⚖️ Paul Caneiro is finally on trial, years after a brutal quadruple homicide and house fire stunned Monmouth County.

⚖️ Prosecutors say Caneiro murdered his brother, sister-in-law, and their two children in Colts Neck, then set multiple fires to cover it up.

⚖️ Years of delays: Attorney changes, legal motions, COVID disruptions, and appeals pushed one of NJ’s most notorious murder cases to this moment.

A New Jersey man accused of killing his brother and his family before setting their Monmouth County house on fire is finally facing trial.

Paul Caneiro was dealt a string of criminal charges, including four counts of first-degree murder, for the family massacre at a sprawling Colts Neck home more than seven years ago.

Keith Caneiro’s body was discovered on the front lawn by a landscaper two days before Thanksgiving in 2018. The bodies of Caneiro’s 45-year-old wife, Jennifer, and two children, 11-year-old Jesse and 8-year-old Sophia, were recovered from the wreckage.

Paul Caneiro was also accused of setting his own Ocean Township home on fire while his own family was inside.

The trial has been held up for years as Paul Caneiro’s rotating defense attorneys have filed repeated motions. He has maintained his innocence.

Here is a round-up of the harrowing deaths and what we know so far about the case.

Gruesome discovery of the Caneiro family, killed in Colts Neck

Keith Caneiro, 50, was shot four times in the head and once in the torso, before his lifeless body was recovered from his front lawn in Colts Neck.

His wife was shot in the head and stabbed in the torso, her body found near the stairs to their basement.

Their 11-year-old son was found in the kitchen, stabbed in the torso and arm, according to a 2019 lawsuit filed by Vlassis Karidis, Jennifer Caneiro’s father.

According to the lawsuit, based on a medical examiner’s findings, the youngest victim, Sophia, was the last to die and was still alive while the house was engulfed in flames, leading to lung damage and smoke inhalation that factored into her death.

She was found on the stairs leading to the second floor with stab wounds. The autopsy suggests that she suffered before she died based on an increase in white blood cells.

“Sophia survived her parents albeit with multiple stab wounds for an unimaginable period of time but demonstrably long enough to experience breathing difficulty and onset of high-degree stress,” the lawsuit says.

Karidis’ suit has been stayed for several years, pending the outcome of this criminal trial.

Read More: Lawsuit says girl, 8, suffered most in Colts Neck family homicide

Caneiro brothers as business partners, before being accused of fraud

Keith Caneiro started an IT consulting firm in 1989 and brought in his older brother with a 10% ownership interest, according to the 2019 lawsuit filed by Karidis, which also says the brothers took over a pest control company in 2011.

Attributing statements and messages shared with attorneys, the lawsuit said Keith and Jennifer Caneiro had accused Paul Caneiro of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from them and the businesses that the brothers held.

The night before he was killed, Keith Caneiro forwarded a company email stating that Paul Caneiro would no longer be paid his $225,000 salary, citing money missing from the business accounts, according to the lawsuit. The litigation is on hold pending this criminal trial.

In separate emails and messages cited by the lawsuit, Keith had said he was working to sell his companies and pursue a new position in order to be done dealing with his older brother.

About eight months before her brutal death, Jennifer Caneiro told her sister that her brother-in-law, that Caneiro had stolen thousands intended for her children’s trust and education funds, some of which he deposited into his own children’s education funds or used to pay down student loans.

The lawsuit also said that the Caneiros had voiced concerns to other family and friends about Paul Caneiro charging “excessive and improper personal expenses” to credit cards held by the businesses that he worked at with his brother.

Prosecutors say Paul Caneiro set two fires to cover up murders

The Colts Neck fire was reported around 1:30 p.m on Nov. 20, 2018, on Willow Brook Road. Investigators have said they believe Caneiro first killed his relatives and set the fire in Colts Neck before returning to his home about 5 a.m.

Prosecutors said the fire at Caneiro’s own house was both a “ruse” and an effort to destroy evidence that he had taken from the Colts Neck scene.

CBS New York shared helicopter footage of the Colts Neck fire as it was still being put out in 2018, as posted to YouTube.

The once-million-dollar property was cleared of the burned-out wreck by a demolition crew in 2020, Asbury Park Press reported.

Why the Caneiro quadruple murder trial took more than seven years

Paul Caneiro started with a public defender before using several prominent defense attorneys in the following years. In February 2025, Monika Mastellone took over as defense attorney.

In December 2018, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office had already said that a trial might not get underway until 2020. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on all court proceedings.

The state Supreme Court agreed in September to hear prosecutors’ appeal on one of Superior Court Judge Marc Lemieux’s rulings on evidence in the case, pushing jury selection to this month.

Last month, the state Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can use a digital video recorder as evidence in Caneiro’s trial, despite it being taken without a warrant issued, NJ.com reported.

Seven years ago, CBS New York shared video of Caneiro’s first court appearance.

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