Pain Remains For NJ Victim's Family As Accused Killer Faces Jail

Kereti Paulsen’s laugh was contagious. He was extremely funny, a talented musician and was looking forward to having more kids some day.

The 25-year-old Cape May Courthouse man looked forward to becoming a successful musician, but all he was looking forward to was suddenly taken away when he was murdered a little more than six years ago at a home in Berlin Borough.

That’s when he was shot in the stomach with an arrow by 31-year-old Timothy Canfield, of Berlin Borough. He died in the hospital shortly after that.

“He didn't deserve this,” Lauren Palmer-Wearne said one day after Canfield was convicted in court. “I'm not saying anyone does, but he was never malicious to anyone. … He was a genuinely good person, and we loved him very much.”

Palmer-Wearne described Paulsen as her “best friend/love for a long, long time.” He fathered her daughter, now 11, who was just four years old when her father was taken from her.

“I know Aurora will struggle with this throughout her life,” Palmer-Wearne said. “She won't remember him, she was too young when he was taken, but Kereti's friends and our family tell her about him all the time. She will know who her father was.”

Both were in the courtroom on Wednesday when Canfield was convicted of aggravated manslaughter, three counts of hindering apprehension or prosecution and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

“She finally got to see the man that killed her father taken away in handcuffs,” Palmer-Wearne said. “That's all she wanted this whole time was to see him taken away, and she was there for the verdict.”

They will both be there at sentencing on May 16, when Canfield faces the possibility of 55 years in prison.

And they were present every day of the trial. They sat there as the court heard a 911 call Canfield made to authorities, pretending to be the victim, when he lied about his role in the shooting.

“The 911 call was the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Palmer-Wearne said. “Tim is so cold and relaxed through it, but in the background you can hear Kereti crying, moaning, and asking for help. His gasps will haunt our family for the rest of our lives.”

She said Canfield just walked away after that, leaving Paulsen to die alone in the freezing cold. Police later found Paulsen in the backyard of the home, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. He was taken to Virtua Hospital in Berlin, where he was pronounced deceased.

An autopsy conducted the following day revealed the arrow perforated an iliac vein in Paulsen's pelvis, according to the prosecutor's office.

Canfield wasn’t even involved in the fight that took place just before the shooting on Monday night, Jan. 28, 2013. Paulsen was involved in a fistfight with someone else who was in the house.

After the fight ended, everyone except Paulsen went back in the house. Canfield went back outside, carrying the compound bow and a quiver of arrows, according to authorities.

He shot Paulsen, called 911 and lied about his role in the shooting, according to authorities. He later admitted to driving to woods in Winslow and disposing of the bow and arrows, according to authorities. The bow was retrieved the following day.

Canfield first went to trial last year, but that case ended in a mistrial a day before closing arguments due to juror misconduct.

Canfield had argued he was acting in self-defense, intending only to scare Paulsen and not to injure him. He has also said Paulsen threatened to infect his family with HIV, but Palmer-Wearne said Paulsen was not HIV-positive.

Palmer-Wearne praised Prosecutor Lauren Pratter and her team for the conviction and for keeping them in the loop every step of the way.

"And at the end of the trial, Lauren turned and looked into each of our eyes," Palmer-Wearne said. "Because this win was not for her. It was for us."

Read more here: Man Fatally Shot With Arrow In Berlin Borough