Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Tech company CEO, wife, children murdered in mansion fire; was his own brothers' jealousy motive for murder?

Episode Date: November 30, 2018

The brother of a businessman found shot to death at his New Jersey mansion has been charged with four murders, including the deaths of his sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Paul Caneiro, 51, is also charged with setting fire to his and his brother's home. Nancy Grace explores the case with forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan -- author of "Blood Beneath My Feet," North Carolina family and divorce lawyer Kathleen Murphy, and Crime Stories reporter Robyn Walensky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. No, it's not Santa. It's Nancy Grace. Are you trying to find the perfect gift for a parent or an expecting parent? Please do not give them another onesie. Don't do it. And not another plastic toy that's going to end up in the trash bin or the garage or sent

to Goodwill. This holiday season, give them something that really matters. And what matters more than protecting their child? I sat down with the smartest people in the world that I know when it comes to child safety, finding missing children, and fighting back against predators. And what I learned is so critical and the information so powerful and important. I want you to have it. I want them as parents to have it. Go to crimestopshere.com for a five-part series with action information that you can use to change your life and protect your child because I have done it myself based on what

they have told me. Give that as a gift, not another onesie, please. Find out how to protect your child out and about at the mall, at the store, at the grocery store, in parking lots, in parking decks, at your home, in your neighborhood. Find out about protection regarding babysitters, nannies, daycare, even protection online. It's the very best gift you can give any parent. Go to crimestopshere.com and join the Justice Nation. Crimestopshere.com. God willing. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, but first, this special CrimeOnline.com report,

the police interviews, and the Chris Watts murder case. I'm Alan Duke. The prosecutor who sent Colorado dad Chris Watts to prison for life after he admitted murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters released hours of police interrogations today. And you can hear them on Nancy's crime and justice website, CrimeOnline.com. You will hear Watts confess to detectives that he killed his wife, but you'll also hear his lie that he did it in a rage

after seeing her on a baby monitor strangle one of their daughters. It's either going to be life in prison or the death penalty, isn't it? a rage after seeing her on a baby monitor strangle one of their daughters. The prosecutor also released the police interview with Chris Watt's mistress, Nicole Kessinger. She told investigators about intimate details of their relationship and what she knew about his family. The two met at work, flirting in the hallways for months before going out. And then one day he told me that he had two kids. I was like, that's pretty cool. And he started telling me about his kids. That sounded like a sarcastic comment. No, I thought it was kind of cute. I was like, oh, he's a dad. It was like right around Father's Day too. Nicole says Watts did not wear a wedding ring. The thing was is he was never

hostile. It was never anything aggressive. Like even when he spoke of his wife and the fact that they were separating, it was never like ill. It was, it was very, it was still very kind. It was just like, this is not working. Kessinger says she started dating Watts in June 2018 and she thought he was in the final stages of a divorce. I didn't know his significant other's name for a while and then I think he told me his kids names pretty quick. But a police search of Nicole's computer revealed she researched Shanon Watts' name online in September a year before. Did he ever tell you that he loved you? Yes he did. Did you ever tell him the same? A couple times. She says she was concerned about baggage Watts might bring from

his first marriage into their relationship. I mean he just told me he's like we're house broke all the time. I was just like that's unfortunate and I asked him I was like do you have 401k and he was like yeah and I mean the reason I ask him this is because if I get in a relationship with somebody, I want to know, like, what kind of baggage that they have. I think that's important. But looking back, Nicole says she had no warning signs about how much baggage Watts carried. To this day, even after everything that I found out, I still look back at that, and I don't see any red lights with the way that he spoke of his family. Watts was bold enough to take his mistress several times to the home he shared with his wife and kids.

