Brother charged in killings at mansion

FREEHOLD, N.J. — A New Jersey tech 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 deaths of his 50-yearold 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 — he and his brother jointly ran in Asbury Park, the prosecutor said. He declined to elaborate, saying the investigation was incomplete.

Caneiro had already been 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. He said there was no evidence he intended to kill his own family. 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 has been “wrongly accused.”

“There is absolutely no reason in the world for Paul Caneiro to have committed the crimes,” their statement said. Paul Caneiro