Jan. 4, 2026

4 Murders. 2 Torched Mansions. One Motive: Money

4 Murders. 2 Torched Mansions. One Motive: Money

Jury selection begins on Monday for 59 year old Paul Caneiro who is facing first degree murder charges for the quadruple murder of his family members. Prosecutors also allege Caneiro burned down his own home along with his brother’s to try and cover up the brutal crime. Amy and T.J. go over the horrific details in the case and why it’s taken nearly 8 years for the trial to begin.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: That, folks.

00:00:11
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, January fourth, and a trial is about to finally get underway tomorrow in New Jersey. It's a trial that is some eight years, four horrific murders and two arsons in the making. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.

00:00:31
Speaker 1: Roads.

00:00:31
Speaker 2: This is one a lot of people. It's weird to say forgot about, but this was a horrific crime. Quite frankly, there's so much time between the crime and now the trial finally starting tomorrow.

00:00:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, as you pointed out, almost eight years ago, and the details of this crime are almost beyond understanding because this is about a man named Paul Canio who is charged with more and a dozen counts of murder. And the people he murdered were his own family members, his brother, his brother's wife, his brother's children.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we need to give some context there. It sounds like he's not facing he didn't kill a dozen people the counts. We need to explain how these counts go. But four people are dead, folks, and all four of them are his family members. We're talking about a case of robes. And I think, look, we're watched enough true crime, folks know it usually comes down to usually one of two things, love lust put those in the same category, or money. And this seemed to be a at least a prosecutor say, strictly a financial situation, but the extremes of man went through. We're talking about a guy who's accused folks of killing, Yes, his brother and his sister in law, but also they're two kids who are aged eight and eleven. Yes, right, he's accused of killing all of them and then trying to cover it up by setting two homes on fire. That's the crime we're talking about. And it's hard to get your head around.

00:01:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, because this took a lot of planning, and this took a lot of evil intent. It's I think people can maybe get their heads around crimes of passion, maybe even crimes of desperation, but to go to the level at which prosecutors say he did to plan this crime and then cover it up, and the method in which he did it is just horrific. We will get into the details of how he killed those family members or how police say he killed those family members.

00:02:25
Speaker 1: We should point out because.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: Paul has maintained his innocence this entire time, all these years later, The murders actually happened on November twentieth of twenty eighteen. This was in Coltsneck, New Jersey, Central New Jersey. People often refer to it as Horse Country. It's a beautiful, affluent part of that state, and it's centrally located.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: It's near New York City.

00:02:49
Speaker 3: And yeah, you don't think about I guess this is an idyllic community. And I know people often point to that when they talk about horrific crimes, but this is certainly not the setting you would expect this horrific crime scene to be in.

00:03:00
Speaker 2: It's weird. We say that, and we think about that, and it's yes, it's how it goes. We'll be telling the same story if it happened in another neighborhood with folks that don't look like this and aren't as affluent. Who knows, But this is a horrific crime no matter where it is. That it happened in this particular area is just such a stretch. But giving that it's a financial motive, maybe this does make more sense. These are folks, they're used to having a lot and not used to losing it, and they're setting up a scenario here at least prosecutors where this guy was in such desperation that he took these actions. I don't remember the case or the name. Only recently with some updates, but I didn't remember. He would have said Paul Canaro. The name wouldn't have registered. But that's who we're talking about, Paul Canaro, fifty nine years old. Do I have right he has been in jail this whole time?

00:03:50
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and his defense team put out a statement. With the trial set to begin tomorrow. On Monday, the jury selection will begin. But this is what Canaro's defense team put out in their statement. Paul has waited more than seven years to have a full and fair trial where the evidence will be heard and evaluated in a court of law. Despite this lengthy process, mister Canaro remains patient and resolute, as well as deeply grateful for the unwavering support of his close family and friends who continue to stand by him.

00:04:21
Speaker 2: Yes, he has, at least according to that his supporters has folks in his corner. A lot of people are having difficulty when you hear the details of this crime. It's hard to find sympathy. It's hard to find anyone, frankly, who would come out and say, yes, we love you and we support you, Paul Canero, but again, innocent, He'll proven guilty, and he is saying right now he's innocent. However, Robes as not. At least I have heard an alternate theory for how this all took place, because the authorities, at least prosecutors say, yes, two homes are set on fire, that is Paul Canaro and his brothers both homes arson and I guess they're saying that the suspect, now, the guy on trial, was trying to set up a scenario to make it look as if their entire family, the Canaro family, was being targeted. That's a that's a hell of a scheme. You're put together to burn down your own damn house.

