Dad of N.J. girl killed by neighbor wants to attend funeral
Devastated relatives will say their final farewells to little AbbieGail Smith next Monday — and her Jamaican father hopes to be among them.
"I want to see my daughter for the last time, please, one last time before she goes down into the earth," distraught dad Kenroy Smith, 50, told the Daily News Monday, breaking down with emotion.
The 11-year-old New Jersey girl vanished from her mom's Keansburg apartment last Wednesday and was stabbed to death by an upstairs neighbor who dumped her body in a hiding spot on the property, prosecutors said.
The medical examiner confirmed that Smith died from a stab wound to the neck.
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Accused killer Andreas Erazo, 18, was arrested hours after her body was found Thursday. He was charged Friday with first-degree murder and illegal weapons possession.
"I want to see the perpetrator. I want to see him brought to justice and would like to confront him with a few questions," Kenroy Smith, who lives in Kingston, Jamaica, said.
His older daughter Latisha Smith, who lives in Washington, D.C., told The News she was working with an attorney Monday to see what could be done to bring her dad to New Jersey after he was deported from the U.S. in 2001.
AbbieGail Smith, 11, vanished from her mom's Keansburg apartment last Wednesday. (Keansburg Police Department)The clock was ticking, she said, after the family announced a wake for AbbieGail would be held Sunday, July 23, followed by a Mass and burial the next morning.
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Relatives said visitation would run 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Jacqueline M. Ryan Home for Funerals in Keansburg.
Mourners were due to gather at 10:15 a.m. Monday for a funeral mass at St. Ann's Church in Keansburg and burial at Bayview Cemetery in Leonardo.
AbbieGail's New Jersey-based family was overcome with emotion at Erazo's first court appearance in Monmouth County Superior Court on Friday.
"I hope you rot in jail! My one and only daughter, you took away from me. You need to rot in jail," mom Carol Bennet-Smith yelled at Erazo as the hearing ended.
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"You can't even look at us!" she cried with disgust.
A GoFundMe.com page set up for funeral and other expenses topped $17,000 by Monday.
The head of AbbieGail's former elementary school made a donation.
"I am so sorry for your loss. AbbieGail was a sweet little girl. I only had her with me in Highlands Elementary for a short time but loved her," Highlands Elementary Principal Rosemary Schutz wrote in her post.
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Authorities did not immediately release a motive for the horrific murder.
Neighbors said Erazo lived directly above the apartment AbbieGail shared with her mom and brother at the two-story Hancock Arms Apartments.
AbbieGail was last seen at her unit at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday and was reported missing about an hour later.
The 11-year-old New Jersey girl vanished from her mom's Keansburg apartment last Wednesday and was stabbed to death by an upstairs neighbor who dumped her body in a hiding spot on the property, prosecutors said. (Thomas P. Costello/AP)Her mother and brothers gasped in horror Friday when authorities revealed in court she'd been viciously stabbed.
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Judge Richard English ordered Erazo held without bail pending a detention hearing Wednesday.
Friend Bobbie Anne Burdick, 19, told NJ Advance Media that Erazo had a quick temper and had threatened her before.
"He literally had demons he was fighting," Burdick, who met Erazo through a mutual friend while he was a student at Middletown High School, said.
She once attended a high school dance with Erazo, she said, and he got upset over the length of her dress, saying it was too short and she should change.
Burdick said he never turned violent with her, though his words were menacing.
"Every time he did get mad, I would walk away," she said. "Say we were fighting and he was like, 'Say one more thing and I'm going to hit you.'"
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