Colts Neck Teen Admits Stabbing Woman, Carjacking

A Colts Neck teenager pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he stabbed a Colts Neck woman in her home before carjacking her vehicle in 2013, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said Thursday.

Brennan Doyle, who is 18 but was 16 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree carjacking and first-degree attempted murder, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

During his appearance before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, Doyle admitted that he repeatedly stabbed the victim in her home in Colts Neck with the intent of killing her, and then fled the home in her motor vehicle, Webster said.

Doyle faces a sentence of 14 to 15 years in state prison, subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act,” requiring him to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release on parole, he said. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 29, Webster said.

Colts Neck police received a 911 call around 12:30 a.m. on July 7, 2013, from a township woman indicating she was stabbed by an unknown assailant. The police and emergency medical services arrived to find she had been stabbed several times. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where she remained for several days while she was treated for her injuries. She eventually was discharged, he said.

A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Colts Neck Police Department revealed the victim heard some noise coming from the outside of her house and when she went to open her door to investigate, the assailant -- Doyle -- pushed his way into her house and stabbed her several times and left her for dead. Doyle then took the keys to her car and fled the scene in her vehicle parked in her driveway. The vehicle was recovered in Aberdeen later that same morning, Webster said.

Due to juvenile confidentiality laws, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office was prohibited from releasing personal identification about Doyle until the matter was transferred to Monmouth County Superior Court, Webster said.