Threatening lists are found; Methuen teen faces charges
Friends describe her as well-liked
LAWRENCE -- The two lists were found a day apart last month in the boys' and girls' bathrooms in Central Catholic High School. On one, the names of 10 boys, on the other, nine girls. Next to each name were words such as "kill," "dismember," or "torcher" (sic).
Yesterday, Katie Koontz, a 17-year-old from Methuen who is a junior at the high school, was charged with threatening to commit murder and bodily harm. Her own name was on the list of girls threatened. She has denied knowing anything about the notes, according to a police report.
Friends and students defended her yesterday, painting another portrait of Koontz as a well-liked young woman who was active in track, volleyball, and basketball at Central Catholic.
"She has friends. She's not like a loner," said Billy Alcott, a 16-year-old freshman, "not like that kid from Virginia Tech."
"Katie is cool," said junior Sebastian Mejia, who is a friend of Koontz and also of several of the students on the list. "She really is the nicest person in the world."
The charges against Koontz highlight the difficult task facing school officials and law enforcement officials as they try to ensure school safety while also guarding against overreacting. The debate has only intensified in the aftermath of last week's slayings at Virginia Tech.
Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero said in a telephone interview that he had no evidence to indicate Koontz had taken any action to carry out the threats and no weapons were found at her house, but parents of the students named on the lists were frightened after they were alerted by school officials. Several called the Police Department expressing concern. While the department's investigation began before the killings in Virginia, Romero said, police have been more cautious in the years after the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, in which 15 people died.
"There is a lot of emotion, a lot of fear," he said. "You want to say this is nothing, but you just can't dismiss it."
Koontz is no longer at Central Catholic, according to school officials, who yesterday would not say whether she was expelled or left voluntarily. She was released on $45 bail Monday after she turned herself in to police shortly after she learned a warrant was out for her arrest.
Yesterday, she pleaded not guilty in Lawrence District Court to two counts of threatening to commit murder and two counts of threatening to commit bodily harm.
Police are also investigating whether Koontz created a MySpace.com web page under the tag, "cchs killa" where threats against several of the students were posted.
Koontz, who wore a white button-down shirt and khakis at yesterday's arraignment, appeared tired and frightened. Minutes before her hearing, she sat on a bench in the probation department office, sobbing as a woman who had come with her comforted her, stroking her hair and speaking softly to her.
Koontz, who has no prior record, was released after she agreed to stay away from the students on the lists, to refrain from using the Internet, and to continue undergoing counseling. She is scheduled to return to court June 1. The teen did not speak to reporters, and a man who answered the phone at a number listed for the Koontz residence declined to comment last night.
School principal David M. DeFillipo also would not comment yesterday as he stood outside the school and handed out copies of a letter he sent to parents yesterday.
"I want to emphasize that the safety of our students, faculty and staff are of the highest priority and that all aspects of our investigation and our response have been with this issue in mind," the letter read.
Police began their investigation March 30, a day after students were informed about the lists in a school assembly and two days after the first note was found in a boys' bathroom, folded in two and wedged behind a mirror, according to court documents. The note with the girls' names -- including that of Koontz -- was found the next day, in a bathroom adjacent to the boys' room. At the bottom of that list of names, "Enjoy the last days of life" was written in pencil.
On April 2, police received calls from several parents of the threatened students about a MySpace.com website listing the names and featuring the photos of almost all the nine girls threatened in the note, including Koontz.
Beneath the names was a poem threatening to kick or beat the girls. "This isn't school. This is life. Think it's a sick prank. Think Twice."
According to court documents, Koontz's mother, Mary, invited police on April 3 to the family's house in Methuen, where Koontz admitted making the MySpace page and sending a link to it to a friend. But she denied making threats on the page and said the photos and poem did not appear on the page until after she sent the link to her friend. According to court documents, Mary Koontz implored her daughter to tell police who had posted the threats but she refused.
When her mother told her to tell police about the threatening notes left in the bathrooms, Koontz said, "I don't know anything about the notes," according to the documents.
Police took Koontz's laptop and the laptop of her friend for analysis. On April 4, they compared samples of Koontz's handwriting to the handwriting in the notes and found strong similarities, the documents said. In addition, a computer analysis showed that Koontz's friend had not opened the MySpace page, Romero said.
"We have no evidence at this point to point to anyone else but this one individual," he said.
Mejia, the junior who defended Koontz, said she is close friends with many of the people on the list and would never threaten anyone.
Jack Levin, Northeastern University professor and director of the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict, said police and school officials typically react strongly to threats in a post-Columbine world.
"The problem is that there are a lot of students who threaten, who make idle threats," he said. "Most of those young people who kill their classmates never threaten anybody, and most students who threaten never follow through. But it's understandable . . . that principals, superintendents, and police officers would be especially sensitive to threats."
Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 