The Top 10 reasons jury may convict NJ businessman of slaughtering brother’s family

The Monmouth County jury that’s heard five weeks of testimony is near deliberations in the Caneiro quadruple murder case.

Delivering her closing argument on Wednesday, defense attorney Monika Mastellone told jurors that Paul Caneiro loved his family and would never have killed his brother, sister-in-law and little niece and nephew, leaving their mutilated bodies behind in a house fire, all over money.

The defense has been arguing that police never bothered to investigate the youngest Caneiro brother, Corey. For the first time on Wednesday, Mastellone also floated the possibility of a two-person plot behind the ghastly slaying of Keith Caneiro, his wife, Jennifer, and their children Jess and Sophia.

Prosecution witnesses have rebutted the suggestions about Corey or of a conspiracy by the real killer to set up Paul as the fall guy. On Wednesday, the prosecutor told the jury that anyone trying to set up Paul wouldn't have attempted to destroy the evidence in an arson that torched the mansion.

Read More: What to know about NJ's Paul Caneiro murder trial

10 pieces of trial evidence that could send Caneiro to prison

1 — DNA evidence in the suspect's house

Investigators testified that DNA from the children was found with their uncle's DNA on blood-stained jeans, several black nitrile gloves and a scarf in his Ocean Township basement.

DNA from Sophia matched material on a kitchen knife in the Colts Neck family home.

2 — Ballistics tied to suspect's firearms

Police recovered seven fired 9mm casings and an unfired 9mm round matching a SIG Sauer 9mm pistol in Paul Caneiro’s Tilton Drive home, where police found lots of uncommon Fiocchi ammunition.

Five fired bullets from the Colts Neck scene matched a separate barrel recovered from Caneiro’s backpack.

3 — Suspect had personal documents in a backpack in his car

In the rear cargo area of Paul Caneiro's Cayenne (one of three Porsches he leased), police found a tactical style backpack with his driver's license, passport, savings bonds in his daughters’ names, a stack of credit and bank cards, a gun barrel wrapped in paper towels inside a zip bag, several keys and an automatic knife.

"What is he doing with all this stuff?" Monmouth County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Decker asked during closing arguments.

He asked the jury to consider how he could have had time to pack all this if he had been sleeping until the fire, as he claimed.

4 — Outdoor surveillance cameras clock suspect driving before dawn

Surveillance camera footage from neighbors in Ocean Township shows Caneiro's Porsche Macan leaving 27 Tilton Drive at 2:07 a.m. and then returning to his Ocean Township residence at 4:08 a.m., before the fire there.

5 — Indoor security cameras capture shady movements by the suspect

The cameras in the defendant's home were mysteriously disconnected at 1:30 a.m. Before that happened, the cameras recorded a shirtless Paul Caneiro walking to the hard-wired security camera inside his garage and Wi-Fi Nest cameras in his basement, where he kept his guns locked up.

“That looks really bad,” Decker noted in his closing.

6 — Financial records paint bleak picture

Bank records from 2018 show that Paul Caneiro withdrew thousands of dollars over 19 times from the trustee account designated to pay his brother's $3 million life insurance policy.

There are also eight other accounts, either solo or joint with his brother, showing the high spending and massive bills, including several overdrafts, in the months leading up to the slayings on Nov. 20, 2018.

“It’s not about what he stood to gain, it’s about what he stood to lose,” Decker said in his closing argument.

7 — Voice recordings from the day before

Wyze security cameras in the victims' home recorded two phone conversations between the brothers the day before the killings. During the calls, Keith demanded login information for the TD Bank trust account tied to the $3 million life insurance policy.

In those calls — of which only Paul's side is heard — Keith repeatedly asks his ill-fated brother for the TD Bank account login.

“Are you sure it went to the right place this time?” Keith asks. “I understand what you’re saying. Paul, I’m worried. I need to see where the money went."

Read More: Keith Caneiro’s final texts revealed in chilling NJ murder trial

8 — The final text messages between Paul and Keith Caneiro

From April, September and November 2018, text messages between the brothers revealed their business and money struggles, including a fear of losing their IT company's last remaining client and a plan to sell their other company. The victim preserved the messages in his Google Drive account.

9 — Surveillance camera from Colts Neck garage

A camera inside the Caneiro family garage recorded a silhouette of a man outside, where Keith Caneiro was eventually shot dead. The 16-minute video clip ended at 2:51 a.m., when the house lost power.

10 — Neighbors called 911 to report gunfire

The 911 call from a Colts Neck resident, who lived a couple of miles from 15 Willow Brook Road, was essential in helping investigators determine when  Keith Caneiro was killed — before 3:30 a.m.

Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc Lemieux sent the jury home on Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. They are expected to return on Thursday to hear instructions before they can deliberate.

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