STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Deliberations are ongoing Friday in the quadruple murder trial of Paul Caneiro, a former Tottenville resident who stands charged with slaughtering his brother’s family and burning down their New Jersey home.
After nearly eight hours of closing arguments and instructions from the court Thursday in Monmouth County Superior Court, jurors were permitted to head home ahead of an early start Friday.
The 59-year-old defendant is facing a slew of charges stemming from the November 2018 slayings, including first-degree murder, arson and theft of $75,000.
House ablaze in Colts Neck
The homicide case first unfolded when emergency crews responded to a house fire in Colts Neck, an affluent neighborhood in New Jersey, according to reports.
It was the home of Paul Caneiro’s brother, Keith Caneiro, 50.
Prosecutors trying the case allege Paul Caneiro shot or stabbed everyone in his brother’s family while setting the property ablaze. The victims were identified as Keith Caneiro, his wife Jennifer, 45, and their two kids, Jesse, 11, and Sophia, 8.
The defendant has maintained his innocence.
‘I need to see it now!’
The motive for Paul Caneiro to slaughter his brother’s family can be summed up in a phone conversation prior to the slayings, according to prosecutors who delivered their summations Thursday.
In audio played Thursday for jurors, Keith Caneiro can be heard arguing with Paul about missing funds from a TD bank account. “I need to know where that money went,” said Keith Caneiro, whose voice grew increasingly frantic as the conversation progressed. “Give me the f— login Paul. I need to see it now Paul!”
In this Nov. 30, 2018 photo, Paul Caneiro appears in Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold for a detention hearing.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
The contentious exchange came around the same time Keith had discovered Paul was stealing from his life insurance trust fund, which Keith set up for his children, prosecutors allege.
Paul Caneiro, prosecutors said, also had his eye on a life insurance policy which stood to benefit him if both his brother and sister-in-law died.
The brothers were in business together and in some ways at odds over the business and other financial matters, according to a series of text exchanges and phone conversations.
The defendant, who at one time was turning a profit in the tech field, was living above his means and drowning in debt by the time of the murders, prosecutors alleged.
Victims’ final, horrific moments
Prosecutors, in their closing arguments, revisited what they believe happened in the victims’ final moments.
First, the house went black when an intruder cut the power. Footage viewed by the jury showed an unidentified, gloved intruder outside the home fiddling with a power source just prior to the outage.
In surveying the crime scene, investigators found Keith Caneiro shot multiple times, including a cluster of entry wounds in the head and neck area.
Evidence suggested Jennifer was jolted out of bed that night by the sound of gunshots. Moments later she was killed.
Jesse sustained a gunshot wound to the face. His body was found feet from an exit point. When his autopsy photos were presented to the jury last week, the defendant became emotional, NJ.com reported.
Sophia died of stab wounds and smoke inhalation. Based on the evidence, said prosecutors, she was running frantically through the house in her final moments, passing by her brother and mother who also were dying.
Defense questions investigation
Defense attorney Monika Mastellone has questioned during the trial why a third brother, Corey Caneiro, was never considered a suspect by police.
Mastellone also provided evidence surrounding an iPad belonging to one of the victims which raised questions about the case against her client, NJ.com reported.