Christina Formella, Downers Grove, Illinois teacher accused of having sex with 15 year old student kept a Notes app memoir folder on her phone in which she accused the victim of cheating and breaking up with her amid ongoing volatile emotions, telling police upon her arrest the boy was ‘stalking’ her.
The Illinois teacher charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old student allegedly had a ‘memoir’ in her phone’s notes app in which she documented the ups and downs of their torrid love affair, with the educator insisting in one text ‘we should break up until after the wedding.’
Christina Formella, 30, a special education teacher from Downers Grove, Ill., was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of criminal sexual assault against a minor, last month according to authorities.
People wonder: 🤔 Why female school predators do it? & They’re always so pretty. These 3 quotes from the arrest affidavit of Christina Formella will help explain. It’s not about sex! It is about power, narcissism, & the thrill of getting away with it, in plain sight. Comments? pic.twitter.com/ZM3Ezm0Zbh
— Cameron Spradling, Attorney & Counselor at Law (@CamSpradling) April 3, 2025
Downers Grove teacher began to develop feelings for her teen victim
The woman’s case further unravelled in the public eye after police this week released the educator’s diabolical reaction to learning she was being arrested and charged, captured police bodycam footage showed.
‘Oh my God. What the f–k?’ Formella is heard saying, holding her face in her hands. ‘I feel like I’m gonna throw up.’
Her husband none the wiser asks whether he needs to accompany Formella as she is taken into custody following her arrest.
In the newest round of revelations, newly released court documents reveal the educator using a school messaging platform to initiate an illicit relationship with the teen.
The female educator, then 28, according to newly released court documents started sending the 15 year old flirtatious messages on a school messaging platform, along with giving the boy her phone number, ‘so they could play a game together.
Soon after Formella allegedly began sending her alleged teen victim, salacious texts.
The pair allegedly Facetimed each other as they began ‘developing feelings’ (because teen boys are always ready to develop feelings for authority figures in position of power and trust) for one another – until one morning in December 2023 they allegedly had sex in a classroom before school, court documents revealed.
Student and teacher are alleged to have called off their torrid love affair in February 2024, just months before Formella marrying her college sweetheart over the summer and leading up to her arrest last month after the victim’s mother coming across illicit text messages detailing a sexual relationship on her son’s phone.
‘I love you sooooo much baby… Even though this morning was short, it was perfect,’ one of Formella’s alleged texts read, ‘I love having sex with you.’
Christina Formella discovered phone notes memoir: ‘I’m not a second choice. I’m the best thing you’ll ever have’
Following Formella’s arrest, police searched her phone and found what was written in the Notes app, according to a petition to deny pre-trial release obtained by PEOPLE.
In her alleged ‘memoir,’ Formella allegedly wrote that the victim ‘cheated on me’ and called him ‘disgusting,’ apparently referencing the end of the alleged relationship.
‘We will never ever be together again,’ Formella allegedly wrote. ‘I’m not a second choice. I’m the best thing you’ll ever have even with all of my mistakes.’
In a section, titled ‘Manifestations,’ Formella allegedly wrote that she expected the victim to ‘reach out’ soon to ‘try to fix things between us.’
‘In the meantime, I’m going to live my best life knowing he’s not the person I thought he was and that he is beneath me,’ the teacher allegedly wrote.
In another section the educator is alleged to have written, ‘we should break up until after the wedding.’
Teen student victim described as a ‘stalker’
The petition alleges that Formella later denied to detectives that she ever had sex with the victim, claiming, ‘everybody comes after her because she is good looking, and she is just a good person who cared too much about [the victim].’
When confronted about the notes in her phone, Formella allegedly said it was just an outlet for her anxiety and that any references to sexual activity was referring to her husband, according to the petition.
In an interview with police cited in the petition, Formella referred to the victim as a ‘stalker.’
Formella worked in the special services department at Downers Grove South High School since 2020 and coached boys’ and girls’ soccer.
Photos from her wedding — just last summer — show Formella and her college sweetheart, a star baseball player at Concordia University, kissing in a pool surrounded by their loved ones.