I saw a picture of his wife and one of his kids, and I remember thinking to myself, like, wow, she's so beautiful I like took a step back and I was just like this man has a gorgeous house he has beautiful babies he has a beautiful wife he has an awesome job like why would he want to leave this and I remember talking him about it and that was the first time that I tried to actually say what do you think about not separating from your wife? Like, what if you really try to work on this? And he had expressed to me that we've tried to work on this and it's not working, so that is why we're separating. And I spent some time, like, just, you know, kind of, because it almost made me feel bad,

where I was like to the point where I'm engaging in a relationship with a man who, the way he described it, is in a contractual agreement, but was not in like an emotional relationship with somebody. And for me, the way I would have preferred to do this is to avoid it until that contractual agreement was also done, and he was done done and he could have approached me and said I'm just had a divorce you know maybe we could take this slow what do you think but instead it was oh we're separated and we're working on a divorce and that is the part that I feel bad about because I should have waited on that and I didn't. It was the media coverage of the search for Watts' missing family in August that finally

made Nicole realize Watts was a liar, maybe a killer. She called cops after reading in the newspaper that Shanon Watts was four months pregnant. Before calling police, though, she deleted everything from her phone relating to Chris. You found out that his wife was pregnant? Yes. And you did not know that prior? No. And you found that out via the newspaper articles and that caused you concern? Well I just realized that he was lying to me and I was like well if you can lie to me about this what else are you lying to me about? And it made me realize that maybe his wife was in danger at that point, and it was day two, too, and she still wasn't home. What did that cause you to do with your phone, though?

Oh, what, when I deleted those? I was just kind of grossed out by him, to be honest with you. I was just like, I don't know what's going on right now, but you just lied to me and I don't want to see this come over my phone anymore. So I removed it. So you just, you already said, but you removed text messages. I deleted all of his stuff because he lied to me. I mean, that's what it was. It was, it was the hurt that made me delete it. And then it was the lie that made me start questioning everything else he'd been telling me for the last few days. And that's when you decided to come forward? Yes.

Okay. Watch the full interview with Nicole Wessinger and the police interviews of Chris Watts on Nancy's crime and justice website, CrimeOnline.com. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A tragic scene just two days before Thanksgiving, a home that should be filled with family preparing for the holiday, instead surrounded by dozens of fire trucks. The mansion off Route 34 on Willowbrook Road went aflame Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters were called here around 1 p.m. to find one man dead just outside the house and inside three more bodies, another adult and two children.

Unfortunately, they were burned severely as a result of the fire that they were up to, so that's making things somewhat challenging with the medical examination that needs to ensue. The bodies have not been identified, but property records show the homeowners as Keith and Jennifer Canero. Investigators soon realized the family owned its house has relatives about 10 miles away in Ocean Township, and their home also caught fire earlier the same day. Wonderful people, very nice, very friendly, anybody that you'd want to be living next door to. store too. A tech company giant, a CEO and his wife found dead along with their two little children in a huge blaze at a nearly two million dollar mansion. Police now revealing the husband found

outside the home with a deadly gunshot wound. So of course course, at first glance, you would think this was an arson, but no, gunshots involved. What happened? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Bombshell now. We are learning murder charges have been filed in the Colts Neck Fire. Allegedly, this man killed his brother and his brother's entire family the wife jennifer the two little children and set the home on fire it's almost more than i can take in straight out to crimeonline.com investigative reporter robin walensky robin what happened well the monmouth county prosecutor has connected the dots with his many investigators on this case in Colts Neck, New Jersey. And Paul Canero is charged. The older brother is now charged with four counts of murder, Nancy.

This is for allegedly killing his younger brother, Keith, 50. They're a year apart, his wife, Jennifer, 45 years old, and the two little kids, little Jesse, who was 11, and Sophia, just eight years old in the third grade, all dead. Take a listen to Monmouth County, New Jersey, prosecutor Christopher Grimuccione. We have charged defendant Canero with four counts of murder, one count of aggravated arson, one count of possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, and one count of possession of a knife for an unlawful purpose. These charges that were filed this morning are in addition to the charge that was filed last week out of Ocean Township for the alleged aggravated arson of the

defendant's own home. And by filing these charges, the state alleges that the defendant murdered his brother Keith Canero and Keith's entire family, his two children Sophia and Jesse, and his wife Jennifer, during the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 20th. Specifically, we allege that the defendant repeatedly shot and killed his brother while he was outside of the side of his home and then moved to murder the rest of the family inside the home. We allege that Jennifer was shot and stabbed and the two Canero children were repeatedly stabbed by knife. We also allege that after murdering the Canero family, the defendant then set fire to the house at 15 Willowbrook in Colts Neck in an effort to conceal and disguise his earlier committed crimes. mind that would convince you that it's okay to not only to murder your brother, but his wife, who's clearly probably still asleep, and the two little children. How do you ever feel justified in murdering children? You know, Nancy, I don't know. I think you need to look at this guy. They

