Perth teen pleads guilty to murdering 15-year-old in woods

Ottawa·NewA Perth, Ont., youth charged with murdering another teen in the small eastern Ontario town last year recently pleaded guilty in court. Reese Stanzel was stabbed, beaten and left to die, court hearsCBC News · Posted: Dec 13, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Reese Stanzel, 15, was found dead in the woods of Perth, Ont., on Oct. 25, 2024. A teen girl has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Stanzel’s death. (Facebook)A teen girl charged with murdering another teen in the small eastern Ontario town of Perth, Ont., last year has pleaded guilty in court. The girl, who can’t be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged in the October 2024 death of 15-year-old Reese Stanzel. She was initially accused of second-degree murder but the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder.According to an agreed statement of facts read out in Ontario Superior Court of Justice late last month, the girl formed a plan to kill Stanzel and led him to the town’s woods on the afternoon of Oct. 25, 2024.The girl struck Stanzel with a baseball bat, stabbed him with a hunting knife and fled. Stanzel died as a result of his wounds, “his body left alone among the fallen leaves,” according to the statement. “I hit his head. I killed him,” the girl wrote in a note later recovered from her home. She had also confessed to the murder upon her arrest by Ontario Provincial Police officers and told them where to find Stanzel’s body. When she was re-arrested under the upgraded first-degree murder charge, “[she] expressed empathy for the victim’s family, stating that she felt remorse,” court heard. The Crown intends to seek an adult sentence in the case, which is due back in court for sentencing submissions on Feb. 27.With files from Kristy Nease