Quiet Colts Neck Street Rocked by Stabbing

Bray Street is small, quiet and covered with foliage. It only has a handful of modest houses lining it and is bordered by farms.

But a stabbing and car theft has rocked the rural area.

In the early morning hours of July 7, police began searching for a reported hitchhiker on Route 34. Allegedly scared by police presence in the area, the man began looking for an out.

And when a 41-year-old Bray Street resident opened her door at 12:30 a.m., she was greeted by the unidentified man. According to police the young blonde male pushed his way into the home, stabbing the victim and stealing her car keys from their place near the door.

The victim's name is currently being withheld as police continue to search for the suspect. But in Colts Neck, this isn't something that happens everyday.

The victim's car was found about 40 minutes after the attack near the Strathmore Shopping Center, according to police.

Between 2011 and 2012, Colts Neck experienced only one violent crime according to the Uniform Crime Report. 

In 2012, Bill's Auto Repar was robbed at knifepoint, an indicent that led to two arrests thanks to surveillance video. Today, police are looking at surveillance video from businesses as far as Aberdeen, the last place the Bray Street Stabber was seen.

In February of this year, Chase Bank on Route 34 in Colts Neck was robbed at gunpoint. The suspect was caught in Alabama after a BOLO was issued nationwide using surveillance photos.

Those incidents are few and far between according to the Uniform Crime Report. In June of this year, no violent crime was reported by the department.

Currently, the victim remains in the hospital in stable but critical condition, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Andrea Tozzi at 1-800-533-7443 or Richard Zarillo, of the Colts Neck Police Department, at 732-780-7323.