need to look at him very carefully and what the motivator was. He was involved in businesses, multiple businesses with his brother since the 90s. They had a successful tech company. They also had a pesticide company operated out of the same building in Asbury Park, New Jersey, also in Monmouth County, home originally to Bruce Springsteen. Many people know this area of the Jersey Shore. They were both living in very expensive homes. The older brother living in a $700,000 home, the younger brother living in almost a $2 million home. So clearly they were very successful. But was there some sort of jealous rage going on? The rage that you could stab the mother, Jennifer, 45, and the two little kids, they were stabbed to death, Nancy. And then

the fire was set after the fact. The husband of this family, the brother, the younger brother, was found shot to death outside, shot in the back of the head. And I want to add that in addition to the four counts of murder, if that's not enough, there's possession of a firearm he's charged with and also possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. What do we know about the fires? Nancy, here's the bottom line. Paul Canero, who's now charged with the four counts of murder and the weapons charge, originally the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office charged him with the single charge of aggravated arson. This for setting his own home in Ocean Township, 10 miles away from Colts Neck on fire. There were two small fires at his home, one in the backyard behind the house,

and one that was kind of connected to the garage. You know how there's a garage door, like an actual manual door, not where the cars are coming through, but where a person could come through. There was a second fire there. And so that charge was for the fire at his own home at 5 a.m. It's the second fire in Colts Neck that comes down the pike seven hours later in the noon hour. Listen to this. Keith Canero's cause and manner of death was ruled to be multiple gunshot wounds by homicide. Jennifer, Jesse and Sophia's cause and manner of death remain open pending toxicology reports. But as I mentioned last week when we spoke about this case, it is the state's position and allegations that they were the victims of homicidal violence, as indicated by the charges that were filed today. The cause of the two fires at the Ocean Township home and the Colteneck home has been determined to be arson by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms? I want to move to the tech company CEO, his wife, and their two young children found dead at the scene of an intentional fire in a very upscale neighborhood.

The bodies of Keith Canero, his wife Jennifer, their son and daughter, all discovered dead. And their $2 million Colt's neck home up in flames. Now, to Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, his book on Amazon. Now, when you walk into, and I've had an arson very similar to this, and let me tell you something, Joe Scott, as you well know, arsons, in my mind, are one of the most difficult cases to prove. Because first, you've got to prove it was a crime, that it's not accidental. You've got to figure out how the fire started. When all your evidence is burned up, that's sometimes hard to do. So I started developing a thing, let me just say, for arsons because they're very, very technical cases. When you first come up to a home that's burned to the ground and people are dead, you think, ah, accidental fire, death by smoke inhalation.

But only when you determine the cause of the fire, be it electrical, be it accelerant, such as gasoline or alcohol of some sort. I've had one arson in a million-dollar home started with a shoe cleaner with acetone in it. You can find that, I believe, in fingernail polish. Long story short, you've got to get the bodies, if they're not charred beyond recognition, and then do the autopsy. When you find the man, the dad, out front, and then you examine the body, find out he didn't die from smoke inhalation. He died from a gunshot wound. You take it on, Joe Scott. Yeah, that's a bizarre set of circumstances, Nancy.

And there's two ways that we look at this. You're absolutely right when you're talking about how complicated and complex these cases are. If no one's ever been in our audience has never been into a home that's been burned down, it looks like just a jumbled mass of black and gray debris everywhere. And I remember as a young investigator looking at this and thinking, how in the world is all of this sorted out? But there is a method to the madness. When we do the examinations on bodies that have been subjected to fire, first off, my first thought is not that this is an accident. I work down. I assume that everything is a homicide, and when I take a look at a body, I'm going to look at it toxicologically, and I'm going to look at the injuries, and in this particular case, what we do is we draw blood.

