Katelyn Caneiro said she is still haunted by the 2018 killings of her uncle, aunt and two young cousins as jury selection in her father’s quadruple-murder trial approaches.
Paul Caneiro, 58, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he gunned down his brother, Keith Caneiro, 50, shot and stabbed Keith’s wife, Jennifer, 50, and then killed their children, 8-year-old Sophia and 11-year-old Jesse, before setting their Colts Neck mansion ablaze, prosecutors allege. Authorities say Paul Caneiro then torched his own Ocean Township home in an effort to create a false alibi.
In a Facebook tribute posted Nov. 20, 2021, Katelyn, who goes by Kateith Elizabeth on the platform, wrote, “Everyday I think of you and wish that I could just hug you one last time. everyday I think of how unfair it is that you were taken away from us so soon . . . everyday is a struggle without the four of you, it will never get easier.” The post included a black-and-white photograph of Katelyn smiling alongside the slain relatives.
In separate passages she recalled private memories of each family member, writing that she missed her uncle’s laugh and “corny jokes,” that she wanted to be like her aunt and that her nephew “facetimed me every week (at three years old).” She described Sophia as “my Pipsqueak. My mini me,” and said the presence of her slain relatives in dreams and in small signs keeps her going.
Prosecutors have argued that money and greed were the motive for the killings, saying Keith had discovered Paul had taken up to $75,000 from two Asbury Park-based businesses the brothers co-owned — EcoStar Pest Management and an IT venture called Squareone — and was preparing to cut Paul off from the paychecks he had been receiving. A former attorney for Paul Caneiro has said the defendant “would never hurt any member of his family.”
Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin May 19 in Monmouth County after a judge denied a defense motion to move the trial out of the county, according to court filings and media reports. The case has drawn local attention because of the severity of the allegations and the family connections among the parties involved.
Katelyn Caneiro, 33, is a Seton Hall University graduate who works as a nurse, according to her social media profile. Members of the Caneiro family have declined to comment publicly about the criminal case. Paul and his wife, Susan Caneiro, have another daughter, Marissa, and Susan has relocated to Toms River, New Jersey; Susan told a reporter she would not comment. Other relatives also declined to speak when approached.
Court papers and media accounts say investigators allege Paul used both a firearm and a knife in the attacks and then intentionally set both properties on fire. He has been charged in state court with multiple counts related to homicide and arson. The defendant remains free on bail while pretrial proceedings continue, according to public records.
The case has produced conflicting narratives from prosecutors and defense lawyers. Prosecutors have emphasized the alleged financial motive and the steps they say show an effort to conceal involvement, while the defense has maintained Paul’s innocence. A judge’s refusal to grant a change of venue leaves the trial to proceed in Monmouth County, where pretrial motions and jury selection are scheduled.
Katelyn’s social posts, some of which were shared years after the killings, convey ongoing grief: “I feel so lost without you. every time I feel like giving up you send a sign or come to me in my dreams,” she wrote in a 2020 post. Those posts, and the family’s reluctance to speak publicly, underscore the long-lasting impact the killings have had on relatives who are not parties to the criminal case.
The trial is expected to focus on the events of the night in 2018, the evidence gathered by investigators in the years since and the disputed motive. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have made pretrial arguments in advance of jury selection, and the court has set a schedule for the proceedings that will determine whether jurors find the defendant guilty or not guilty of the charges against him.