cold day in H-E-double L, that I would take an Alford Plea, and I`ll tell you why, Justin. Because later on, when you want to use that guilty plea to a similar transaction, there`s no record that they ever said under oath, I did it. I plead guilty to it. What they do, Justin, is they go in court and they go, I neither admit nor deny that I did it, but I will accept a sentence. That`s what they do. It`s the easy way out. Once in awhile you have to do it but it`s not a good idea. So not only is this Plaskon guy not ever having to admit he did anything wrong, he`s showing no remorse whatsoever, he`s going to get less than half the time behind bars that he could get? Is that what the judge is really thinking of?</s>JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right, Nancy, and you are correct. All he does is say, I`m not going to fight the charges. So that`s it. What they`re asking for -- the prosecution is supposed to be asking for 25 years behind bars, which is the very low end. But, with the time he`s already served, which is about two years and only having to serve there about 60 percent before coming up for parole, he could actually be out in as little as 13 years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say this boy, Christopher Plaskon, a former boyfriend, viciously stabbed the beloved high school student to death in front of students in the school hallway, all because she allegedly turned him down to be his date to the junior prom. It`s 7:15 a.m., Jonathan Law High School, kids pouring into the halls. Our affiliate, WTIC, reports court records reveal Plaskon was bitter after being jilted by Maren. His friends telling cops he was fuming and wanted her to pay, reportedly saying he wouldn`t mind if Maren was dead or hit by a bus.</s>GRACE: That is from "Crime Watch Daily".