COLTS NECK, NJ — The quadruple murder of a family of four in this bucolic community continues to capture the public’s attention – and also leave them asking a lot of questions.
Read more: Brother’s Lawyer In Colts Neck Murders: ‘He’s Devastated’
As of Friday afternoon, Nov. 23, here is the absolute latest as to where we are in the stunning Colts Neck quadruple homicide investigation, and a timeline of events in the Caneiro family murders:
5:01 a.m. Tuesday morning, Nov. 20: Two fires are started at Paul Caneiro’s home at 27 Tilton Drive in Ocean Twp. One fire was started in the rear of the home, and a second, smaller one was started at the attached garage door, according to the New York Times. Caneiro’s wife, Susan, was sleeping upstairs at the time of the fire, and his two daughters were in the home, as well. But all four family members, Paul included, met firefighters outside the home when they got there and were uninjured. Paul is pictured above.
A few hours later, in Colts Neck: Neighbors told the Asbury Park Press Keith and Jennifer Caneiro’s two children, Jesse, 11, and Sophia, 8, were not seen that morning at the bus stop on Willow Brook Road in Colts Neck, which they remarked was unusual.
Tuesday morning, Ocean Twp.: Neighbors said that Paul remained on his property at 27 Tilton Drive for several hours Tuesday morning, talking to firefighters and neighbors. He was seen at his home by one neighbor at noon, and his house is 10 miles away from his brother’s Colts Neck estate. A neighbor told NJ Advance Media that Paul was nearly crying when she saw him in the hours after his home caught fire. “He said, ‘I’m in complete shock, I can’t believe this is happening to me,'” said the neighbor. “He said it must have been a gas leak.” Paul’s lawyer also said he remained at his home all morning on Tuesday, and went to Ocean Twp. police headquarters at about noon. It was at Ocean Twp. police HQ that he was informed that his brother and family died in a fire. He burst into tears, his lawyer said, and was “devastated” at the news.
12:30 p.m., Tuesday: A neighbor on Willow Brook Road in Colts Neck told the Asbury Park Press she saw smoke coming from 15 Willow Brook, where the Caneiro family lived. But the neighbor said she assumed they were having a fire in their fireplace. Minutes later, she heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the property. At around that same time, a landscaper working on a neighboring house called 911 to report the home was on fire. The first arriving firefighters and police discover the body of Keith Caneiro, 50, shot multiple times, lying in the front lawn, the prosecutor said. Three more bodies are found inside the home. They are Jennifer Caneiro, 45, and the two children. All three of those bodies have been badly burned, the county prosecutor said. It takes firefighters several hours to extinguish the fire, which completely destroyed the home at 15 Willow Brook Road.
4:30 p.m., Tuesday afternoon: Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni holds a press conference in which he declares that both fires are being investigated as arsons, and that they are being investigated as connected, but he does not offer much more than that.
12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21: Paul Caneiro is taken into custody without incident by detectives with the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office and charged with setting his own home, 27 Tilton Drive, on fire. The prosecutor says he used gasoline to ignite his own home, and he is charged with aggravated arson as his wife and daughters were inside the home at the time.
Wednesday, 2 p.m.: Gramiccioni holds a second press conference and says that his detectives have not made much headway in the Colts Neck arson/murders, as the the crime scene at 15 Willow Brook still has not been rendered safe by the county fire marshal; they haven’t even been able to get inside the Colts Neck house yet. Gramiccioni says the scene is secure from tampering, but the fire marshal is worried the roof of the home will cave in. At that press conference, Grammiccioni also says there is no way Keith and Jennifer died from a murder/suicide, and says the Caneiro family in Colts Neck was murdered. He also says they were “targeted.” Additionally, he said they all died sometime before their home was set on fire, meaning Jennifer and her children did not die in the flames. A time of death is difficult to establish at this point. A police source told NBC the mother and children were stabbed to death, but the prosecutor refused to confirm that. The bodies of all four remain at the medical examiner as of Friday; the fact that three of them they were so badly burned is making it difficult to glean much information, the prosecutor said. However, he vowed his detectives will work through Thanksgiving, “missing their own families … to bring justice for the Caneiros.”
A few hours later on Wednesday evening: Detectives are finally given the OK to enter 15 Willow Brook Road in Colts Neck. They have been working there tirelessly day and night ever since.
5 p.m. Wednesday, Thanksgiving eve: The community of Colts Neck holds a vigil at Colts Neck town hall for the Caneiro family. Many in attendance are crying and have brought photos of the Caneiro couple and their children.
Thursday, Nov. 22: The lawyer for Paul Caneiro, Robert A. Honecker Jr., talks to several media outlets on Thanksgiving day. He said that his client is innocent of setting the fire at his own home, and that his wife and daughters have been supportive of him since he was arrested. He also said that Paul, 51, “loved” his younger brother, Keith, 50, “They were best friends. And he would not do his brother any harm,” Honecker told the New York Times. There were no serious issues brewing between them, he said, and nothing wrong in the two companies the brothers owned and managed together, Square One, a tech firm, and EcoStar Pest Management, which both operated out of the same building on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park.
Friday, Nov. 23: Investigators remain at the Colts Neck home, and are also seen non-stop at Tilton Drive, looking for evidence. A Monmouth County sheriff’s officer can be seen blocking traffic from Rt. 34 in Colts Neck onto Willow Brook Road.
Wednesday, Nov. 28: A detention hearing (when a judge decides whether or not he will remain in jail until his trial) is set for Paul Caneiro for 9 a.m. next Wednesday. That means he remains at the Monmouth County jail in Freehold on Thanksgiving and through the weekend. That is an unusually long period to hold someone before their bail hearing.
Mugshot of Paul Caneiro provided by Ocean Twp. police.
Related: Colts Neck Fire Was Quadruple Homicide, Family ‘Targeted:’ MCPO
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