UPDATE: Colts Neck fatal fire mystery deepens as brother is charged with setting his own house ablaze

A couple and two of their children were found dead Tuesday afternoon as an arson fire swept through their sprawling, multimillion dollar Colts Neck estate.

Three of the people were found dead inside the house, including Jennifer Caneiro, 45, a law enforcement source told NJ Advance Media, as well as the two children.

The body of her husband Keith Caneiro, 50, an Ivy League-educated CEO of an Asbury Park technology company, was discovered on the grass in front of the home with at least one gunshot wound, the source said.

A law enforcement source said Tuesday night that the gunshot wound suffered by Keith Caneiro was not self-inflicted.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni, speaking at a press conference, did not release the names of the people found dead, but the law enforcement source confirmed that they were the residents of the home.

Gramiccioni said that the community was not in any danger.

He said that the bodies inside the home were "burned severely," and that the fire is being investigated as intentionally set.

The fire broke out around 12:45 p.m. at the sprawling 15-year-old home on 9 acres on Willow Brook Road.

Caneiro and his brother Paul Caneiro were partners in Square One, an Asbury Park technology consulting firm, and a pest control company that operated out of the same office.

In a bizarre and perhaps related twist, a predawn fire was reported Tuesday at the Ocean Township home of Paul and Susan Caneiro. The prosecutor would not say if that fire, on Tilton Drive, was linked to the Colts Neck blaze, but said detectives are investigating.

Keith and Jennifer Caneiro

A neighbor, who asked not be named, said Paul Caneiro and his wife, Susan, were at the home early Tuesday shortly after the fire. Paul appeared to be upset and left later in the morning.

"He said it must've been a gas leak, he had tears in his eyes. Susan was devastated. He said, 'I'm in complete shock I can't believe this is happening to me.' They were here until about noon," another neighbor said.

It's unclear where Paul Caneiro went after leaving his house.

The Caneiro house in Ocean Township was the scene of a house fire on Tuesday morning. It was not clear if it was related to the fire in Colts Neck.

Authorities blocked off an area around the Tilton Drive residence in the Wayside section of town Tuesday afternoon. Neighbors said police had been at the scene since around 5 a.m.

There was no sign of any major damage to the house in Ocean.



#MCPONJ is on scene at a fire in Colts Neck with multiple fatalities. Firefighters still working on fire. Stay tuned for more details. — Monmouth Prosecutor (@MonCoProsecutor) November 20, 2018

Nobody answered the door at the Square One office on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park, though a woman could be seen working inside. A man who works in the building said he had never met Keith Caneiro, but knows his brother Paul.

The man said three or four people work in the office and that Paul Caneiro stops in a few times a week, driving up in a white Porsche.

The Caneiro brothers grew up in Brooklyn, and Jennifer Caneiro grew up on Staten Island as Jennifer Karidis, her maiden name, records show.

Keith Caneiro attended Columbia University and Harvard Business School, according to his LinkedIn profile, in which he states that he founded Square One in 1987.

Emergency vehicles block the road lead to the fatal house fire in Colts Neck on Tuesday afternoon.

Staff Writers Noah Cohen and Ted Sherman contributed to this report

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.