Accused Colts Neck Killer Pleads Not Guilty To Insurance Fraud

COLTS NECK, NJ — The accused Colts Neck killer pleaded "not guilty" Monday morning to the newest charge brought against him — insurance fraud.

Paul Caneiro appeared in Monmouth County court very briefly Monday morning, Aug. 5 to enter a not guilty plea, a spokesman for the county prosecutor said.

Caneiro, 51, is the Ocean Township resident accused of murdering his younger brother, his brother's wife and their two children in their Colts Neck home, and then setting the property on fire.

The stunning quadruple murders happened just days before Thanksgiving in 2018.

Caneiro was arrested and charged with the murders a few days after they happened. He has been denied bail and remained in the Monmouth County jail ever since.

Last month, while sitting behind bars, he was indicted on one count of second-degree insurance fraud. Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni alleged 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.

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 says 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. Family friends told the New York Times that Caneiro was never quite the same after that car accident, and that he was in pain for decades afterwards and relied on prescription painkillers. To this day, he walks with a noticeable limp.

In February of this year, Caneiro was indicted on four counts of murder, plus a slew of other charges, including arson, for the 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.

Money missing from family business; Keith suspected his older brother

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, alleges Gramiccioni.

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.

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.

A former work associate also said Paul had an explosive temper. He said Paul physically threatened him when they worked together for CitiBank in the mid-90s.

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. The insurance fraud charge brings with it up to ten years in jail.

Ongoing Patch reporting on the Colts Neck Caneiro murders:

Accused Colts Neck Killer Now Charged With Insurance Fraud

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