Downers Grove South teacher accused of sexually abusing teen kept ‘memoir’ on her phone, authorities say

The Downers Grove South High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a student wrote what police called a “memoir” about the matter on her phone.

Portions were cited in the request from prosecutors to detain Christina Formella, 30, pretrial, according to DuPage County court records.

Formella, who taught special education, is charged with one felony count of criminal sexual assault and two felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. She is accused of having sexual contact with a 15-year-old boy in December 2023, including an encounter before school in a classroom.

She is free on pretrial release and returns to court on April 14.

The boy’s mother discovered text messages between the two. She reported the texts to police on March 14, and Formella was arrested the next day.

According to the petition, Downers Grove police searched Formella’s phone and found a “memoir” in the Notes app.

In one note, Formella accused the victim of cheating on her, later telling police she meant emotionally, but said she lost interest, according to court records. In addition, authorities say she wrote that she had texted the victim repeatedly that they should break up until after he graduated, but he convinced her it would be fine.

Documents said she wrote that the victim “gaslit” her.

“We will never ever be together again. I'm not a second choice. I'm the best thing you'll ever have even with all of my mistakes,” the note said.

Detectives say they found another entry from November 2024 that said the two would connect again soon and “get the closure we need in order to move on in a healthy way. We will be able to be a part of each others lives forever.”

The petition states Formella denied having sexual contact with the victim and that she told police she knew the relationship was wrong, but she was unable to stop it because she cared about him.

Police said they found text messages on the victim’s phone, including one they believe is from Formella stating, “I love having sex with you.”

Formella told police the victim had taken her phone, sent the message to his phone, deleted it from her phone and saved it to blackmail her, according to the petition.

She told police the notes were an outlet for her anxiety but that any reference to sex was about her husband, according to court records.