We look for something that's called carboxyhemoglobin. And what that simply means is, were they alive? Were they alive at the time that the fire was going on? Because if they were, that means that the carbon monoxide level in their blood is going to be particularly high. And also, we're going to look into their airway to see if they've actually physically inhalated any kind of debris, like burning paper, burning wood, anything that'll give us a physical indication. Tell me this. They find the body of Keith Canero, the dad, out front from a gunshot wound. And suddenly they think, oh, okay, he killed himself. Then he burns the house down. So that's the first line of thinking. Guys, for those of you just joining us, a CEO and his two

small children, the young son and daughter, found dead in a horrific place. I'm looking at the little boy and the little girl right now. Jackie, the little boy, has on the same exact outfit my son wears. The little Under Armour shirt. He thinks he's so cool. And the little black socks with the red stripe up the back. That's the thing at their school. And the little girl's hair is all tousled. Tousled like she just got out of bed. I'm looking at their photos right now. I'm looking at a picture of Keith Caneira and my wife Jennifer smiling, doing a selfie together. I don't understand what happened, but I do know this. When they first come up, Kathleen Murphy joining me, North Carolina family lawyer, you come upon a scene, Kathleen, the husband's out front with a gunshot wound, the wife and the two little children dead in the

$2 million mansion. They think it's murder-suicide. Because that's typically the way that playbook goes, Kathleen. Why? Domestic violence is rampant. Custody actions are rampant. Men killing their wives and their children. And the Chris Watts case is in the news. And it is a problem.

And that's what's going on in my mind. It's the first impression of that story. Right now I'm looking at video showing smoke pouring from the roof of this gorgeous mansion, the mansion on fire, and it looks like somebody has covered Canero's body, lying out front in the yard with a sheet. At this point, I doubt they know that inside is the beautiful young mom and two little children, but all is not as it seems. I'm sad to report that we've had an incident here

that remains under investigation. Around 1238, the county dispatch received a call for a structure fire on Willow Grove Road in Colts Neck here in town. There was a response, a large fire and police response, and that continues as I stand here today. Unfortunately, we have confirmed that there are four fatalities that were found to be at the home. It's two adults and two children.

We are still investigating the cause and manner, and unfortunately the fire, because it is still ongoing, it's creating some challenges for our investigation. But a number of ladders, more than 20 fire departments, continue to work to suppress and extinguish that fire. And we're going to continue our investigation once that scene is released. I don't have any information I can provide on identity of these individuals. We now know who the four people were.

It was Keith Canero, the CEO of a tech company, his beautiful young wife, Jennifer, and their two little children, absolutely precious children, all four killed ablaze in their $2 million mansion. But not all is as it seems. As a matter of fact, in criminal law, Kathleen Murphy, you know very well, I always say there's no coincidence in criminal law. Nope, there is no coincidence. And where there's smoke, there's fire. I was just waiting for somebody to say that. I thought it would be Jackie, but it was you.

Okay, Robin Walensky, there are two different mansions. Explain the significance of two mansions at issue in the same 24-hour period. Okay, I'm going to make it crystal clear. There are two fires in two separate towns 10 miles apart. The first fire, Nancy, happens at 5 o'clock in the morning at Paul Canero's house. That house is $670,000. There's a fire.

911 is called, his wife and two daughters, and he gets out safely in Ocean Township. About 10 miles away, seven hours later, there is a fire at the $2 million mansion in Colts Neck. It's a really well-to-do town. Bruce Springsteen, the singer, has a home there. Jon Stewart, the comedian, has a home there. And many other famous names. A lot of people live there anonymously on these big 10-acre horse farms. It's one of the wealthiest, most beautiful town in New Jersey. I am from New Jersey.

Colts Neck is big-time money. And, Nancy, that's where the second fire is seven hours later. You're telling me that there was an early, early, early morning fire with Paul Canero in his seven hundred thousand dollar mansion. And then what happened? And then the Monmouth County nine one one system. These people both live in Monmouth County. They get a call for a fire at a second home. Same last name. Ding, ding, ding. And that's when alarm bells literally go off, Nancy, that there's fire at the older brother's house who's 51 and fire at the second brother's house who's 50. Okay, now, Joe Scott Morgan, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University.

Joe Scott, I mean, just at first blush, you've got two brothers, 10 miles apart, both living in mansions, both with their wives and children at home. When fires break out in the early morning hours, at first glance, you would assume you would deduct either there's a vendetta against the Canero family and both the brothers have been, their homes have been set on fire, or one set the other's home on fire. I mean, there's got to be a connection. They're 10 miles apart. They happen within a couple of hours of each other. Same MO, arson.

