During a hearing held before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley on Monday, 22-year-old Nija Faust pleaded guilty to a single charge of first-degree Aggravated Manslaughter.
On Friday, March 7, 2025, at approximately 11:33 p.m., members of the Long Branch Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing in the vicinity of the 200 block of Broadway. Upon arrival, officers discovered a 35-year-old male, suffering from multiple stab wounds.
The victim, later identified as Eren Kurkcu, of Long Branch, was rushed to a local hospital for treatment. Kurkcu would later succumb to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
An investigation by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Bureau and the Long Branch Police Department determined Faust was responsible for the stabbing. The investigation further resulted in 21-year-old Santana Rivera-Cosme also being charged in connection with the crime.
Rivera-Cosme had previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Aggravated Assault. Rivera-Cosme is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, March 17.
Sentencing for Faust is tentatively scheduled for Friday, June 12 at which time the State intends to seek a term of 26 years in State prison, with 85 percent of the sentence to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).
The case is being prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Caitlin J. Sidley of the Major Crimes Bureau and Jamie Fitzgerald of the MCPO Trial Team. Faust is represented by Daniel J. Holzapfel, Esq., with an office in Wall Township. Rivera-Cosme is represented by Melissa Barbier, Esq., of Freehold.
