Motive Was Financial In Colts Neck Murders, Prosecutor Says

COLTS NECK, NJ — It was money that allegedly motivated Paul Caneiro to shoot his younger brother to death and fatally stab his wife and young children, and then start a fire in the basement of their Colts Neck mansion, which took hours to smolder, prosecutors said Thursday.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni revealed the alleged motive for the quadruple murder Thursday morning in an 11 a.m. press conference, shedding many new details on the quadruple Nov. 20 homicide of the Caneiro family, Keith, 50, Jennifer, 45, and their two children, Jesse, age 11, and Sophia, age 8.

Caneiro, 51, of Ocean Township has been charged with all four murders, killing his brother and his brother's entire family and then setting their Colts Neck home on fire just days before Thanksgiving, the prosecutor alleges.

"We believe the motive was financial in nature, stemming from his and the victim's joint business ventures they owned and operated out of Asbury Park," said the prosecutor on Thursday. "Paul Caneiro repeatedly shot and killed his brother Keith, then moved on to murder the rest of the Caneiro family. Keith Caneiro was shot multiple times, Jennifer Caneiro was shot and stabbed, and the two Caneiro children were stabbed multiple times with a knife. After murdering his brother’s family, Paul Caneiro set fire to the Colts Neck house at 15 Willow Brook Road in an effort to conceal or disguise his crimes."

The prosecutor declined to reveal anything more about the motive, but said his team of investigators are painstakingly combing through Paul Caneiro's financial records and business history.

"We have launched a financial investigation into the business dealings and finances of the defendant (Paul Caneiro)," said the county prosecutor. "We — thankfully — recovered a great deal of evidence that is being forensically analyzed as we speak. At this point, we are confident in how we charged this case as we did."

Paul Caneiro is already sitting in the Monmouth County jail, held there on a charge that he set fire to his own Ocean Township home at 5 a.m. that same day, while his own wife and daughters were inside.

The prosecutor said the only reason Paul allegedly set the fire at his own home was to throw the police off his tracks, and that he never intended to hurt his wife, Susan, or daughters, both in their 20s, who were all sleeping inside the home. Caneiro's lawyer, Bob Honecker, told Patch that Paul woke his wife and daughters up and got them out of the home that day.

"That fire (that Paul set at his own home) was effectively a ruse to make it appear as though his family was somehow targeted," said Gramiccioni. "I don't believe he intended to murder his own family. I believe the fire at his own home served two purposes: To destroy evidence that he brought back from the Colts Neck crime scene, and to create some type of ruse or appearance that his overall family was somehow targeted."

Gramiccioni said police think Caneiro shot and killed his brother early in the morning Tuesday, Nov. 20, as Keith came out of his Colts Neck home at 15 Willow Brook Road. Keith's body was found shot to death in his front yard. Paul then went into the home and murdered Jennifer and her two children, he said. The prosecutor said the mother and children had been stabbed with a knife. He would not comment on where exactly their bodies were found.

He then started a fire in the basement of the Colts Neck estate, and it took several hours for that fire to smolder and ignite the entire home, the prosecutor said. It was a neighboring groundskeeper who saw smoke coming from 15 Willow Brook Road, set back from the road on about 10 acres, at 12:38 p.m. Tuesday.

"We allege he started the fire in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 20 after he allegedly murdered Keith Caneiro and his family," said the prosecutor. "Now, it's a fair point about that fire not being reported until 12:38 p.m. Based on what we know about the cause and origin of that fire, it was started in the basement and continued to smolder. When entry was made into the home (presumably by firefighters) a great deal of oxygen fed that fire. So it wasn't reported until 12:38, but what we believed caused that fire was the feeding of oxygen from the home being entered into."

This would be consistent with what a woman who owns a neighboring horse paddock on Willow Brook Road told NJ.com: That she saw smoke coming from the Caneiro's home, but assumed it was small enough that she assumed it was a fire in their fireplace.

Paul then returned to his own Ocean Twp. home, sometime before 5 a.m., and set his own home on fire using gasoline, the prosecutor said. Only the rear of the Ocean Twp. home was damaged by fire, while the Colts Neck estate was completely gutted; the damage was so bad the prosecutor previously said he feared the roof would cave in on his team of investigators.