They've got to be connected, Joe Scott. There's no doubt in my mind about that. Yeah, yeah, you're right, Nancy. And, you know, I'm not going to be looking to the heavens to see if brimstones raining down and just arbitrarily strikes these two homes there is connectivity. The Canero brothers. My first idea is that I want to see the connectivity between both of these events the methodology that's used and that is what's the origin of this fire where where do they start in a particular location was one started

interiorly or was one started exteriorly or both also another thing that's key here is that most fires don't just spontaneously start you're gonna have to have an electrical source you can have a chemical source you can have a source like gasoline you had mentioned earlier some kind of flammable liquid. And one of the things that we look for in this mass of burned debris are hot spots, these areas where accelerant is used. Generally, there'll be more destruction in that particular area as a point of origin. That's one of the things we look for. What could have caused this?

Well, let me tell you something, Joe Scott. You're absolutely right. When you're analyzing an arson scene, you find the most damage. Typically, that's where the fire started. It's where the most damage is. If you have an accelerant, I recall one arson scene that was chalked up to electrical. It wasn't electrical. It was started with an accelerant.

The kitchen was most badly damaged. That's where the fire started. And you could hardly make it out. But on the floor, it looked like somebody had poured Coke, Pepsi, something like that. And it had dried. That's what the burned floor looked like. That is where the accelerant was poured. That's just what it looked like to me. Okay. Then we bring in a fire dog who, you know, dogs only see in shades of like gray and black. The dog immediately hit on what it looked like to me was dried Coke.

What that was is where the floor had been scorched, in the outline where they poured the accelerant. It was not gasoline, but I'll just say gasoline for purposes of this discussion. Like where the gasoline had been poured, you could actually see the scorched outline on the floor, okay? And at first, we thought the wife, the mom, had died of smoke inhalation until we get to the hospital, and she had a cylindrical blow to the very top of her head. So that's how that particular arson worked out. Take a listen to this. The origin of the Colts Neck fire was in the basement, and the origin of the Ocean Township fire was two exterior locations

at each end of the house in Ocean Township. Now, there's been extensive speculation about a timeline or order of events as it pertained to the fires in these two towns. We allege that the Colts Neck incident happened in the early morning hours of last Tuesday, November 20th. We also allege that the defendant returned to his house in Ocean Township with certain items of evidence that he retained from the Colts Neck crime scene, and I can't provide any further description as to that type of evidence because of the ethical and legal rules that constrain us. From there, we allege the defendant intentionally set fire in his home at or about 5 a.m. for the purpose of both destroying evidence of his earlier crimes in Colts Neck and to also create the illusion that the overall Canero family was

somehow victimized or targeted. We allege that it was a ruse. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. No, it's not Santa. It's Nancy Grace. Are you trying to find the perfect gift for a parent or an expecting parent? Please do not give them another onesie. Don't do it. And not another plastic toy

that's going to end up in the trash bin or the garage or sent to Goodwill this holiday season, give them something that really matters. And what matters more than protecting their child? I sat down with the smartest people in the world that I know when it comes to child safety, finding missing children, and fighting back against predators. And what I learned is so critical and the information so powerful and important. I want you to have it. I want them as parents to have it. Go to crimestopshere.com for a five-part series with action information that you can use to change your life and protect

your child because I have done it myself based on what they have told me. Give that as a gift, not another onesie, please. Find out how to protect your child out and about at the mall, at the store, at the grocery store, in parking lots, in parking decks, at your home, in your neighborhood. Find out about protection regarding babysitters, nannies, daycare, even protection online. It's the very best gift you can give any parent. Go to crimestopshere.com and join the Justice Nation. Crimestopshere.com. God willing. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. After two house fires and four murders, police in quiet Colts Neck, New Jersey, spent Thanksgiving Eve looking to solve a gruesome mystery. It started when flames shot through this sprawling mansion around 1230 yesterday afternoon.

