Accused Keansburg Child Rapist Claims Girl Was An Intruder

KEANSBURG, NJ — Gruesome testimony from the alleged killer was heard Thursday in the ongoing murder trial of an 11-year-old Keansburg girl, who prosecutors say was raped and stabbed to death by her 19-year-old upstairs neighbor.

A taped interview accused killer Andreas Erazo gave to detectives Wayne Raynor and Joseph Jankowski was played in court Thursday, according to NJ.com, which is covering the trial: Erazo claimed that on the night of July 12, 2017 he thought Abbiegail Smith was an intruder in his apartment, and that's why he stabbed her with a kitchen knife.

On the hot summer night, Smith — described as a friendly, social little girl who always said "hi" to people in the neighborhood — was last seen playing outside the apartment building they lived in on Hancock Street in Keansburg. Her mother, in a panic, called Keansburg police at about 9:30 p.m. to report her missing. Erazo lived in Apt. 16A, in the unit directly above Abbie's.

On that night, Keansburg police knocked on his door. When Andreas answered, they asked if he had seen the little girl. Erazo said he knew her, but had not seen her.

Erazo's version of events is that he was cutting hot dogs in his kitchen when he left, knife in hand, to get his cellphone, reported NJ.com. He also claimed all the lights were off because, "I can move around in the dark and I'm the person who likes to save electricity."

That's when Erazo said he heard a loud bang and just swung wildly in the dark.

"I just swung it," he said, "and I didn't know it was her. I was scared."

"From that time on, all I did was cry and say, 'I'm sorry,'" Erazo said according to NJ.com. "I mean, I didn't know what else to do. I didn't mean to screw up my future and the little girl's future."

However, Erazo is also accused of sexually assaulting little Abbie Smith. When her body was found, wrapped in sheets and placed on the shed of a roof outside his bedroom window, she was without her pants and underwear and Erazo's sperm was allegedly found near her genital region.

Erazo claims he blacked out that night.

"Did you have sex with her after she died?" Det. Raynor can be heard on the tape, pressing Erazo, according to NJ.com. "Where did you have sex with her? Where are her pants? Did you get rid of everything?"

"I guess in the Dumpster," Erazo responds. "I blacked out and when I awoke, everything was clean. When I black out .... I don't remember anything. When I turned on the light, I freaked out. And that's when I blacked out. All I remember after that was seeing her covered. I can't put the pieces together."

Erazo previously admitted to wrapping the girl in bedsheets, tying her body with a computer cord and putting her outside his bedroom window. He also used Clorox and paper towels to clean up the blood, NJ.com reported.

Tragically, he even described seeing her lifeless body on the floor as looking, "like a fish out of water."

Carol Smith Bennett, Abbie's mother, cried in court Thursday as she listened to the tape.

Photo and video from YouTube. Read the entire courtroom proceedings Thursday, March 8 on NJ.com: http://www.nj.com/monmouth/ind...