Man accused of choking, fatally stabbing stepmother

A man accused of choking and fatally stabbing his stepmother had been kicked out of their Lawnside home for behavior his parents would "not tolerate," officials said Wednesday.

Adeniyi Bob-Grey, 21, of Willingboro, appeared for a murder arraignment in Superior Court in Camden County, where he was ordered held on $1 million bail in the death of Hawa Bob-Grey, 33, of Sadler Avenue.

"This was a horrible crime," Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Mary Alison Albright told the judge as she described how Adeniyi Bob-Grey sneaked into the house through the basement Tuesday afternoon.

Inside the house, Albright said, Bob-Grey choked his stepmother until she was unconscious during an attack in which he also stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife.

The victim had defensive stab wounds on her hands and arms, up to five stab wounds to the neck, and a two-inch wound to the back.

Albright said another family member was asleep in the house during the assault and called 911 at 2:41 p.m., when he found the stepmother unconscious in a pool of blood. She was pronounced dead at Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury at 5:40 p.m., authorities said.

Investigators were told to look for the younger Bob-Grey, who was seen by police near the home of his paternal grandparents in Woodbury, Albright said. After a brief chase, he was taken into custody.

Albright said Adeniyi Bob-Grey confessed to the slaying, but did not tell investigators why he did it.

Albright said the man had disposed of the knife and his bloody shirt. Investigators found the shirt and are looking for the weapon, she said.

On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal asked Bob-Grey if he understood why he was in court and he said he did not.

He did not respond to several questions as he rocked back and forth, his arms folded across his chest.

Albright assured the judge that Bob-Grey, born in Sierra Leone, understands English and had no problem communicating with investigators a day earlier.

In court, Bob-Grey shook his head and mumbled, "I did not do that," as Albright detailed the attack pieced together by forensic evidence.

"I think the autopsy tells us what he did," Albright said. "He stabbed Hawa Bob-Grey and then he disposed of the knife."

Until recently, Bob-Grey lived with his father and stepmother until the couple kicked him out for "engaging in illegal activity" they would not tolerate, Albright said, later declining to elaborate.

Although he has no criminal convictions, Albright said, he had been arrested on a simple assault charge in Berlin and another time in Ohio on a motor-vehicle offense.