More than seven years after authorities charged Paul Caneiro with slaughtering his brother, sister-in-law and their two young kids and then setting their Colts Neck mansion on fire, the murder case against him is underway in a Monmouth County courtroom.
Jury selection started Monday morning in Judge Marc C. Lemieux’s courtroom in Superior Court of Monmouth County in Freehold, a process that’s expected to take several days.
The trial is scheduled to run through March 20, Lemieux told prospective jurors.
The case against Caneiro, 59, has been delayed numerous times, first by the coronavirus pandemic and then by legal maneuvering over what evidence could be presented in court, which led to the case going to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Last month, the high court ruled prosecutors could present evidence from a security system recorder in Caneiro’s Ocean Township home, which was also set ablaze the morning of the murders, Nov. 20, 2018.
A suspicious police sergeant had officers pull the device from Caneiro’s smoky garage during a fire that authorities say Caneiro intentionally set to cast suspicion away from himself and destroy evidence of the murders.
The brutal killings of Keith Caneiro, 50, his wife Jennifer, 45, son Jesse, 11, and daughter Sophia, 8, were part of a planned crime Paul hatched because his brother, with whom he’d been in business, was planning on halting his salary, prosecutors and a cvil lawsuit have alleged.
Paul had been stealing from his brother and their business, among other personal financial woes, and Keith knew it, court documents and authorities have alleged. Plus, Keith wanted to sell one of their companies and move on professionally.
Paul could collect on his brother’s $3 million life insurance, but only if Jennifer and the children were dead.
Gunshots, stab wounds and smoke wiped out the family. Police found Keith outside, shot down in his yard after likely being lured by Paul, who allegedly cut electricity to the home, authorities have said.
The killer stabbed and shot Jennifer, who was found on basement stairs. Jesse died in the kitchen, also stabbed multiple times.
Officials found Sophia on a staircase landing with 30 stab wounds and smoke inhalation.
Prosecutors say the killings began shortly before 3 a.m. but were not discovered for hours in the smoldering home on Willow Brook Road.
Meanwhile, police and firefighters were at a fire at Paul’s home on Tilton Drive in Ocean’s Wayside neighborhood at about 5 a.m. for a fire he reported. His wife and two daughters were inside, but the family fled it unharmed.
Investigators eventually connected the two crime scenes and laid it all on Paul Caneiro, charging him with multiple counts of murder, arson, weapon possession and later, fraud crimes.
They suspect he left his home in the middle of the night after disconnecting his own security system, killed his brother and family, then drove back home.
Prosecutors have said in court they have loads of incriminating evidence, including weapons used and blood-stained clothing, DNA and security camera footage.
Monika Mastellone is defending Caneiro with Andy Murray. They are both public defenders. Mastellone joined the case in early 2025.
Nicole Wallace and Christopher Decker are prosecuting the case for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Caneiro has remained incarcerated since his late November 2018 arrest. Mastellone argued in September that he be freed from the county jail ahead of his trial. Lemieux denied the request.
