Tess Damm Faces Up To 25 Years

BOULDER A Lafayette teenager whose troubled relationship with her mother ended in a grisly murder and cover-up that ensnared four young lives pleaded guilty Monday to charges that could keep her in prison into her 40s.

Dressed in black with her long, blond hair down, Tess Damm fidgeted in court Monday and whispered "guilty" to murder charges in connection with the 2007 stabbing death of her mother, Linda Damm.

The plea agreement reached in the case could keep the 16-year-old behind bars up to 25 years.

"We think this is a good deal," said one of Tess Damm's uncles, Dennis Comeau.

Comeau was in court along with Linda Damm's brother, John Schueller, and a few of the teenager's friends. One girl waved at Tess Damm as she was being led out of the courtroom, her feet shackled but her hands free.

The gesture brought a grin to Tess Damm's face.

"You made her smile," another friend said.

Moments earlier, Tess Damm pleaded guilty, as a juvenile, to second-degree murder and, as an adult, to solicitation to commit second-degree murder.

Rocky Mountain News