00:05:19
Speaker 3: Yes, and to hope that your family's going to get out in time, because that is.

00:05:22
Speaker 1: Which they happened.

00:05:23
Speaker 3: Yes, but this, I think this is going to be fascinating to see what the defense puts up as their defense because with all of the evidence, and we'll go through it that the prosecutors have right now, they're going to have to put up some alternate theory, as you point out, and perhaps what he was trying to create, what prosecutors say he was trying to create in terms of a smoke and mirrors like a That may be what the defense goes with.

00:05:49
Speaker 1: Who knows, but we will find out in court.

00:05:52
Speaker 2: But I think is they don't have to. They don't have to. It might help with the jury. But we just watched the Brian Walls trial. They gave them an alternate theory of how someone and died, how the woman might have died. Do you have to or will they go up there and say, wasn't our guy. We don't have to prove who it was. We can just prove that it wasn't our guy. I don't know what other theory you put out for this one, because it is they have such a trail of financial desperation and fraud and wrongdoing by this guy that they can establish it seems a motive. But man, what motive would make you kill your brother, his wife and two babies.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, your niece, your nieces. You know this is family.

00:06:33
Speaker 3: And they lived close by to one of these homes, were close to each other, These brothers were business partners, These families did everything together. The prosecutor said in the case, I thought this was interesting. I mean, you hear a lot of superlatives when prosecutors are trying to discuss their cases. But they said, this is one of the most brutal cases that I've seen in my experience. And when you hear the details, it does it does read.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: We hear those, and we hear that a lot to the point, okay that again, that again that But so a lot of these cases I can't imagine. I mean, hell, I haven't. I mean, in all the cases we always cover, this one has some unique properties, Yes it does.

00:07:12
Speaker 3: So it begins on November twentieth, twenty eighteen, where prosecutors say it was at around five o'clock in the morning that firefighters responded to Paul Knaro's home in flames, and they say that Paul, his wife, his two adult daughters all escaped the fire.

00:07:27
Speaker 1: They were huddled in his Porsche, is.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: What they described it as, and they were up set, obviously scared, and authority say at the time Paul's wife said, we don't know who would be looking to harm us. We have no idea how this could have happened. But they found a gas can in his driveway and a like a charred glove, so it was clearly arson, and that was obvious by the crime scene, and the Canaro family were at least seemingly saying, we don't know who could be targeting us. And then seven hours later, his brother's home goes up in flames. Except for when police arrived there, it was a much different scene. The family members were not alive and they did not die because of the fire. Authorities found a horrific scene inside.

00:08:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean in time. I mean his brother's shot dead out in the front of the house. I mean, so this wasn't so it was clear this was something else right off the bat. I believe the brother was actually shot several times in the head. This was clear this was targeted. This was someone who had the intent of making sure no one survived this incident, not just a fire, but inside you got an eleven year old kid, eight year old kid, both dead. You got the forty five year old mother, Jennifer, also dead. I believe she was the other that had a gunshot when the kids had stab wounds. So think about the uncle right in the house killing his nieces in this situation is the scenario that the prosecutors are putting together. This is a scene of horror, of absolute horror in this house, and then he sets this one on fire again seven hours later, seven hours after he had set his own place on fire, according to authorities at least, So this is the crime, folks. And it's taken now eight years to get to this point because in part at least worlds it sounds like a lot of legal wrangling with this case, but lingal wrangling having to do with civil court and lawsuits. Because now a financial picture is coming together after the crime that's possibly helping give motive for the original criminal act.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: That's right, and police were very quick, by the way to arrest Paul Canaro. They arrested him three days after these fires for aggravated arson at his own home and then within a period of very short time they charged him with the murders and the other crimes afterwards. So almost immediately, this wasn't some long investigation of a who done it? They quickly zeroed in on Paul Canaro. So yes, when we come back, we will talk about the motive, which is all about money and how this all, according to prosecutors, went down and and and welcome back everyone as we continue to talk about a significant trial that is about to take place almost eight years in the making in central New Jersey. Jury selection begins on Monday for the Paul Canaro trial. He is accused of murdering four of his family members in the most horrific of ways. His own brother, his sister in law, his nieces. His nieces were stabbed to death in their own home, so was his sister in law and also shot. He according to police, shot his brother five I have times in his front yard and then set everyone's homes on fire. So the Knaro brothers were close, according to prosecutors, they were in business together, but in the months leading up to the killings, police say Keith discovered multiple instances of his brother Paul stealing from the business and from him personally.

