Colts Neck family massacre: Business-partner brother spent lavishly on lady friend

☎️ Jurors heard a chilling 911 call describing the discovery of a body amid a Colts Neck house fire
💼 A former companion testified about lavish trips, money, guns, and Paul Caneiro’s spending
🔥 Surveillance footage and timelines tied vehicle movements to both NJ crime scenes

FREEHOLD BOROUGH — After a long weekend, the Paul Caneiro quadruple murder trial launched into its second week on Tuesday, as jurors quickly heard a grim 911 call from Colts Neck.

They also heard testimony from the lady friend whom Paul Caneiro paid to vacation with extensively, both internationally and domestically.

Caneiro is charged with murder in the gruesome 2018 slayings of his brother Keith Caneiro and Keith's 45-year-old wife, Jennifer, and two children, 11-year-old Jesse and 8-year-old Sophia, at their Colts Neck home. Keith was shot five times, while his wife was shot in the head and stabbed in the torso. The children were left to die in their burning home with knife wounds.

Investigators also accused Caneiro of setting his own Ocean Township home on fire with his own family still inside. They survived.

Prosecutors said Caneiro, his brother's business partner, was motivated by mounting financial woes. Caneiro has maintained his innocence.

Woman describes paid trips, money and guns

Shared trips to Colombia, Las Vegas, North Carolina, Boston and New York were all picked up by Paul Caneiro, Yisel Restrepo testified through Spanish interpreters.

Restrepo said she first met the married defendant at a restaurant in Asbury Park, and last shared a meal with him for her daughter’s birthday just “two or three” days before Nov. 20, 2018.

Paul Caneiro, of Ocean Township, also paid for Restrepo’s Audi SUV lease, she said in Monmouth County Superior Court.

Those payments were previously documented by a financial crimes investigator with the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Last week, Detective Debra Bassinder shared her analysis of the six-figure expenses of Paul Caneiro’s household — totalling more than $402,000 in 2017 and $314,000 in 2018.

Paul Caneiro was the sole trustee for an irrevocable trust bank account, linked to a $3 million whole life insurance policy held by his middle brother, Keith Caneiro.

Read More: Inside Paul Caneiro's big expenses before Colts Neck killings

Defense attorney Monika Mastellone asked if she and Paul Caneiro had been “best friends,” to which Restrepo agreed.

Restepo also testified that Paul Caneiro had at least one gun, “possibly” more than one, and that they had once gone shooting together at a gun range.

Chilling 911 call describes body near Colts Neck house fire

Colts Neck resident, Dr. Boris Volshteyn, was the first to testify on Tuesday morning in Monmouth County Superior Court.

Prosecutors played the 911 call made by Volshteyn, who was reporting the house fire when he stumbled upon the body that was ultimately Keith Caneiro.

“I see the smoke from behind, I opened the door — there is a person laying down in front of the property,” Volshteyn is heard saying.

“Oh, my god, there’s blood here — it’s, it’s a corpse,” Volshteyn continues.

“It’s dead - somebody is dead here,” he adds, at which point the dispatcher tells him he needs to get to a safe area.

Volshteyn said he then parked across the street at another neighbor’s house.

Firefighter recounts recovery of young victim

A somber volunteer firefighter was the third person to testify on Tuesday.

Carmelo Lamarca — from Adelphia Fire Company in Howell — described how he helped recover the lifeless body of young Sophia Caneiro.

Retired Colts Neck Police Detective Rich Zarrillo then returned to the witness stand late Tuesday morning, after last testifying on Thursday.

Defense scrutiny of brother Corey Caneiro addressed

Part of Zarrillo's testimony included some more details about his interactions with the youngest Caneiro brother, Corey, who the defense team has cast suspicion on since their opening statement.

Assistant Defense Attorney Andy Murray asked whether Zarrillo knew that both Paul and Corey Caneiro stood to benefit from the life insurance policy on their slain brother, to which the retired detective agreed.

That prompted a redirect line of questions from Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Wallace.

Corey Caneiro was not the trustee on the life insurance trust bank account and was not taking money from the trust account at any time leading up to the killings, Zarrillo testified.

Additionally, Corey Caneiro has an eye condition and cannot safely drive at night, Zarrillo testified.

Sometime after his brothers' houses were both reported on fire, Corey Caneiro went to his in-laws’ house in Pennsylvania with his own children, Zarrillo said.

He still got back in contact and met with detectives that night and the next day to give a formal statement, Zarillo also said.

Surveillance footage and travel times presented to jury

Detective Sergeant Ryan Mahony of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office also testified on Tuesday. He helped introduce several clips of home surveillance footage of vehicle headlights spotted near both crime scenes, in the time before either fire was reported.

Sgt. Mahony said that at some point, he drove one of the routes between the Caneiro houses in Ocean Township and Colts Neck and made the trip in 19 minutes.

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