Manchester Man Admits Stabbing Ex-Girlfriend In Parking Lot

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Manchester Township man has pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in a parking lot in Brick in 2023, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Harry J. Bray Jr., 37, pleaded guilty Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer in the stabbing that happened Jan. 5, 2023, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The prosecutor's office will be seeking an 18-year prison term when Bray is sentenced, which is scheduled for Jan. 17, Billhimer said.

Bray was arrested Jan. 5, hours after the woman was found bleeding from multiple stab wounds in the Cherry Quay section of Brick, authorities said.

A Brick Township police officer on patrol was doing a routine check about 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 when he saw a vehicle with two flat tires in the parking lot near the Cherry Quay bicycle trail.

The victim, whom authorities have not identified, was able to tell Brick Patrolman Michael Miller the name of her attacker, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case. She was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment.

The woman suffered 38 stab wounds and initially was listed in critical condition, the prosecutor's office said, but later recovered.

Investigators searching the area found a silver engagement ring and a silver necklace with a heart pendant, both with blood on them. They had been thrown into a nearby trash can at the parking lot, the affidavit said.

The woman's mother ultimately told police the woman and Bray had been dating for about a year and a half, but the woman had broken off the relationship and had told Bray to stop contacting her after some incidents the mother called "alarming," according to the affidavit.

That included an incident in the fall where Bray took off in the woman's car with the woman's toddler in the car seat after they had a fight, according to the affidavit.

Things escalated to a domestic violence incident in August 2022, and at that time Bray took the woman's Samsung phone, the affidavit said. That phone was found and seized after Bray was arrested when he went to Manchester police headquarters for questioning following the stabbing, authorities said.

When the woman ended the relationship Bray kept contacting her so the woman had blocked him on her phone and on Facebook messenger in an attempt to stop the contact, the affidavit said.

Authorities searched Bray's home in Manchester and found red stains consistent with blood on the outside door at the back of the house. In a trash can, they found a knife with red stains on the blade consistent with blood, along with a receipt from Home Depot showing the purchase of a knife of the same kind, the affidavit said.

Bray remains in the Ocean County Jail, where he has been since his arrest on Jan. 6, 2023.

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