The prosecutor also said his office is confident Paul Caneiro acted alone, and there was no involvement of the mafia or organized crime, as many have speculated.

"We have no reason to believe that there's any aspect of organized crime involved in these two investigations," he said. "And that's from our partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, as well. We are confident this was just the defendant acting alone."

The FBI is assisting the Monmouth County prosecutor with this case.

"I've had the opportunity to meet with extended members of the Caneiro family and you can imagine the turmoil and the pain they are going through," said the prosecutor, adding that he asks the media respect their privacy at this time. A third Caneiro brother and his wife live in Fair Haven, as Patch has reported. The Caneiros are originally from Brooklyn; Jennifer Caneiro is from Staten Island.

The press conference is right here on Patch. Watch:

Read more: Brother Charged With Killing Family In Colts Neck Murders

Paul will make his first court appearance at 9 a.m. Friday, where he will plead guilty or not guilty to the charges. A judge will also decide if he stays in jail until his trial begins. His lawyer told Patch he will be requesting Caneiro go free, and that he will even be asking his wife and daughters to possibly testify on his behalf.

The prosecutor said he wants to keep Caneiro behind bars.

When asked by a reporter, Gramiccioni also said he would personally consider this a capital case, meaning he thinks Caneiro should be considered for the death penalty, if found guilty. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007; prior to that, it had not been enforced in decades. Gramiccioni acknowledged those were only his personal feelings, saying, "Obviously I only enforce the law, I don't make it. But if that was a possible sentence in the sate of New Jersey, I would have certified this case as a capital case."

"This is one of the most brutal cases that I've ever seen," the county's top law enforcement officer said earlier in Thursday's press conference.

The two Caneiro brothers ran a small website development firm, Square One, in Asbury Park. They also operated a pest control business, EcoStar Pest Management, together. Both businesses ran out of rented office space on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park, located directly above The Speakeatery restaurant. An NJ.com reporter went to the office space of SquareOne and saw several employees working inside. A neighboring tenant said he would see Paul Caneiro show up there "a few times a week, driving a white Porsche."

The prosecutor also said the police in Colts Neck and Ocean Twp. are still looking for tips and information on both incidents, and urged the public to call into his office with any tips or info. they might know.

"It's not lost upon us how troubling and confusing this incident has been to you, and how unusual these circumstances are," said the prosecutor, speaking to the Colts Neck community. "We're going to finish strong. We won't stop until we bring justice in the name of Keith Caneiro and his entire lovely family."

In the Colts Neck case, Caneiro is charged with four counts of first-degree Murder, and one count of second-degree Aggravated Arson, second-degree Possession of a Firearm for an Unlawful Purpose and third degree Possession of a Knife for an Unlawful Purpose. In the Ocean Twp. case, he is charged with one count of second-degree Aggravated Arson.

Honecker has maintained that his client is innocent of all charges. In fact, Paul's defense team of well-regarded New Jersey law firm Ansell, Grimm and Aaron released a strongly-worded statement Thursday evening, steadfastly maintaining his innocence.

"From the moment Paul Caneiro was arrested, he has asserted his innocence in that he had absolutely nothing to do with these horrific crimes. Paul continues to maintain his innocence today," said his lawyer.

"Paul's family means more to him than anything else in this world. Paul's brother Keith and his family similarly were everything to Paul. He worked with his brother Keith for 31 years and he loved his sister-in-law as if she was his sister. Paul Caneiro always participated in the lives of Jesse and Sophia from watching them at their various events at school and spending time with them frequently. Paul Caneiro just couldn't say no to his family."

"There is absolutely no reason in the world for Paul Caneiro to have committed the crimes he is alleged to have committed. He would never hurt any member of his family. The process today can begin for a search for the truth and who committed these horrendous acts."

"Paul Caneiro does not intend to try this case in the media and we respect the decision of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's office to do the same," his lawyer added, in a jab to the many press conferences the county prosecutor has held on this matter. "Paul Caneiro is an innocent man who stands wrongfully accused by the State of New Jersey. Paul's expectations are when this case is over he will be completely vindicated and the truth will come out."

Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office photo