Paul Merhige, Thanksgiving Day Murders Suspect, Arrested In Florida

WESTON, Fla. — A Florida man suspected of killing four family members in a Thanksgiving shooting was arrested Saturday in the Florida Keys, authorities said.

Jupiter Police Sgt. Scott Pascarella said Paul Merhige was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals and Monroe County Sheriff's deputies late Saturday at a motel in Long Key.

Pascarella said in a news release that the officers received a tip that Merhige was in the area and took him into custody without a struggle.

The 35-year-old Merhige had been the subject of a massive manhunt that included a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Pascarella credited coverage of the case on America's Most Wanted with helping lead to the apprehension.

Merhige is accused of killing his twin sisters, aunt and 6-year-old cousin on Thanksgiving Day at a gathering in Jupiter.

Investigators said Merhige planned carefully, taking clothing, cash and a computer hard drive before the killings.

A news conference was planned for later Saturday on the case.

Comments

[Alma Mccray]

09:04 AM on 01/04/2010

The dilated pupils [as seen in the photo] are probably a sign of some kind of serious drug addiction. As a society we should have learned by now that people addicted to drugs will do absolutely ANYTHING to get them - including the often publicized "family killing spree". I don't understand why addictions are allowed to go unchecked in our society. Until they break the law, drug addicts are pretty much invisible to most of us and left entirely to their own mischiefs. With all the money governments have to spend on arresting and prosecuting drug addicts who commit crimes, I would like to propose that states adopt residential drug programs called "A Life Worth Saving..." where family members can have drug addicted relatives tested and then involuntarily committed to a drug treatment program for a minimum of 90 days and from there be placed in transitional housing for 6-9 months. The tragedy that happened to this family may or may not have been the result of a drug addiction--but if it was, I wonder what could have been done to save this family from this man and to save this man from himself.

[ClassicalLib]

02:05 PM on 01/10/2010

Absolute nonsense.

[Gardawg]

06:05 AM on 01/04/2010

I live in the Florida Keys ... there's lots of fugitives who flee to the Keys ...50 years ago they could have hidden successfully but those days are long gone, now they get caught because it's a difficult place to avoid observation ... . $100,000.00 reward went to the motel manager who made the call after watching America's Most Wanted ...

[glockshooter]

07:02 PM on 01/03/2010

i guess i won't try to take the good turkey meat from this guy! He holds a grudge and doesn't fool around...

[natturnerx]

03:39 PM on 01/03/2010

no racial comments about the perp. must be a white guy.

[OverIt]

06:17 PM on 01/03/2010

Wrong. He's a Haitian-American of Syrian descent. Perhaps the lack of racial comment is due to the fact that there is NO RACIAL SUBTEXT to this crime. This was simply the work of a depraved human being with no regard for human life. PERIOD.

[natturnerx]

08:06 PM on 01/03/2010

but apparently there is only "no racial subtext" if the perp is white. (syrians check the "white" box on the census.) i rarely see any "racial subtext" in several articles where a black person is accused of something, but some ppl always seem to find one..

[OverIt]

06:19 PM on 01/03/2010

And in case you're wondering about his religion because of the family's Syrian background... they are from a long-standing Roman Catholic faith going back more than a thousand years in Syria.

[Troubledwawa]

03:20 PM on 01/03/2010

Good. My condolences to the family. My heart sank when I saw that story. Kudos to John Walsh and AMW.

[bumma]

11:08 AM on 01/04/2010

Amen to that. My heart breaks for the family also. May Bod bless John Walsh and AMW. Let's hope that justice in this case is swift and he gets what he deserves - THE DEATH PENALTY! Let's not drag this out as so many cases are. There is absolutely no question as to his guilt.

[RockiesRiter]

02:35 PM on 01/03/2010

May he rot in jail and then he//.

[OverIt]

12:09 PM on 01/03/2010

I didn't know him well but I went to college with this monster. By all measures, he was someone who looked like he had a bright future, had friends, and was generally happy.

Though he may in fact have a long history of mental illness will NOT support a plea of insanity in this case because the standard for judging responsbility for crime is very strict: did he have the capacity to appreciate the nature of his actions.

The fact that this massacre was long-planned, that he sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with the family and then went out to this car for the weapons before coming back to the house through the back door to ambush them, and then was able to use aliases and change his appearance to evade capture for more than a month is CLEAR evidence that he had the mental capacity to know exactly what he was doing.

[zakwouldhave]

11:37 AM on 01/03/2010

I wouldn't live in Florida for anything (although Miami is fun to visit). And I live in Texas! I just wonder how the gun-lovers out there feel whenever a kid is killed with guns. Are the kids supposed to have a gun for self defense?

[TellMeSumn]

10:06 AM on 01/03/2010

Imagine if this guy had an Islamic background. Everybody would have been screaming honor killing, and how he killed his family members because they adopted a western lifestyle.

Do we even know this guy's religion, did his religion push him to do this. Why is that not covered?

[OverIt]

12:02 PM on 01/03/2010

The fact that you do not take the time to READ was is published does not mean it was "not covered". There has been plenty of discussion in the press about the family's Catholic faith and reliance on their Church family for support.

[TellMeSumn]

12:18 PM on 01/03/2010

Was it blamed on Catholicism?

[mathme]

12:31 PM on 01/03/2010

"religion of peace"-- bah!

[gwix]

12:03 PM on 01/03/2010

What in the world are you rambling about?

[Freedom Rush]

09:26 AM on 01/03/2010

I don't understand why these losers don't just kill themselves and leave the innocent ones alone.

[panasonic52]

09:33 AM on 01/03/2010

Seriously. If they can't stand normal, happy people then end their own suffering.

[gardengranny]

05:24 PM on 01/03/2010

It's all about revenge.

Even the ones who ultimately kill themselves want to take out others first.

[cripes]

08:58 PM on 01/03/2010

and ...then there are those who do the same thing and don't even know their victim.

[Gin1234]

01:38 AM on 01/03/2010

Well at least we know the ending. The media usually leaves us hanging, hyping the story hugely, and then never mentioning anything about it again. Last year a man ki/!ed his ex wife and about 8 of her relatives on Christmas eve, and then himself. There was supposed to be an autopsy to show if he was taking drugs. Do you think anyone ever heard of that story ever again or the outcome of the autopsy?

[JonathanTroy]

02:07 PM on 01/03/2010

Anyone who cared to follow up would have learned that the autopsy showed Pardo was high on cocaine: http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/2009/04/pardo-was-high-on-coke-during.html

It was reported, though probably not here.

[kravitz]

01:00 AM on 01/03/2010

and to think....fox actually was planning to cancel this show years back. 1099 is the number.

[digitalcirrus]

12:55 AM on 01/03/2010

On Fox News Saturday, guest Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (retired) offered a radical solution for improving national security. "We have to use profiling," he said, "And I mean be very serious and harsh about the profiling." Then McInerney proposed the United States should strip search all 18-28 year old Muslim men at airports.

------------------------------------------------

Arrest all white males between the ages of 18 and 35 who plan to visit Weston, FL.

[tlgeiger62]

07:26 AM on 01/03/2010

And your post is here WHY?

[JustADumbFireman]

07:33 AM on 01/03/2010

Didn't read the last line of it, did you?

[cheeriogirl]

12:25 PM on 01/03/2010

Fox would never suggest profiling white males digitalcirrus. Beck and O'Reillywould vindicate them based on their hue alone.

[jan4insight]

12:29 AM on 01/03/2010

Glad he's off the street & in custody.

[WilliamL]

12:15 AM on 01/03/2010

a six year old?

toast.