Accused Colts Neck Killer Now Charged With Insurance Fraud

COLTS NECK, NJ — Paul Caneiro, the Ocean Township man accused of murdering his brother, his brother's wife and their two children in their Colts Neck home this past Thanksgiving, and then setting the property on fire, has now been indicted on a new charge: insurance fraud.

A Monmouth County grand jury indicted Caneiro, 51, of Ocean Township, with one count of second-degree insurance fraud, the Monmouth County prosecutor's office announced Tuesday. They say that for five years, from 2012 to 2019, Caneiro received disability payments for a car accident, all while he was working for his brother's businesses.

The brothers, Paul and Keith Caneiro, owned two businesses together in Asbury Park: Jay Martin/SquareOne technology firm and Eco-Star PM, a pest extermination company. It was a dispute over money that motivated Caneiro to murder his younger brother and his wife and children, alleged Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

In February of this year, Caneiro was indicted on four counts of murder, plus a slew of other charges, including arson, for the stunning Nov. 20, 2018 murders. Prosecutors say Paul fatally shot his brother on the front lawn of their home at 15 Willow Brook Road in Colts Neck, and then brutally stabbed the wife and children — Jennifer Caneiro, 45, Jesse, 11, Sophia, 8 — to death inside the house, slashing their bodies multiple times. Jennifer was his sister-in-law and the children his nephew and niece.

He then allegedly set the home on fire, starting a slow-burn fire in the basement of the home that took hours to smolder. By the time neighbors saw smoke, the entire house was engulfed in flames. The wife and children's bodies were reportedly charred beyond recognition when they were found.

Police say Paul then returned to his own home on Tindall Court in Ocean Township and started a fire there while his wife and daughters were sleeping inside, allegedly as a ruse to make detectives think he was being targeted as well. Gasoline cans and spilled gasoline were later found near his home.

Detectives later found jeans and a glove with Sophia's blood on it tucked away in the basement of Paul's Ocean Twp. home. Shell casings at the murder scene matched a gun he owned, according to this affidavit in the case. The same day that affidavit was released, Paul's high-priced defense lawyers at Ansell & Grimm announced they quit the case. He is now being represented by Freehold-based Michael Wicke, a public defender.

Caneiro will next appear in court July 29. He was denied bail and remains at the Monmouth County jail, where he has been held since the November murders.

Money missing from family business; Keith suspected his older brother

Within days of the murders, the county prosecutor said he had reason to believe the motive was financial. Since the murders, detectives have been painstakingly combing through the Caneiro brothers' business records. This affidavit released in February alleged that older brother Paul stole $78,000 from the businesses over the past two years — and that younger brother Keith suspected his brother of taking the money.

In fact, on Nov. 19, the night before he was killed, Keith forwarded an email to a third Caneiro brother, Corey, in which he wrote that he had discovered money missing from the companies and that he would no longer be paying Paul until it could be located.

Corey also told police Keith had confided in him he was frustrated with Paul and the amount of money Paul withdrew from their business accounts. Keith also wanted to sell one of the businesses, and end his business relationship with his older brother, Corey said.

Keith was the primary owner of SquareOne, with a 90 percent share and Paul owning 10 percent. The brothers owned the extermination business equally. The office manager for both businesses also told detectives Keith had confided in her that he was angry Paul was withdrawing so much. In the year before his murder, Keith had similarly directed her to suspend payments to Paul because of arguments over the money, she said.

Additionally, a 2016 will revealed that should both Keith and Jennifer die, much of Keith's substantial assets would be left to his older brother Paul, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Caneiro said he could not work due to the 2012 car accident he suffered, and that's why he needed the disability payments. The prosecutor's office said this week that was a fraud, as he was collecting a handsome income from the family business, all paid in his wife's name to avoid detection.

In the weeks after the murders, this portrait emerged of two Caneiro brothers, just a year apart, who grew up extremely close in Brooklyn and Staten Island as kids. But in their adult years, Keith grew into a hard-working, self-made entrepreneur, who not only put himself through college but also got his MBA from Columbia University, all while making millions off the tech start-ups he launched.

By contrast, family friends say that Paul was never the same after that 2012 car accident, and former work associates say he had an explosive temper. One colleague said Paul physically threatened him when they worked together for CitiBank in the mid-90s.

"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 Gramiccioni. "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."

"That fire (that Paul set at his own home) was effectively a ruse to make it appear as though his family was somehow targeted," he continued. "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."

If found guilty, Caneiro is facing life in prison. Each murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole. If convicted, Caneiro will essentially remain in jail until the day he dies.

Gramiccioni has previously said he wished he could pursue the death penalty in this case, but noted that New Jersey has effectively outlawed capital punishment.

"If that was a possible sentence in the state of New Jersey, I would have certified this as a capital case," the county prosecutor said in November. "This is one of the most brutal cases that I've ever seen. We won't stop until we bring justice in the name of Keith Caneiro and his entire family."

Ongoing Patch reporting on the Colts Neck Caneiro murders:

Brother Charged With Killing Family In Colts Neck Murders

Motive Was Financial In Colts Neck Murders, Prosecutor Says

Picture Emerges Of One Caneiro Brother Thriving, Another In Pain

20 Stunning New Allegations In Colts Neck Caneiro Murder Case