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The Thanksgiving Murders



On Thanksgiving Day, 2009, Jim Sitton, a videographer employed by WPTV in West Palm Beach, and his wife Muriel, invited family members to their home at 104 Via Veracruz in Jupiter, Florida, for dinner. Among those present were Carole and Michael Merhige and their 33-year-old twin daughters, Carla Merhige (a real estate agent) and Lisa Knight (who was pregnant), and Lisa’s husband Patrick Knight. Other guests included Muriel’s parents, Dr. Antoine Joseph and his 76-year-old wife Raymonde, and Clifford Gebara. The Sittons’ 6-year-old daughter, Makalya, was also present.



Unbeknownst to the Sittons, Mr. and Mrs. Merhige had invited their son, Paul Merhige (above), age 35, who had been estranged from the family for some time. In fact, until Paul appeared at his home for dinner, Jim Sitton had not seen his wife’s cousin in 13 years.



Although Paul Merhige was a graduate of a well-known preparatory school, where he was an honors student and varsity athlete, and later attended the University of Miami, from which he graduated, he had never held a job and was supported by his parents. He had a long history of mental illness, which his mother attributed to obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic depression. At one time, Merhige shot himself in a suspected suicide attempt and on another occasion, was said to have threatened to cut the throat of one of his sisters. Over the years, Merhige had admitted dreaming of killing family members, had been committed to mental hospitals and undergone electroshock therapy. He had been treated by numerous doctors, including his uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph. Approximately a decade earlier, Merhige accused one of his sisters of trying to kill him and sought protection from law enforcement, but dropped the request a few weeks later. In 2006, Carla Merhige sought a restraining order against her brother, claiming he had threatened to kill her, but she, too, withdrew the request. By November 2009, Merhige was living in a Miami condo and his parents were still paying all his expenses.



Seventeen people sat down to Thanksgiving dinner that night and everything went smoothly. Merhige remained silent throughout the meal, but did not eat. Afterwards, family and friends gathered around the piano and sang songs. Both Carla and Lisa loved to sing and the beautiful, dark-haired Makalya, who was scheduled to appear in a performance of The Nutcracker, sang some of the songs from the show and everyone applauded and commented on her fine singing voice.



When the singing ended, Muriel put Makalya to bed and the adults sat around talking and visiting. It was at this point that Merhige went outside to his 2007 Toyota Camry and retrieved a handgun. He returned to the roomful of people and started shooting. Everyone began screaming and attempting to shield themselves from the barrage of bullets. When it was over, both his sisters, his elderly aunt, his brother-in-law and Clifford Gebara had been hit. The crazed man also pointed his gun at Dr. Joseph after shooting his [Joseph’s] wife, saying he had been waiting a long time to kill him, but the gun misfired. Merhige then made his way to Makalya’s bedroom and shot the little girl as she lay sleeping.



Someone in the house had the presence of mind to run to a neighbor’s home and the neighbor called the police, but by the time they arrived on the scene, Merhige was long gone. Paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and transported the wounded to the hospital. Carla Merhige, Lisa Knight, Raymonde Joseph and 6-year-old Makalya were dead. Patrick Knight was admitted to intensive care with a gunshot wound to the stomach, and Clifford Gebara, who had been grazed by a bullet, was treated and released.



Police converged on Merhige’s Miami condo, but he was nowhere to be found. Law enforcement officers believed he had meticulously plotted the murders, purchasing four guns, packing clothing and other items and withdrawing approximately $12,000 in cash from a bank account. After he was featured on an episode of America’s Most Wanted, Merhige was apprehended January 2, 2010, at the Edgewater Lodge in the Florida Keys. He had taken care to hide, shaving his head, changing the license plates on his vehicle and covering his car with a tarp. After he was taken into custody, he was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.



The state attorney asked for the death penalty and a trial was scheduled, but in October 2011, Merhige pled guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison. Patrick Knight, whose pregnant wife was among those murdered, did not object to the plea agreement, saying he wanted to “pick up the pieces” and did not want to endure “20 years” of appeals. However, Knight indicated Merhige was nothing more than a fat, lazy failure. At 35, he said, Merhige had never held down a job, had never had a girlfriend and stayed home all day sitting in front of a computer.





But Jim Sitton was outraged that Merhige was going to be able to live out his life in prison. “He had the whole thing pre-planned,” Sitton insisted. “His goal was to shoot his sisters and punish his parents.” Sitton revealed his wife’s cousin was always on the fringe of family life and rarely attended gatherings, saying he had met Merhige only twice and hadn’t seen him in more than a decade at the time of the shootings. There were no arguments, warnings or red flags before the rampage, Sitton asserted, but admitted he did not believe Merhige had intended to include Makalya (above) in his killing spree, but became jealous because everyone praised her singing ability. “He tried to snuff out the light,” Sitton charged. “He came into a baby’s room. He saw her innocence and he walked in and purposefully killed her.” Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight also loved to sing, he added. “I now have more faith in the prisoners and the fellow inmates of Starke (Florida State Prison) to take justice than I do in the state attorney’s office because at least in prison, they know what to do with baby killers.”



At sentencing, Sitton addressed the court, saying: “This plea decision is far too important to rush through without any time for us, for all of us, to think.” He accused the state of trying to push the deal through. “We’ve been waiting patiently for almost two years for this case to come to trial. ... Justice is what is at stake here.” Sitton urged the judge to delay sentencing so he could “prepare a proper presentation” with an attorney to detail his argument. Near the end of his statement, after Sitton, who was holding a large picture of his daughter, dropped to his knees, the judge interceded and sternly instructed him to “stop!”



Once he had heard from all relatives of the victims who wished to speak, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Joseph Marx sentenced Paul Merhige to seven life terms. As part of the plea bargain, Merhige had agreed to waive any and all rights of appeal.



The Sittons, Patrick Knight and Dr. Antoine Joseph sued Michael and Carole Merhige for failing to have their son committed to a mental institution when they knew he was seriously mentally disturbed and had stopped taking his medications. Nevertheless, the appellate court determined that just because a person fails to do something that may clearly be the right thing to do, doesn’t mean he or she is legally responsible for the results. Negligence law operates under what some may find a strange principle: It is negligence only when a person acts in a certain irresponsible manner if he has a legally-established duty to act responsibly toward a person who may be injured as a result.



Paul Merhige isn’t incarcerated at Florida State Prison, as Sitton had hoped, but at Lake Correctional Institution in Clermont, Florida.



Sources: WPBF News; CNN Justice; Murderpedia; The Palm Beach Post; and Fourth District Court of Appeal.