Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. Welcome to Amy and TJ Presents. This edition,
Speaker 1: we are talking about the first week in a long
Speaker 1: awaited trial out of New Jersey, the Colts Neck murders trial.
Speaker 1: These murders happened on November twentieth, twenty eighteen, so we
Speaker 1: are now nearly eight years later. Finally Paul Canaro is
Speaker 1: facing quadruple murder charges for the deaths of his brother,
Speaker 1: his sister in law, his niece, and his nephew. And
Speaker 1: so much attention has been on this case. There's arson involved,
Speaker 1: there's money is the motive, but this is just a
Speaker 1: tragic scene where, if it's true what prosecutors say happened,
Speaker 1: it's one of the most disturbing, jaw dropping murder cases
Speaker 1: we've ever seen.
Speaker 2: The kids are eight and eleven, folks. Yes, he's accused
Speaker 2: of killing his niece and nephew eight and eleven. The
Speaker 2: mom and dad were shot, the eight and eleven you
Speaker 2: were stabbed, including the niece. The eight year old stabbed
Speaker 2: some seventeen times in her forty five pound body, as
Speaker 2: the prosecutor put it. So when we say this is
Speaker 2: a heinous crime, this is beyond a lot of headlines
Speaker 2: true crime stories, and shocking crimes that we've seen. This
Speaker 2: is a family story about a massacre and a man
Speaker 2: we are watching every day sitting in argyle sweaters and
Speaker 2: v nex and ties as a guy accused of being
Speaker 2: capable of stabbing his own niece seventeen times. That's what
Speaker 2: we're dealing with. So you say jaw dropping and shocking,
Speaker 2: this is beyond comprehension.
Speaker 1: You're wondering because cameras are in the courtroom. So that adds,
Speaker 1: of course to the intrigue of this case, because you're
Speaker 1: actually watching this man who, if true what prosecutors say
Speaker 1: he did, you're looking at a monster who was posing
Speaker 1: as a husband and a loving father. Now his family
Speaker 1: has been in the courtroom supporting him, his wife, his daughter,
Speaker 1: and that is of note. But he has been behind
Speaker 1: bars for all these years waiting for his trial. There
Speaker 1: were a lot of delays because of what evidence should
Speaker 1: or should not be allowed. They also blamed COVID for
Speaker 1: the delay. But this has been seven plus years where
Speaker 1: he has waited for his time in court, and Paul
Speaker 1: Canaro from the beginning has maintained his innocence and we
Speaker 1: heard in opening statements this week what the defense is
Speaker 1: going to be And this also was a curveball for
Speaker 1: a lot of folks who have been following this case.
Speaker 1: We heard prosecutors outline their evidence, which is significant, and
Speaker 1: then you have Paul Canaro's defense team saying that because
Speaker 1: because the evidence is so overwhelming, it's so conveniently overwhelming,
Speaker 1: it can't be believed and they pointed to another suspect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we see this in a lot of trials. Are
Speaker 2: a lot of high profile ones as of late, but
Speaker 2: over the years, I mean, you can just be a
Speaker 2: casual watcher of news and crime and true crime, and
Speaker 2: you know that jurors want to hear a motive for
Speaker 2: a crime, and they also if you're saying you're not guilty,
Speaker 2: they'd like to hear an alternative for what happened. And
Speaker 2: this case, they are giving them one first of all,
Speaker 2: saying it wasn't me, but be going beyond that, two,
Speaker 2: we believe it with somebody else. But even going beyond that, three,
Speaker 2: we have the other suspect for you and name them,
Speaker 2: and it happens to be the other brothers. So three
Speaker 2: brothers involved here, one on trial for killing the other
Speaker 2: and the one that's on trials is accusing the other
Speaker 2: of doing the actual killing. This is a mess.
Speaker 1: It is a mess. And when you hear about what
Speaker 1: the motive is, that it's all about money. This seemingly
Speaker 1: tight knit family, I mean, they have shown the photos
Speaker 1: of the Canaros, Paul and Keith specifically, who were in
Speaker 1: business together. Their families lived ten miles apart, they were
Speaker 1: constantly in one another's homes, they vacationed together. They say
Speaker 1: this was basically one extended family. So to see the
Speaker 1: allegations that are in court, it's hard to get your
Speaker 1: head around how a family so seemingly loving and in
Speaker 1: business together and so a part of one another's lives
Speaker 1: could be ripped apart in such a dramatic, horrific, bloody fashion.