Inside, 45-year-old Jennifer Canero and what police believe were her two young children, their bodies left to burn. And outside, another grim find. Their father, 50-year-old Keith Canaro, shot to death on the lawn. You are hearing from our friend Tony DeCoppo of CBS News reporting four people dead. All four of homicidal violence. Now, that's a big clue right there to Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics. When you have an arson, you know, the dad has been shot. You don't know about the other three. They knew already it was homicide, not just an arson. The two children were actually stabbed

dead, Joe Scott and the wife as well. Yeah, and the police, if there's anything good in this investigation, the police do have evidence of homicidal violence before going into the home. I think many times we walk in and we don't have a direction to go in, but if we've got a dead guy laying on the lawn, then anybody else that we find in that home is going to be suspect relative to the injuries that they have. And it is just an absolute mess, Nancy, when you have bodies that have been burned. And most of the time when bodies are burned in connection with a homicide, it's to destroy evidence. And sometimes, if we talk about accelerants, this sort of thing,

they create more evidence. Because I don't know about this particular case. I've had cases where perpetrators have literally gone in, they've killed people, and they have taken accelerant ported over the bodies thinking that, oh yeah, this is just going to absolutely destroy the body. It doesn't. It takes an incredible amount of heat to destroy a human body. And he didn't succeed. Yeah, it would have gotten rid of all of that evidence. Stab wounds would have been practically impossible to prove. A shooting, more likely, because you may have found a bullet.

A neighbor says her husband saw the smoke, saw the smoke from the Colts Neck home and ran to help. She said the husband claims the door was open and the husband starts screaming, is anybody here? Is anybody here? And then he calls 911. Then he saw what was left of a body. We're learning so much more right now. We're learning that the two little children, Jesse 11, Sophia 8, also murdered in their $2 million home at Willowbrook Road. I think if you have a house that's almost $2 million, that it's packed tightly with video and security, and there's so much of that going on.

I know for a fact that at the first house that there was security there. Think of what these two brothers did for a living. They worked for a company called Square One, which is a tech consulting firm. So they had all this high tech stuff, especially at the $700,000 house. They said that he had infrared on different floors and security cameras. I think the Monmouth County prosecutor, I think that if there are videos and surveillance, they are keeping it very tight. So I just picked up on something you said, Robin Walensky, joining me, I think that if there are videos and surveillance, they are keeping it very tight. So I just picked up on something you said. Robin Walensky joining me, investigative reporter with CrimeOnline.com,

where you can find this and all other breaking crime and justice news. Kathleen Murphy with me, North Carolina family lawyer and forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan. Also with me, Jackie Howard here in the studio and Alan Duke joining me from L.A. Robin, you mentioned that both of the brothers work for the same tech company. Tell me about that. Yeah, well, the brother who's dead, Keith, the 50-year-old, he's highly educated. He went to Columbia University undergrad, and he had a master's degree from there. And he was the big earner brother, the younger brother by only a year. There were three brothers.

There's the 51-year-old, the 50-year-old, and then there's a younger brother who they say is not involved in this. But they founded the guy with the master's degree from Columbia. He founded this company. It was based in Asbury Park, also in Monmouth County, called Square One, a tech consulting firm. And he was the CEO and founder. And Brother Paul, who's still alive, was the vice president. So even though he was older, he had the second tier title at the company. So was there jealousy there?

Who knows? Also, they ran a pest control company. And if you go online to Square One, Nancy, and you look it up at Asbury Park, in big red letters this morning, I looked it up, it says permanently closed. Both brothers working at Square One Tech Company, clearly making a very lucrative living, one in a $2 million home, one in a $700,000 home. How did they both go up in flames within hours of each other? One entire family, the family of Keith Canero, the older brother, all killed, listened. Additional charges have been filed against Paul Canero, and he's been served with those charges

while he's detained at the Monmouth County Correctional Institute here in Freehold. We have charged defendant Canero with four counts of murder, one count of aggravated arson, one count of possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, and one count of possession of a knife for an unlawful purpose. These charges that were filed this morning are in addition to the charge that was filed last week out of Ocean Township for the alleged aggravated arson of the defendant's own home. And by filing these charges, the state alleges that the defendant murdered his brother, Keith Canero, and Keith's entire family, his two children, Sophia and Jesse, and his wife, Jennifer, during the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 20th.

