Paul Caneiro appears in Monmouth County Superior Court for a detention hearing. He is accused of fatally shooting his brother, Keith Caneiro, multiple times, then killing his sister-in-law, Jennifer Caneiro, and the couple’s two children, 8-year-old Sophia and 11-year-old Jesse. He is also charged with weapons offenses and aggravated arson. (Pool video Thomas Costello | Asbury Park Press)
Thanksgiving morning I had been watching with interest an arson case involving a mansion out of New Jersey, and was considering aggregating the news for a report for Cardinal News. About 5:00 a.m. Thursday November 22, 2018 details of a horrific crime took on a new twist for me. I usually have Fox News on if I am working before 5:00 a.m., and switch to CNBC when the stock markets are about to open. Since Thursday was a holiday, I would stay on Fox News because CNBC runs infomercials on holidays when the US stock markets are closed. I heard the name “Paul Caneiro” on Fox News, and my ears perked up. I knew that name. Then I saw the mug shot. I recognized the face. There was news that Paul Caneiro’s brother, Keith Caneiro, and his brother’s family members were murdered in their mansion in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey. Paul Caneiro, 51, was in custody, booked in the Monmouth County jail in Freehold, New Jersey on one count of aggravated arson in Ocean Township for setting his own house on fire. Initially Paul Caneiro wasn’t charged with murder. Then Thursday, November 29, 2018, Paul Caneiro was charged with murder of his brother Keith Caneiro, his brother’s wife Jennifer Caneiro, and their two children.
PAUL CANEIRO MURDER CHARGE DETAILS
Paul Caneiro Charged with Murder of Brother and Brother’s Family, 2 Counts of Arson in New Jersey
I turned to Google to look up more details about the case and the suspect, Paul Caneiro. My memory was firing up back to the mid-1990s. I found articles identifying Paul and Keith Caneiro as brother’s that started work as computer consultants at Keith Caneiro’s business, Jay-Martin Consulting, which was named after the brothers’ middle names. An article with background information described the brothers’ big break — landing a consulting job with Citibank. Another connection that was confirmed with my memory, and I realized this suspect was a computer consultant that threatened to kill me in the mid-1990s when I also worked as a consultant for Citibank.
UPDATE: After reviewing old DayTimer appointment books, the threat likely occurred in the first half of 1991.
I was fortunate enough to work for a good friend, who had landed a consulting job for Citibank’s National Marketing Division. I will leave my friend’s name out of this dark story because he has a different successful tech-related business now and had no involvement in my encounter with Paul Caneiro.
In the 1990s my friend was a network computer consultant and also designed a database for business clients. Our friendship developed into a great working relationship and he paid well, hiring me to help with a consulting job he landed with Citibank. He hired me to takeover installation of computers and provide training and consulting services at the new Citibank National Marketing Division that was located at North Pier, 445 East Illinois Street in Chicago. The building has since been converted into a luxury apartment building known as The Lofts at River East. North Pier was a 6-story converted warehouse formerly known as Pugh Terminal Warehouse — an impressive building with beautiful brick inside and out that was built in the early 1900s and served as a wholesale product exhibition center. In the 1990s the building was converted to a retail, dining and commercial center — not far from CBS Chicago offices and NBC Chicago offices. That’s also when I met Paul Caneiro, who was also working as a consultant Citibank’s National Marketing Division, which established their offices on an upper floor in the building in the exciting south Streeterville neighborhood. Half of Citibank’s floor included beautiful offices. The other half was under construction. My job was to install about 5-10 computers per day, and provide computer support for the entire floor of Citibank’s office. The division was responsible for the “retailization” of the banking industry, which was interesting to be there watching it develop. Years ago banks were like formal, stone-cold institutions, but Citibank’s National Marketing Division in the latter half of the 1990s, was converting their customer facilities into colorful retail style facilities with video kiosks. They were also designing a “revolutionary” online banking service via dial-up modems. The Chicago office was connected to the Citibank/Citicorp headquarters in New York by an Internet router — in the early days of the Internet, just as the Internet was about to become a household tool in private homes.
Jay-Martin Consulting was responsible for connecting Chicago and New York via this early Internet, and establishing the network cabling and other equipment for the new offices in Chicago. The Internet connection occasionally “went down” and I was the human face of the network connections for the executives at the Citibank’s Chicago office. I took heat when it didn’t work. I don’t remember ever meeting Keith Caneiro, but I had heard his name. Paul Caneiro would fly out from New Jersey to work on the new facilities in Chicago, and at one point I learned that Paul Caneiro would take down the network without any consideration of services in progress and without notifying anyone. I repeatedly asked him to notify us when he would be shutting down the connection to New York, so we could support the executives better and plan our installation schedule accordingly. Paul Caneiro could not have cared less about accommodating my request.
One evening after 5:00 p.m. with most executives departed work for the day, I was preparing to upgrade software for about 40 computers. Installation was promised for the next morning, but the network was down, and I couldn’t get the assignment completed without the network functioning. I had until about midnight to get the promised work done because that was the time of the last Metra train home to Arlington Heights. Paul Caneiro was working in the undeveloped part of the floor on the Illinois Street side on the fourth floor (as good as I can remember). I walked over to ask him if the “notwork” was going to be up soon — teasing him since the network was “not working.” He was examining some blueprints and became incensed with my comment. He picked up a screwdriver off of a table and said, “you know you could have a fatal accident back here” while slowly moving the screwdriver up and down. The message was clear: He thought he could kill me and make it look like an accident. The floor was practically empty, the room was dark — lit with temporary lighting — with bare walls and construction tools and plastic sheets scattered around the area. I guess I sort of ignored the comment, but of course it was a little unsettling because not only was it a death threat, it seemed to be an excessive, pathological response to a little teasing. I think I responded, “Ok, I will just see what I can do,” and left the area.
I didn’t expect much of a response by police, but I reported the threat to the Chicago Police Department. I thought at least there would be something on record if I had an “accident”. As I expected, the Chicago police said there was nothing they could do … “it would be his word against yours.”
Work continued normally, but of course future face-to-face contact with Paul Caneiro was a little strained. I told my friend about it, but understandably we weren’t going to jeopardize the consulting work and let Citibank know about the threat. Bringing back these memories, certainly made me think of what people go through when they are threatened or sexually harassed at work — and why victims don’t say anything.
— Mark D. Bostrom
NOTE: Paul Caneiro is a suspect, and has not been convicted of murder or arson.
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Defense attorneys Robert A. Honecker Jr. and Mitchell J. Ansell speak to the media after Paul Caneiro’s detention hearing in Monmouth County Superior Court. Caneiro is charged with the murder of his brother Keith Caneiro, sister-in-law Jennifer Caneiro and their two children 8-year-old Sophia and 11-year-old Jesse.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni holds a press conference announcing murder charges against Paul Caneiro. Gramiccioni said Caneiro is accused of killing his brother, sister-in-law and their two children.