Speaker 1: So we heard we actually heard from Keith Canaro this
Speaker 1: week in court, which was pretty remarkable, and the prosecution
Speaker 1: promised this in their opening statements, that we would hear
Speaker 1: two phone calls perhaps the last time anyone heard or
Speaker 1: saw Keith Canaro. It was captured on his home surveillance
Speaker 1: equipment just hours before he was murdered, and prosecutors played
Speaker 1: the recordings of those calls that Keith made to his
Speaker 1: brother Paul and Keith was upset.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he sounded like he was the one who wanted
Speaker 2: to kill his brother. I mean not to be crass
Speaker 2: about that, but he was. If this was a case
Speaker 2: and he was the one on the other brother and
Speaker 2: accused of killing his brother, this would be a pick
Speaker 2: piece of that evidence. He was pissed. He was pissed
Speaker 2: about money. He was pissed that he always had to
Speaker 2: track him down for money. This has been an ongoing
Speaker 2: thing that they're trying to build up. This is the
Speaker 2: prosecution case, and this was part of it. This was
Speaker 2: a financial motive that this guy, Paul can Arrow had
Speaker 2: a financial house of cards. He was about to lose
Speaker 2: his way of life, yet no other way to make
Speaker 2: up for the money he was about. So it had
Speaker 2: It had at times been boring testimony because they have
Speaker 2: to go through financial records and times and you have
Speaker 2: not to be the again. But we are TV people
Speaker 2: and we're used to seeing people sometimes get on stand
Speaker 2: and their characters. You can still remember Cato Kalin's testimony.
Speaker 2: You can how he was his personality. Frankly, we have
Speaker 2: a lot of pencil pushers and you have people who
Speaker 2: are going through files and whatnot. They warned us, Hey,
Speaker 2: this is going to get a little tedious at times,
Speaker 2: and it's going to be drawn out, but they have
Speaker 2: to go through this, and the point of it is
Speaker 2: to establish to us, meaning the jury, that this guy
Speaker 2: had a reason to kill. And at this point, I
Speaker 2: don't know how firm it's coming across right now because
Speaker 2: the amount of money we're talking about, what a life
Speaker 2: insurance policy and then another smaller amount seventy eight relatively
Speaker 2: smaller amount for them, are the two issues. Is it
Speaker 2: enough for him to want to.
Speaker 1: Kill his whole family, right and.
Speaker 2: Then burn down two mansions to try to cover it up.
Speaker 1: That's man, that's pretty dramatic and a yes, desperation. So
Speaker 1: what they are setting up is that Paul Canaro stole
Speaker 1: about eighty thousand, seventy eight thousand, I think specifically from
Speaker 1: borrowed against a life insurance policy, and there was some
Speaker 1: other times where it looked like he absolutely took money
Speaker 1: for himself. He paid some of it back, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we're talking about seventy eight
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. And then there was a larger issue that yes,
Speaker 1: if his brother Keith died, and then Keith's wife died
Speaker 1: and then Keith's children died, then there would be a
Speaker 1: three million dollar life insurance policy that would be split
Speaker 1: between the two remaining brothers, which would be Paul and Corey.
Speaker 1: So those are the two financial issues right now. But
Speaker 1: this phone call that was played out there were two
Speaker 1: phone calls in court, was pretty dramatic because yes, it
Speaker 1: started about twelve hours before Keith Canaro would be murdered.
Speaker 1: But he wants to know why his life insurance policy
Speaker 1: hasn't been paid, and he wants to know from Paul Canaro.
Speaker 1: He said, Paul, I need to know where the money went.
Speaker 1: And this is about that missing seventy eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: So at three point fifty pm, the day before Keith
Speaker 1: Canaro was found murdered, he said, if you can send
Speaker 1: the password, I'll do the research myself. Then he calls
Speaker 1: back three hours later, I need you to wake up,
Speaker 1: Paul and do it. You don't have your TD login,
Speaker 1: Give me the efing login. Give me the login, Paul,
Speaker 1: wake the f up. And so he keeps calling Paul
Speaker 1: by his name, he keeps dropping the F bomb profanity,
Speaker 1: la I mean, he is upset. So then he's like
Speaker 1: and you can't hear Paul, by the way, on the
Speaker 1: other side, because this is just the surveillance camera where
Speaker 1: you've got the video and the audio from Keith sums
Speaker 1: you can't hear what Paul is saying on the other side.
Speaker 1: But then he says, Paul, I'm worried. I need to
Speaker 1: know where it went. And he ended the call by saying,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you an hour or two. I
Speaker 1: want an answer by eight pm. And that is the
Speaker 1: last you hear from Keith. And then prosecutors say Paul
Speaker 1: never got back to him at eight pm. Instead, he
Speaker 1: started planning the murder of his brother.
Speaker 2: I mean, tell little coincidence that the timing of it
Speaker 2: he ends up dead on the night of that you
Speaker 2: have a deadline night. That's that's pretty strong circumstantial evidence.
Speaker 2: And that was a powerful moment in the court. Look,
Speaker 2: we haven't had a as we say, keep calling him
Speaker 2: a Perry Mason moment, but that was one. I think
Speaker 2: that that worked for the prosecution. They made an impression.
Speaker 2: They will remember that going into the germom.
Speaker 1: Yes, and to hear to hear someone's voice and to
Speaker 1: hear his demeanor and who he was directing his anger
Speaker 1: at and hearing him give his brother an ultimatum and
Speaker 1: then to know he ended up dead hours later, that
Speaker 1: is certainly powerful. I mentioned demeanor when we come back.
