Neighbor Pleads Guilty In Rape, Murder Of Keansburg Fifth Grader

KEANSBURG, NJ — The upstairs neighbor of 11-year-old Abbiegail Smith has pleaded guilty to her July 2017 rape and murder in Keansburg, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni on Tuesday.

Andreas Erazo, 20, of Keansburg, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and first-degree aggravated sexual assault in connection with the death of Abbiegail “Abbie” Smith, who was found dead on July 13, 2017, just hours after she was reported missing from her Hancock Street apartment.

The plea agreement was made after consultation with the victim’s family.

The state is seeking life in prison, requiring Erazo to serve 85 percent of the sentence, which would be 63 years, nine months and three days before he would be eligible for release on parole.

Erazo was charged after Keansburg police responded to 16 Hancock St. at about 9:24 p.m., on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, after receiving a report the resident's 11-year-old daughter was missing. Keansburg police immediately launched a missing person's investigation and law enforcement started combing the area, searching for the missing fifth-grade girl.

At approximately 10:20 a.m. the next day, July 13, detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's Forensic and Technical Services Bureau were behind the apartment complex. While in the rear yard, detectives ultimately observed an object wrapped up in what appeared to be a blanket or comforter up on a rear roof. Upon closer inspection, they found what appeared to be the deceased body of the 11-year old victim. An autopsy would subsequently determine that the girl had been sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed.

As the investigation continued into the murder, police identified and ultimately charged Erazo, the young girl's upstairs neighbor, with murder and weapons charges.