Specifically, we allege that the defendant repeatedly shot and killed his brother while he was outside of the side of his home and then moved to murder the rest of the family inside the home. We allege that Jennifer was shot and stabbed and the two Canero children were repeatedly stabbed by knife. We also allege that after murdering the Canero family, the defendant then set fire to the house at 15 Willowbrook in Colts Neck in an effort to conceal and disguise his earlier committed crimes.

Keith Canero. He said that he started loving computers and tech when he worked as a janitor at a computer store for free as a teenager while also working at fast food restaurants. Wow. So he worked as a janitor for free at a tech company because he loved computers. He was willing to sweep and mop floors and clean bathrooms just to be around the tech business, working as a janitor for free, making money working at a restaurant. Boy, I've done that. And being working at a restaurant is not easy. So long story short, we're getting a picture, a picture of these two

brothers, the older brother, Columbia educated. Keith was the best man at Paul's wedding back in 1991. I found that in a wedding announcement in the Staten Island Advance. They were very, very close. This is what we are finding out. Another bizarre twist. I hope you're sitting down. The Monmouth County prosecutor says that he's now facing four counts of murder, a count of aggravated arson, and one count of an illegal firearm for an illegal purpose. He's accused of shooting his brother outside of his home in Colts Neck, shooting his brother's wife and stabbing her as well,

and also repeatedly stabbing their two young children. Now, he was supposed to appear at court Wednesday, but his lawyer asked that the hearing be held Friday instead after he was giving undisclosed evidence by prosecutors. Keith Canero was found dead from a gunshot wound in the yard of his home in Colts Neck while it burned. His wife and two children all found dead inside. Again, the Monmouth County prosecutor confirming that Paul Canero is now charged with four counts of murder along with possession of a firearm and a possession of a firearm for unlawful purposes. Everyone in mourning, but while the community, relatives, family, friends, neighbors mourning the deaths of the Keith Canero family, Keith, family, friends, neighbors mourning the deaths of the Keith Canero family. Keith, wife, Jennifer, two little children ages 11 and 8. A homicide investigation

is ongoing. Right now, we know the brother of the millionaire found shot dead in his burning mansion. His wife and his children stabbed dead. The brother has been charged in a bizarre twist. Oh my, you know what? Two old adages come to mind. Robin Walensky, oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive and familiarity breeds contempt. These two brothers. Now the brother, Paul Canero, charged with burning up his own home. He was stumbled out of his home earlier that day. This is about one hour before his brother's house caught on fire, saying it must have been a gas leak. He was seen leaving.

You know what is so tangled up? Robin Walensky, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, to untangle it. Well, the Monmouth County prosecutor has connected the dots with his many investigators on this case in Colts Neck, New Jersey. And Paul Canero is charged. The older brother is now charged with four counts of murder, Nancy. This is for allegedly killing his younger brother, Keith, 50. They're a part of his wife, Jennifer, 45 years old, and the two little kids, little Jesse, who was 11, and Sophia, just eight years old in the third grade, all dead. Stop. Hold on. Joe Scott Morgan, my dad, who I missed horribly, horribly recently, it was the mark that he passed away. I remember my dad who worked on the railroad 43 years and my mom

who worked as you know in payroll at a canning company got me a car. It was almost time for me to go to college and they got me a blue metallic blue Toyota Corolla And I could not believe it. And I remember he didn't cry, but he showed it to me and his eyes watered up. How long did he work to buy me a car, Joe Scott? I mean, when I think about it, you know, that's a big deal for people that never miss work, that are there in the morning at 7 and don't get home until 7 at night. That's a big deal, right? You remember getting your first car? Yeah, yeah, actually I do, Nancy. All those many years ago when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, it was a big deal to me because it represented freedom to me.

And I knew the work that had gone in behind it. I was made to appreciate it because I had to restore my first car that I ever had. It was bought as a piece of junk. Oh, I wish I only could have done that, Joe Scott, because I didn't even know about oil until my motor practically burned up on the interstate. But that's a whole other can of worms. Robin Walensky, let me get off my mom and dad giving me my blue Toyota and back on. You said he's a big fish in a little pond.

