Monmouth County Judge Marc Lemieux sentenced Paul Caneiro to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole on May 19, 2026, for the 2018 murders of his brother, sister-in-law, and their two children at the family's Colts Neck mansion. Caneiro received an additional 16 years for related crimes, including two arson fires and the theft of more than $75,000.

A jury in February 2026 found Caneiro guilty of murder, aggravated arson, weapons possession, and hindering apprehension. On November 20, 2018, he shot his brother, Keith Caneiro, 50, outside the Willow Brook Road mansion and shot and stabbed Keith's wife, Jennifer Caneiro, 45, inside the home. He also stabbed his niece, Sophia Caneiro, 8, and his nephew, Jesse Caneiro, 11. After the killings, he set fire to the mansion and then to his own Ocean Township home. His wife and two daughters were not harmed.

"This was an annihilation of an entire family, a mass murder carried out by a person who should have protected them most," Lemieux said at the sentencing. "He was and continues to be a manipulative, cold-blooded killer," he said. Lemieux also said, "In this case, there was an avalanche of evidence pointing to the defendant being a callous, heartless, brutal killer."

Addressing Caneiro directly, the judge said, "His address will forever be the Department of Corrections. You are no longer Paul Caneiro — you are a quadruple murderer, who slaughtered innocent children. That is your identity." Lemieux said Caneiro would be confined to a 4-foot by 7-foot cell until his final breath.

Jennifer's mother, Bette Karidis, addressed the court. "He stole the source of joy and happiness in our lives and replaced it with bottomless sadness, sorrow and grief," she said. Karidis said, "A thousand years would not be enough" as punishment for Caneiro.

Caneiro did not speak at the hearing. "Mr. Caneiro maintains his innocence and he has nothing further to add," defense attorney Monika Mastellone said. She also told the court, "The amount of loss and devastation is truly immeasurable. There is nothing I can say to mitigate that tragedy."

Prosecutors alleged Caneiro killed his family for financial gain after his brother confronted him about stealing $80,000 from a trust meant to fund a life insurance policy. The brothers co-owned a tech company and an extermination company. Mastellone argued at trial that Caneiro's brother Corey may have committed the murders and framed Paul, noting that a conviction would leave Corey as the sole inheritor of a $3 million trust.