00:11:23
Speaker 1: Allegedly.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: They say he was stealing eleven thousand dollars a month and stole a total of ninety thousand dollars from Keith's children's college tuitions, and so literally three days before the killings, his own brother said he was going to cut off his brother's salary.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Pretty damaging evidence.

00:11:42
Speaker 2: I mean that sure, this's going to all be a coincidence, but that is I mean, I don't know what motive, what financial motive, you could tell me and how bad things got that, I would say, oh, okay, I see why he snapped and did that. I see why he snapped and punched his brother. I see why he snapped in I don't know, punched a hole in his tire. So I see why I did all kinds of stuff. There is nothing financially I can understand about doing something this heinous, and look, I don't know how much it will come into play. They say there was a change in him after a terrible car accident he had had, and it might have messed with him, and he ended up on pain medication and addicted to it, and who knows. Who knows they going to try to use that, But there is nothing you can point to. How bad is he going to I don't know. I'm not going to get into their defense, but that's just yeah, there's nothing here.

00:12:31
Speaker 3: No, there was, You're right, there was some A lot has been written about Paul having some serious car accident in twenty twelve. I believe so that would have been six years prior to the killings themselves. But they said there was a significant change in him, that it was a traumatic brain injury, and he was never the same and yes, the pain medications, but obviously that would not be a defense or justification for the heinous murders that took place, and he is denied.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: Actually committing them, so you can't, so that's out the window.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you could change it at the end, but that'd be difficult to understand as well. But yeah, what is the defense going to be other than I didn't do it? There's evidence having to do with I don't know exactly what's going to be entered, but whether or not. It seemed to show him disconnecting a home surveillance system.

00:13:24
Speaker 1: Oh but that's because it was interfering with the Wi Fi, babe, that's.

00:13:27
Speaker 2: What he said. But the Wi Fi happened to be hardwired, so it's not even a wireless signal to actually get screwed up, is what they Yes, I actually said as well, So I don't. I am fascinated to hear what they come up with. We're not going to hear it tomorrow because it's just jury selection that could take at least a week because we've seen with some of these things. But when that opening statement comes, I am going to be glued to that court.

00:13:52
Speaker 3: This is going to be fascinating. We have been watching now several court cases over these past few months and just to see what the defense can bring to the table there. Obviously, as you point out, do not have to put or up any sort of defense other than the prostitution has to prove their case and we don't have to prove anything.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: He didn't do it, period, end of story.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: But usually when we hear these opening statements, we do get an indication of what alternative theory they're going to offer the jury juries do. Motive is important. It's not necessary, but it's important. People and jurors, just as a human experience, want to understand what happened. And if you're saying that didn't happen, then what else could have happened. That's usually a strategy by most defense attorneys, but not always.

00:14:37
Speaker 2: But if you're sitting on the jur Okay, fine, you tell me he didn't do it, So what happened? I need to hear something. As a jur I honestly, honestly do. But right now, motive wise, from what I've read and what the prosecution has put out. Again, we always put ourselves in the position of the jurors, and as a juror, I hear enough of a motive, I hear enough of this guy being pissed with everything Laiter out financially, and I.

00:15:01
Speaker 3: Don't know exactly, and that, of course the motive yes, does seem to read to make a lot of sense, and if they can actually show because of these lawsuits, these civil lawsuits that are in place, there's a lot of evidence that has been accumulating over the past seven plus years. But we know that Paul's attorneys did try to bar prosecutors from introducing a lot of this evidence.

00:15:21
Speaker 1: They weren't successful. Initially.

00:15:23
Speaker 3: They were with that surveillance evidence from his garage where he supposedly tried to turn off a security system in his garage and he did actually around one thirty in the morning. They actually got that thrown out by a lower court, but just last month New Jersey's High Court overruled that decision so that that evidence will be allowed. They also tried to get DNA evidence thrown out, the testing they said they used to test the DNA they were questioning that that got thrown out. So all of their efforts over the years to try and get some of this evidence, prosecutors have squelched didn't work.

00:15:57
Speaker 1: It's all coming out in court.

00:15:59
Speaker 3: And we will be watching, so we always appreciate you staying tune with us. But please know that we will be covering this trial and I wanted to give you the information on it because it is going to be explosive and we will be following up with you all. So thank you for listening. We always appreciate it. I'm Ami Robot alongside TJ.

00:16:17
Speaker 1: Holmes.

00:16:17
Speaker 2: We've been