CAYUGA HEIGHTS, N.Y. — A 20-year old man is charged with stabbing high school student Breanne Keane, 19, to death in Cayuga Heights.
Damien Stewart was charged with second-degree murder and is being held at Tompkins County Jail.
Cayuga Heights Police Chief Jerry Wright Wright identified Stewart as the sole suspect in a news release Monday. He said the investigation is ongoing.
A charge of second-degree murder typically alleges that a killing was intentional but no planned in advance.
Wright said police responded to a stabbing incident at approximately 2 p.m. on May 23 at 709 Triphammer Road in the Village of Cayuga Heights. Keane succumbed to her injuries while she was being transported to a local trauma center, according to police.
Keane was set to graduate from Lehman Alternative Community School in June, according to her father, Matt Keane.
He identified his daughter as the victim of the stabbing to Syracuse.com on May 25. He told the outlet that his daughter and him had a brief phone call at about 1:20 p.m. on May 23 in which she said she had a friend over. He said he did not understand why anyone would harm his daughter.
Keane had her own apartment, which was provided by the Learning Web, a nonprofit in Ithaca that aims to support young adults in becoming productive and self-sufficient. Keane’s father said she split time between Ithaca, where he lives, and Syracuse, where Keane’s mother lives.
Keane’s father posted on social media on May 24 that his daughter was going to graduate from Lehman Alternative Community School in June, and was planning to attend Tompkins Cortland Community College. He wrote that she loved animals, and wanted to study canine training at SUNY Cobleskill.
