On November 26, 2009, a man killed four members of his family in Jupiter, Florida. [1] [2] [3]
35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige waited three hours before opening fire at his family's Thanksgiving Day dinner, shooting multiple family members. [4] [5] His aunt, Raymonde Joseph, his twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, as well as his 6-year-old cousin, Makayla, were killed in the shooting. Lisa Knight was pregnant at the time of the shooting. [6] [7] Her husband, Patrick Knight, was severely injured and spent three months in a coma. [8]
The family had a troubled past. In 1973, Paul Merhige's aunt, Salwa Merrige-Abrams, murdered her ex-husband and two children before committing suicide by taking barbiturates. [9]
A manhunt for Merhige followed, with a $25,000 reward offered for information leading to his arrest. [10]
On January 2, 2010, Merhige was arrested. [11] [12] On October 27, 2011, Paul Merhige pleaded guilty to all charges, and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without parole. [13] [14]
The same year, on September 15, Jim and Muriel Sitton sued Paul's parents, with their reasoning being that they could have prevented the murders. [15] [16] In 2014, 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that Merhige's parents could not be held liable for the massacre. [17] [18]