Businessman pleads not guilty in slaying of brother's family

A New Jersey businessman accused of killing his brother, his brother's wife and two children pleaded not guilty Monday to felony murder and other charges, the same day his defense lawyers withdrew from the case due to recently discovered conflicts of interest.

Michael Wicke, a public defender for Paul Caneiro, 52, entered the pleas on his behalf during a five-minute court hearing in Freehold, New Jersey.

Monmouth County prosecutors have said Caneiro's brother, Keith, was planning to cut him off financially because he was suspicious of Paul over missing money from two companies they owned at the Jersey shore. The next day, Keith Caneiro and his family were found dead in their burning mansion in Colts Neck.

Paul Caneiro appears for his arraignment in the murders of his brother and his brother's family, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, N.J., Monday, March 18, 2019. The New Jersey businessman pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges. (Tanya BreenNJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

An indictment handed up late last month charges Paul Caneiro with murder, felony murder, aggravated arson and a weapons offense. He also faces counts of theft, misapplication of entrusted property and hindering his own apprehension.

Caneiro had previously been represented by private attorneys Robert Honecker Jr. and Mitchell Ansell, who maintained his innocence. However, they said they determined they could no longer represent him because a review of materials recently released by prosecutors found "at least two separate and clear" conflicts of interest.

The attorneys' statement did not specify those conflicts, and they declined to elaborate on the matter after the hearing. They said their decision to withdraw came "after great debate and discussion within our firm," and noted that prosecutors and the trial judge had agreed with their assessment that "our continued representation of Mr. Caniero would be impossible at this time."

Paul Caneiro appears for his arraignment in the murders of his brother and his brother's family, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, NJ Monday, March 18, 2019. The New Jersey businessman pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges. (Tanya BreenNJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

The two attorneys have said Paul Caneiro loved his family, had no reason to harm them and had been "wrongly accused."

Colts Neck police were dispatched to Keith Caneiro's mansion in New Jersey horse country on Nov. 20 after a neighbor reported the house was on fire. Officers found Keith Caneiro's body on the lawn; he had been shot once in the lower back and four times in the head.

Inside the mansion were the bodies of his wife, Jennifer, their 11-year-old son Jesse and 8-year-old daughter Sophia. The children were stabbed multiple times; their mother was shot and stabbed.

Paul Caneiro appears for his arraignment in the murders of his brother and his brother's family, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, NJ Monday, March 18, 2019. Caneiro has pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges. (Tanya BreenNJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

Prosecutors have said that after he committed the slayings, Paul Caneiro set a slow-burning fire in the mansion and returned to his own family's home in Ocean Township to set it on fire in a ruse to make it look like the Caneiro family was being targeted by someone else. His wife and two daughters were inside, but no one was injured.

Paul Caneiro appears for his arraignment in the murders of his brother and his brother's family, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, NJ Monday, March 18, 2019. Caneiro has pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges. (Tanya BreenNJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

Paul Caneiro shakes hands with Michael Wicke, deputy assistant public defender, during his arraignment in the murders of his brother and his brother's family, before Judge Joseph W. Oxley at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, NJ Monday, March 18, 2019. (Tanya BreenNJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.

The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.

Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.

Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.

Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.

The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)