Speaker 1: That has been a huge part of this week with
Speaker 1: the judge and the attorneys whether or not that is
Speaker 1: something that can be allowed into evidence, and the defense
Speaker 1: team definitely got a tongue lashing from the judge. But
Speaker 1: we're also waiting to hear as we continue to watch
Speaker 1: the prosecutors lay the groundwork for motive, we're waiting to
Speaker 1: hear the defense's third brother theory. Welcome back everyone to
Speaker 1: Amy and TJ presents where we are going over the
Speaker 1: first week in a long way weighted trial of Paul Canaro.
Speaker 1: He is accused of a quadruple homicide, murdering his own brother,
Speaker 1: his sister in law, and then brutally murdering and stabbing
Speaker 1: his eight year old niece his eleven year old nephew.
Speaker 1: We heard from prosecutors who described how those children died
Speaker 1: and how they didn't just die from their stab wounds.
Speaker 1: They described the fire that Paul then set, a slow
Speaker 1: smoldering fire where they said those children had smoke inhalation
Speaker 1: in their lungs, so they said they bled out while
Speaker 1: they were choking in smoke. That was that was hard
Speaker 1: to take in. I can't imagine as a member of
Speaker 1: the jury, You're hearing this from the prosecution and you're
Speaker 1: looking across the room at this man who seems very
Speaker 1: emotional wiping away tears in an argyle sweater vest. That's
Speaker 1: got to be a moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I look, I don't know what to make
Speaker 2: of And to be honest with you, I was sitting
Speaker 2: here and thinking about this. I was getting defense lawyers
Speaker 2: mixed up. I'm be honest with you. We have been
Speaker 2: seeing so many high profile trials here in the past
Speaker 2: week or so, even in the latter months of last year.
Speaker 2: I'm sitting here, I'm actually thinking about this case and remembering,
Speaker 2: oh no, wait, that's that was the other part. That
Speaker 2: was Brendan Banfield's attorney. Oh no, that happened in the
Speaker 2: Brian Walsh case. I'm actually getting scenarios and people mixed
Speaker 2: up and who was wearing what, and who had the
Speaker 2: female attorney and who had actually but this is another
Speaker 2: one of those cases where you're there are so many
Speaker 2: moments because of cameras to keep an eye on, to
Speaker 2: where you don't have to rely on reading a news
Speaker 2: outlet and saying, hey, this is the thing that jumps
Speaker 2: out at you. You can watch it for yourself and
Speaker 2: you see human drama play out. And so I appreciate
Speaker 2: that we have cameras in the courtroom for this one,
Speaker 2: but it is telling the story in a way that
Speaker 2: headlines don't.
Speaker 1: That's right, And prosecutors went over the details of why
Speaker 1: Paul was in such financial straits. This is what we're
Speaker 1: hearing more of this motive and as you pointed out
Speaker 1: before the break, that jury's it's not required for prosecutors
Speaker 1: to show motive, but it certainly helps the jury get
Speaker 1: their head around or their heads around this tale. The
Speaker 1: prosecutors are spending in to know the why behind the
Speaker 1: what is important when it comes to determining whether or
Speaker 1: not someone is guilty, And so they went over it
Speaker 1: gets detailed Paul's bank accounts, I think he had nine
Speaker 1: of them, but how he spent his money on three Porsches,
Speaker 1: Tiffany jewelry, living way outside of his means, buying an
Speaker 1: audi apparently for an alleged mistress in the same time
Speaker 1: period that came out in court as well. So they're
Speaker 1: building this scenario of a man who was trying to
Speaker 1: live this luxurious life and was stealing money from his
Speaker 1: brother to pay the bills. And so, yes, we heard
Speaker 1: Detective Debbie Bassen. We were watching her this week. She
Speaker 1: was the financial crime investigator for the DA. And it
Speaker 1: got testy to the point where the judge had to
Speaker 1: admonish the defense team a couple of times, saying, you're
Speaker 1: going into areas I don't know that we should be in.
Speaker 1: So it got a little it got a little testy
Speaker 1: in some very specific testimony that actually can be boring
Speaker 1: when you're talking about finances. But this certainly is a
Speaker 1: case like I have never seen before. And to watch
Speaker 1: his facial expressions when all of this is going on,
Speaker 1: all of these things are being said from his affairs,
Speaker 1: who his overspending to the allegations of just the most
Speaker 1: brutal crime, you can imagine. It's remarkable to have the
Speaker 1: access we've had, and so we certainly appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: along with us. We will continue to monitor. This trial
Speaker 1: is expected to last several more weeks, and we again
Speaker 1: are awaiting the defense's strategy. They said in opening statements
Speaker 1: that they are going to throw the third broath Corey
Speaker 1: under the bus, who they say had the most to
Speaker 1: gain financially. If he could take out one brother by murder,
Speaker 1: take out the other brother by framing him, he would
Speaker 1: wind up solely with that three million dollar life insurance policy.
Speaker 1: So we will continue to follow this trial bring you
Speaker 1: all the details. Thank you as always for listening to
Speaker 1: Amy and TJ Presents. I'm Amy Robock alongside TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 1: We will talk to you soon