Keansburg Murder Charges Now Headed To Grand Jury

KEANSBURG, NJ — The first-degree murder charge against Andreas Erazo, the 18-year-old Keansburg teen accused of stabbing his 11-year-old downstairs neighbor, Abbiegail Smith, to death will now head to a grand jury, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday morning.

Erazo was back in Monmouth County court in Freehold Monday morning for a brief hearing on his case. In order for a case to proceed to trial in New Jersey, a grand jury must first indict, which means the state has shown it has strong-enough evidence against a defendant. Superior Court Judge David Bauman referred Erazo's case to a grand jury Monday morning, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Erazo is being held at the Monmouth County jail without bail until trial, if his case should go to trial. If convicted, he is facing the possibility of life in prison without parole for the shocking murder. Smith was brutally stabbed to death on the evening of Wednesday, July 12. Her murder shook tiny, working-class Keansburg and all of surrounding Monmouth County.

Erazo confessed to the heinous crime, prosecutors said, but his defense attorneys said the confession came from a "sad, confused and vulnerable teen," locked in an interrogation room for nine hours "with two very experienced detectives." A motive for why he allegedly killed her has never been publicly revealed.

On the evening of July 12, he is accused of stabbing Abbie to death, specifically in the neck area, binding her with a computer cord and leaving her wrapped in blankets and a sheet on the roof of a shed directly outside his bedroom window.

Most of her clothing had been removed when she was found by investigators.

Investigators found blood stains on his bedroom window and a knife, the presumed murder weapon, nearby.

Erazo lived in Apt. 16A, on the second floor of the Hancock Street building, in the unit directly above Abbie's. On the night she went missing, Keansburg police knocked on his door. At first, there was no response and then a young man came to the door, the prosecutor said. They asked if he had seen the little girl. Erazo said he knew her, but had not seen her. Keansburg police asked to search his apartment and they did a visual inspection, but found no signs of Abbie. After an intense search, investigators found her body at about 10 a.m. the next day, Thursday, July 13 on the roof of the shed.

Patch file photos of Andreas Erazo by Carly Baldwin