A teenager who fatally stabbed an 83-year-old retired kindergarten teacher in Pickering, Ont., in 2025 has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Eleanor Doney was found with stab wounds outside a home on Lynn Heights Drive and Fairport Road in May of last year. 

The teen, who was 14 at the time of the offence and cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, pleaded guilty Thursday.

Doney’s family expressed gratitude for an “outpouring of love and support” in the wake of her death.

In a social media post Friday, Durham police Chief Peter Moreira called the incident a “senseless murder” that “devastated” the victim’s family, the officers who responded to the scene and all of Pickering.

“The brutality and gratuitous nature of this crime — captured on video — is shocking, and it underscores the dangerous influence that online platforms can have on young people,” Moreira said. 

“It also raises serious questions about the responsibility of those who knew what was going to happen and failed to act.”

A sentencing decision is expected in July.

WATCH | Residents remember Doney in aftermath of stabbing:

‘You wouldn’t find a better person’: Pickering community mourns elderly woman killed in stabbing

Community members placed flowers outside the home where an elderly woman was allegedly killed by a 14-year-old boy in Pickering on Thursday. CBC’s Talia Ricci explains what we know about the retired teacher.