Fund-raiser started for teacher found dead in Chesco pond

The preschool teacher found dead and chained to a cinder block in a Chester County pond this week had started a new job in April.

Ryan Stevyn Benjamin especially enjoyed working with children who struggled. She was fluent in Spanish and sign language, and as a child and young adult, she traveled to China, Brazil, and Argentina with her mother. Her friends and family said she was humble and caring.

Christine Dragan, executive director of Warwick Child Care Center Inc., said Benjamin was an intelligent woman who "found her passion working with young children."

Dragan started an online fund-raiser on GoFundMe on Friday to help Benjamin's family with funeral expenses.

Benjamin, 24, joined the staff at Warwick in South Coventry two months ago, a school official confirmed Friday.

"She was employed a short time, but she was really well-liked by her coworkers, the families, and the children in her care," said Tara Mathias, a human resources director for the company. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family and loved ones during this difficult time."

Prosecutors offered no new information about the young woman's death or how she ended up Monday in a pond in Pigeon Creek in East Coventry Township. They have said her body, chained to the cinder block, showed no signs of gunshot wounds, blunt-force trauma, or strangulation.

Cheryl Cutillo, 57, told the Reading Eagle that the victim had lived with her in East Vincent Township. Cutillo said she is a close friend of Benjamin's mother, Annette.

Pulling into her driveway, Cutillo said, she became emotional when she parked her car next to Benjamin's red car Thursday evening.

"When I see her car, it makes me so upset," Cutillo told the paper. "Then, when I go inside the house, I see her sneakers by the door. I am just so nauseous."

Benjamin had a bachelor's degree in elementary and early childhood education from Juniata College, according to the Chester County District Attorney's Office.

Her body was discovered after police received a report of a body in the pond off Zieber Road, in a rural and isolated area, around 11:15 a.m. Monday.

Children had been swimming in the pond Sunday afternoon, so prosecutors said someone must have dumped her body in the interim.

mbond@philly.com

610-313-8207@MichaelleBond