New Jersey mansion fire: Mystery evidence against suspected arsonist delays court hearing
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Undisclosed new evidence has pushed back the court date for a New Jersey man accused of trying to kill his own family by setting their house on fire -- the alleged crime coming just hours before his brother was found shot to death and the brother's family was discovered slain inside another burning building.
Paul Caneiro, 51, was set to appear in Monmouth County Superior Court on Wednesday for a hearing on an aggravated arson charge, according to NJ.com. Caneiro is accused of setting his own Ocean Township home on fire with his two daughters and wife still inside. His family was unharmed. Officials would neither confirm nor deny if Caneiro was a suspect in the quadruple murder that claimed the life of his brother.
Robert A. Honecker Jr., Caneiro’s attorney, said he received new evidence from prosecutors in the case, delaying the hearing until Friday, the newspaper reported. Honecker didn’t comment on what the evidence was.
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Caneiro allegedly used gasoline to set his home ablaze at around 5 a.m. while his family was still inside. Less than eight hours later, the fire that destroyed his brother's home was reported, around 12:30 p.m. about 10 miles away in Colts Neck, authorities said.
A neighbor in Ocean Township who lives two houses away said that he saw Caneiro, his wife and two daughters after the early-morning blaze, and one of the daughters even asked to use his bathroom.
Paul Caneiro was charged with arson in the fire that engulfed his Ocean Township, N.J. home (Ocean Township Police Department)
Keith Canerio, Paul’s brother, was found shot to death outside his Colts Neck home, which was engulfed in flames. Inside the home, police found the bodies of Keith Caneiro’s wife, Jennifer, and their two young children. At least one of the children’s bodies had stab wounds, a law enforcement source told NJ.com.
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No suspects have been named in the murder of the Colts Neck family.
“We believe that this family in some form or fashion was targeted,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said last week.
Honecker said he believes his client will be “fully exonerated” in the arson case.
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“The charge appears not to make any sense in that there seems to be very little evidence of a reason to do it,” Honecker said. “The evidence that I've seen does not suggest any reason to do the arson of his house.”
Fox News' Travis Fedschun and the Associated Press contributed to this report.