Teen To Be Tried As Adult in 2013 Attempted Murder of Monmouth County Woman

A 17-year-old from Colts Neck will be tried as an adult on charges of attempted murder in the 2013 stabbing of a woman in her Colts Neck home, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Brennan Doyle, 17, was indicted Wednesday on six counts: first-degree carjacking; first-degree attempted murder; third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon; third-degree hindering apprehension of oneself; and fourth-degree obstructing the administration of law. Doyle was released after bail of $760,000, no 10 percent option, was posted.

Monmouth County Superior Court Judge James J. McGann also ordered Doyle to have no contact with the victim and to not return to the scene of the crime.

Doyle is accused of stabbing forcing his way into the woman’s home and stabbing her on July 7, 2013, Colts Neck police said. Police received a 911 call around 12:30 a.m. that day from the woman saying she had been stabbed by an unknown assailant. The Colts Neck Police Department and emergency medical services responded to her home, where they discovered she had been stabbed several times. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and remained in the hospital for several days before she was well enough to be discharged, authorities said.

The woman told police she heard noise coming from outside her house and when she opened her door to investigate, the assailant pushed his way into her house and stabbed her several times. The assailant then took the keys to her car and fled the scene in her vehicle parked in her driveway. The vehicle was recovered in Aberdeen later that same morning. A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Colts Neck Police Department tied Doyle to the crime, authorities said.

Due to juvenile confidentiality laws, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office was prohibited from releasing personal identification information about the case until it was moved from juvenile court to the adult proceedings.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.