FREEHOLD - Prosecutors have given the defense more than 1,000 additional pages of investigative reports in the case against Paul J. Caneiro, the man accused of killing his brother’s family in Colts Neck last year, and they plan to turn over 950 financial reports to show the quadruple murder was motivated by greed.

The volume of additional evidence will delay the proceedings against Caneiro, 52, of Ocean Township, who is charged with the murders of his brother, Keith, 50, sister-in-law Jennifer, 45, nephew, Jesse, 11, and niece, Sophia, 8.

Colts Neck murders: This is how cops say the Caneiro family met their brutal end

Previously: Paul Caneiro pleads not guilty to all charges

Defense attorneys were expected to discuss what motions they intend to file in the case during a conference Monday before Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley. Instead, Patrice Bearden, a deputy assistant public defender who is representing Caneiro, told Oxley she just received 1,172 pages of additional investigative reports from prosecutors late Friday and she needs time to go through them before deciding what motions to file.

Christopher Decker, an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, said he still has about 950 documents to turn over to the defense "as a result of a financial investigation that's been ongoing."

Decker would not elaborate on what is contained in the newly turned over investigative reports or what the 950 financial documents contain.

After the murders were discovered in November, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced that authorities believed the motive for the killings was financial, and that his office would be launching an investigation into the Caneiros' finances.

Authorities allege that Paul Caneiro shot Keith and Jennifer Caneiro and stabbed Jennifer and the children on Nov. 20, before setting a slow-burning fire at the family’s mansion on a sprawling estate on Willowbrook Road in Colts Neck. Keith Caneiro was shot four times in the head and once in the back, authorities said.



Paul Caneiro is then alleged to have returned to his own family's home on Tilton Drive in Ocean Township and set it ablaze, in a ruse to make it look like the Caneiro family was being targeted by somebody else.

Keith and Paul Caneiro were partners in two businesses on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park — Square One, a technology company founded and headed by Keith, and EcoStar Pest Management.

An indictment handed up in February alleged that Paul Caneiro stole more than $75,000 from his brother's family.

Timeline: What happened the day the Caneiros were killed?

Caneiro, dressed in a mustard jail uniform, sat silent through Monday's brief court proceeding.

Bearden said Caneiro has been actively reviewing the evidence against him and will do so with the newly submitted documents.

She said she needs to go through the new reports, as well as the forthcoming financial documents, before she can determine what motions to file.

"We have to go through them to see how they relate to Mr. Caneiro's defense," Bearden said.

Decker could not say when he will be providing the financial documents, saying that portions related to other parties not involved in the criminal investigation need to be redacted.

Oxley scheduled the next conference for May 28.

Authorities learned from another brother, Corey Caneiro, that on the day before the murders, Keith had forwarded him an email he sent to two other business associates indicating there was money missing from the business accounts, and that he would be cutting off Paul's wife from any payments from those accounts, according to an affidavit of probable cause to arrest Paul Caneiro in the murders.

The indictment charges Caneiro with four counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated arson, possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a knife for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a knife, theft of more than $75,000 from the slain family, misapplication of $78,180 of the slain family's funds and two counts of hindering his own apprehension — to avoid prosecution for the murders and to avoid prosecution for the theft.

Caneiro could face life in prison without the possibility of release on parole if he is convicted of the murders.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues, unsolved mysteries and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com; 732-643-4202