Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Murder in Stabbing Near Brick Township Bike Trail

Harry Bray, Jr., 35 (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

A local man has pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder in the case of a 2023 stabbing near the entrance to a bike path along Cherry Quay Road in Brick Township.

Harry Bray, Jr., 37, of Manchester, entered the guilty plea this week before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer, admitting to causing serious bodily injuries to a female victim, who was not identified by name. At the time of his sentencing on Jan. 17, 2025, prosecutors will be seeking a term of 18 years in state prison.

Brick police began investigating after an officer on a routine patrol spotted a vehicle with two flat tires in a parking lot area, presumably near the entrance to the bicycle path along Cherry Quay Road. Upon further examination, the officer found a female victim on the ground near the vehicle, suffering from multiple stab wounds. The woman was transported to a local hospital, where she had initially been listed in critical condition, but ultimately survived.

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An investigation by Brick police, the county prosecutor’s office and sheriff’s department, “was able to determine that Bray was responsible for the victim’s injuries,” a statement from prosecutors said.

Bray was taken into custody without incident in Manchester Township by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and Brick Township Police Department on the evening on Jan. 5, 2023. Bray was then transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he has been lodged since that date.

Neither the circumstances behind the stabbing, nor Bray’s motives, were openly revealed by prosecutors.