FREEHOLD, N.J. — A New Jersey technology executive was charged Thursday with killing his brother and the brother’s family over a business dispute, and then setting fire to their mansion and his own house in an attempt to cover up the crimes.
Paul Caneiro, 51, was charged with four counts of murder, as well as arson and two weapons violations, in the death of his 50-year-old brother, Keith, along with Keith’s wife, Jennifer, and their two children, at their Colts Neck estate, about 50 miles south of New York City. They were shot, stabbed or both.
“This one is the most brutal case I’ve seen in my experience here,” said Monmouth County prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
Caneiro’s motive “was financial in nature,” stemming from two businesses — a computer systems company called Square One and a pest control business — that he and his brother jointly ran in Asbury Park, the prosecutor said. He declined to elaborate.
Keith Caneiro had some upcoming job interviews planned after getting his master’s degree this year, according to Brian Bott, who owns a fitness studio where he worked out. Bott did not know whether he planned to keep working with his brother if he got a new job.
Keith Caneiro, he said, was “a super busy guy,” but if he ever mentioned any work stress, it was “nothing relative to something like this.”
Paul Caneiro was already under arrest on a charge he set fire to his own home 10 miles away in Ocean Township while his wife and two daughters were inside. The second fire was a ruse intended to make it appear the extended family was a target, the prosecutor said.
There was no evidence he intended to kill his own family, he said. They escaped without injury.
Caneiro’s attorneys, Robert Honecker and Mitchell Ansell, said their client loved his brother’s family, had no reason to harm them and had been “wrongly accused.”
“There is absolutely no reason in the world for Paul Caneiro to have committed the crimes,” the statement said, while adding, “Paul Caneiro just couldn’t say no to his family.”
