Man Indicted For Murder Of Keyport's Evan Smutz

KEYPORT, NJ — A 19-year-old Keansburg man was indicted Tuesday for the first-degree armed robbery and murder of a 20-year-old Keyport man in August, which prosecutors say stemmed from a marijuana drug deal gone bad at the victim's Keyport apartment.

John Curtin, 19, of Woodland Avenue in Keansburg, was indicted by a grand jury with first-degree murder, felony murder, armed robbery and weapons charges. As Patch reported the day it happened, Evan Smutz, 20, pictured above, was shot to death inside the Keyport apartment he shared with his girlfriend on Aug. 9. The apartment is at 2 Center Street at the Holmdel Pointe apartment complex.

Smutz grew up in the close-knit town of Keyport and played on the high school's football team.

Prosecutors say Curtin went to Smutz' apartment to buy marijuana, the Asbury Park Press reported. But he brought a handgun with him.

Inside the apartment, an argument broke out between Curtin and Smutz, and Curtin allegedly pulled his handgun from his waistband and shot Smutz. Prosecutors say three or four shots were fired, and one of the bullets hit Smutz.

Someone called 911 to report hearing shots fired from Center Street at 12:48 p.m. that day and police arrived to find Smutz with a single gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at 1:21 p.m. at his apartment.

Curtin fled the area to New York City, and later that same night, he called a co-worker at the Outback Steakhouse on Hwy. 35 in Middletown, where he worked. A police officer was already there talking to the co-worker and he got on the phone with Curtin and told him to turn himself in.

Curtin surrendered to the New York City Police Department and was subsequently transported back to Monmouth County.

Curtin is now facing up to 20 years in prison for the murder.

Photo of Evan Smutz taken from a GoFundMe page for his family: https://www.gofundme.com/5xwnm...

Related: Keyport Murder Was Over Marijuana, It's Revealed In Court