Back to untangling this mess. Yeah, Nancy. So Paul, according to the neighbors with the two daughters driving the Porsches, and he's throwing money around like it's candy, and he's the big fish in a little pond in Ocean Township. Again, a very nice area to live, upper middle class people. But this is not the brother Keith, his younger brother, who's a, you have to look at the family tree very closely. They're a year apart.

But the second oldest is the CEO. He's the founder of the company. He's the one who went to Columbia undergrad. He's the one who has a master's degree from Columbia. So the second brother living in the $2 million house, oh, and by the way, according to court records, two years ago, they paid off their $1.8 million loan to the bank. So the second brother is, can you imagine? I know what my mortgage is. It's certainly not $1.8 million and we haven't paid it off. Now, hold on. Let me get this straight. Let me get this straight. This goes back to, you know, Cain and Abel, for Pete's sake, in Genesis. You've got the older brother is Paul Canero, who's now charged with the deaths of the Keith Canero family.

That's the older brother, the big fish in the little pond, the one that neighbors say was, quote, enamored with money. OK, but then you've got the younger brother who founded Square One, who's living in the two million dollar home 10 miles away, who went to Columbia, who started the business. So the older brother, we could assume, sits by and stews while his younger brother supersedes him. Am I getting it right? That is exactly correct, Nancy. So you need to look at that family dynamic. The police officers need to interview other relatives, people who know the communities. Colts Neck is at a whole different level. When you are living in Colts Neck, like Bruce Springsteen lived in Colts Neck in a multi-million dollar home in Colts Neck in a multimillion dollar home, you have made it. You know, that is, you know, the epitome.

You're living in Buckhead or Brookhaven, Georgia, where all the wealthy people live. That is the right side of town. Not to say we're Ocean Township, where Paul is living, $700,000 house, very nice. But there he could really be fancy in a show-off compared to the homes of his neighbors. That's the dynamic that needs to be investigated by the prosecutor's office in Monmouth County. Let me understand this. Am I expected to believe? Is any defense attorney going to tell me?

I guess they are, Kathleen Murphy. You're the lawyer here. I'm just an old trial lawyer trying to make sense of it all. Somebody going to try and tell me that these two house fires of two brothers, where the first one is the older brother, okay, and then the brother's home being burned down and he's shot and all three family members stabbed dead, including the children, are not connected? Well, there's another detail there, too. And that is that the older brother who had his home set on fire early in the morning

was missing for a period of time between 12 noon and after his other brother's house was on fire. He was gone. He was gone from his home that had been incinerated. So where was he during the period of time between when his house caught on fire and when his brother's house caught on fire? What can you tell me, Robin Olinsky, about gas cans? Right. So when the firefighters show up at the first house at five o'clock in the morning, they find gas cans behind this guy's house, behind Paul's house. The timeline is such that the first fire is 5 a.m. The second fire, I believe, was called in at 12 noon. There's a seven hour timeline in between these two fires.

Neighbors put Paul still in the neighborhood up until around 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning because he's out there consoling the wife and the daughters and everybody's shaken up. They've gotten out of the house. They're giving statements, this, that, and the other. They're sitting in the car because it's cold out. So the question is, where is he for those last hour to two hours before the other house fire starts? We don't know. Again, I believe that surveillance cameras are going to tell the tale of this. We wait as justice unfolds. Take a listen to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramascione. Understandably, many have questioned and wondered about a motive to these alleged crimes. Based on our investigation to date, we believe that the defendant's motive was financial in nature, stemming from his and the victim's joint business ventures that they

owned and operated out of Asbury Park. As a result, we have also launched a financial investigation into the business and financial dealings of the defendant. Now, with these types of investigations, they take time. So I won't be able to provide any further information as to motive at this point in time, but I would encourage you to continue to follow this case as it proceeds through the criminal justice system. As court appearances occur, there will likely be information that's presented on the record by the state in this case. Bringing together a case like this takes a true team effort, and I'm honored to be joined by some of the agency heads, detectives, and prosecutors, all of whom played a vital role in bringing this case to a head with these charges

today. The investigation necessarily required the support of a number of law enforcement partners who stand with me here today, and I would like to personally commend them and give them our thanks. Right now, relatives preparing for a funeral. Four caskets, including two tiny ones, will be rolled out of the Holmdel Funeral Home as the brother sits in jail. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.