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A New Jersey tech executive found guilty of murdering his brother and his brother’s family in their luxury Colts Neck home in 2018 was handed a life sentence on Tuesday. The judge described him as a “heartless, brutal killer” during the sentencing.
Paul Caneiro, 59, received four life sentences without the chance of parole from Monmouth County Judge Marc Lemieux.
“In this case, there was an overwhelming amount of evidence indicating the defendant was a callous, heartless, brutal killer,” Lemieux stated during the proceedings.
The judge remarked, “This was the annihilation of an entire family, a mass murder executed by someone who should have been their protector… because the defendant’s web of lies was unraveling around him.”
“He remains a manipulative, cold-blooded killer,” Lemieux concluded.
Caneiro was convicted by a jury in February of shooting his business partner brother, Keith Caneiro, 50, outside the sibling’s mansion before going inside and shooting and stabbing Keith’s 45-year-old wife, Jennifer, on Nov. 20, 2018.
Paul then stabbed his niece and nephew, Sophia, 8, and Jesse, 11, before setting the home on fire and returning to his own Ocean Township house, lighting a blaze there too to make it appear as though he was also being targeted. Paul’s wife and two daughters were unscathed.
Jennifer’s mother, Bette Karidis, told the judge ahead of sentencing that “a thousand years would not be enough” of a punishment for Paul, whom she slammed as a “monster” and “pure evil.”
“In an act of pure evil, he took the life of four innocent people,” Karidis said. “His own flesh and blood out of grief and selfishness. He disgusts us.
“He stole the source of joy and happiness in our lives and replaced it with bottomless sadness, sorrow and grief.”
Jennifer’s sister, Bonnie Karidis, called for the harshest sentence possible, saying Paul “must be removed from society.”
“The sheer malice and betrayal is unbearable,” Bonnie said. “They were executed and tortured by someone who was family … they welcomed him into their space and he took their lives for material wealth.
“The satin in this room stole decades of laughter, holidays, graduations and weddings from all of us for temporary material wealth,” Bonnie said.
Paul looked on somberly, wearing yellow jail clothes. He did not speak in court but his lawyer Monika Mastellone said he “maintains his innocence.”
“The amount of loss and devastation is truly immeasurable,” Mastellone said. “There is nothing I can say to mitigate that tragedy.”
Paul was driven to the grisly slayings in a bid to silence Keith after the younger brother confronted Paul about stealing $80,000 from Keith’s trust meant to fund his life insurance policy, prosecutors alleged at trial.
Paul — who owned a tech company and an extermination company with Keith — was struggling financially, paying for four luxury cars and bankrolling trips with his gal pal Yisel Restrepo, prosecutors claimed.
Meanwhile, Paul’s lawyer, Monika Mastellone, argued at trial that a third Caneiro brother, Corey, may have actually been responsible for the murders and framed Paul.
Paul would forfeit his share of Keith’s $3 million trust if convicted of murder, leaving Corey as the sole inheritor, Mastellone argued.
And Paul loved Keith and his family too much to ever be capable of murdering them, the defense lawyer argued.
Paul cried when Mastellone described how close he was to the victims.
Paul also wasn’t actually overextended like prosecutors contended, since he was collecting $200,000 in disability payments and the extermination company was potentially going to be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mastellone argued.
The jury found Paul guilty of all charges, including murder, aggravated arson, weapons possession and hindering apprehension.