The Thanksgiving Tragedy | The Christmas Killings hosted by Nancy Grace | Forensic Files

NANCY GRACE: Jupiter, Florida, 2009. Two families gather for Thanksgiving at a beachside paradise.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: Here are 17 people having a great time, eating and enjoying being together.
They're laughing, they're joking. It's just a normal, fun holiday. NANCY GRACE: Until the fun's cut short by their worst nightmare.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: The killer puts a gun to her chest. ERIC FRANK: And there was this loud boom.
[gunshot] NANCY GRACE: A senseless shooting by a deeply depraved killer. [gunshot]
He said, I've been waiting 20 years to do this. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: It is pretty
much the most horrific type of homicide that you can consider. MANNY PURI: He chose Thanksgiving
because he knew everybody was going to be there. That's just evil in its purest form.
NANCY GRACE: The survivors worry, who might be next? It was terrifying. This person disappeared.
We didn't know where he was. There's a killer on the loose. There goes your happy holiday.
[theme music] NANCY GRACE: Thanksgiving leads up to the greatest time of the year, Christmas.
And it brings families together for fun, food, laughter and good times. It's about giving thanks for all we have and for the people
we love. November 26, 2009. A large extended family gathers for Thanksgiving dinner and the upscale beach town of Jupiter, Florida.
ERIC FRANK: Jupiter is kind of like a hidden paradise. It's got a good mix of affluent, very high end neighborhoods.
There's a lot of waterfront properties here, a lot of big names that live in Jupiter.
NANCY GRACE: Jupiter is also one of the safest places in Florida to live and raise a family.
Jim Sitton and his wife, Muriel, feel happy and blessed to live in this beautiful community.
This Thanksgiving, they're hosting a Thanksgiving feast for 17 members of their extended families,
mostly Muriel's relatives. Their daughter, six-year-old Makayla is in her element.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: We have a musical family, and probably the most musically inclined at that moment
is six-year-old Makayla. ERIC FRANK: Makayla was a very happy little girl. She was very active with singing and dancing.
She was going to be in a show, I believe, as a nutcracker show coming up for the holidays.
NANCY GRACE: Raymond Joseph and Dr. Antoine Joseph wouldn't miss the party for the world.
They're Muriel Sitton's, mom and dad, and they adored their little granddaughter, Makayla.
They're laughing. They're joking in the kitchen. They're setting up. Here are 17 people having a great time,
eating and enjoying being together. NANCY GRACE: Carol Merhige, who's Dr. Joseph's sister
is there also with her husband, Michael Merhige and their children. Two families brought together by marriage,
enjoy each other's company with other friends. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: The guys are sitting on the couch
watching TV and eating, and the women are all in the kitchen, so it's just a normal, fun holiday.
NANCY GRACE: And then it's all destroyed. [gunshot] NANCY GRACE: This peaceful holiday suddenly
shattered with a 911 call. So, Thanksgiving 2009, it was home with my family. We had our Thanksgiving dinner and all.
The phone rings. [phone ringing] ERIC FRANK: Hey, we have a homicide. We have multiple victims.
We need you in here. And I remember clearly sitting up in bed saying, you're kidding, right?
How many? When you get a phone call like that, it definitely gets your adrenaline pumping.
Time to get it together and game on now. [sirens wailing] ERIC FRANK: When I get on scene, it was very quickly established
that it was a shooting. We have multiple gunshot victims. NANCY GRACE: Sergeant Eric Frank's
briefed by first responders. ERIC FRANK: When the initial officers responded to the scene,
they didn't know at that point in time if the shooter was still in the residence or not.
There was no time to call SWAT. So when they entered that house, it was a very dynamic entry.
They're charging in to try to neutralize that shooter if he's still there. In this case, he was not.
And they changed over to immediately start rendering aid. An active shooter in Jupiter, Florida
catches the media's attention and the news spreads like wildfire. ERIC FRANK: There's already a media area being set up aside.
The proverbial crime scene tape. The area is up. Everyone sees the crime scene tape.
They know something's happening. MICHELLE SUSKAUER: Jim Sitton worked for a long time
at our local NBC affiliate. He was one of our own. This was personal. ERIC FRANK: We had 17 people in this house.
Three are dead here. Two are at the hospital. We have an unknown shooter. My next step was then getting as many bodies
as I can to assist me, calling out as many detectives and agents, as I can. Because now, as the primary detective on that scene,
I now have to be, for lack of better terms, a conductor of the orchestra. NANCY GRACE: During the chaos, Jupiter Police find out Jim
and Muriel Sitton are the homeowners, and the victims are their guests and family members.
So where is everyone? Sergeant Erik Frank enters the home to find out. ERIC FRANK: We need to walk the scene
and see exactly what we have inside and where we need to go from there. From what's inside the house tells us what we need to do.
On the floor, in the doorway of the kitchen is where Carla was, and she was still there.
She was deceased. NANCY GRACE: 33-year-old Carla Merhige is the twin sister of Lisa Knight.
She's a child advocate who recently took a job working with adolescents in foster care.
ERIC FRANK: When you go into the kitchen area, you transition into that living room area.
There's a sliding glass door that's standing open. One of the things that you can see on the floor in this tile
floor, there's blood. We followed that blood trail out of the sliding glass door.
And on the side of the house there is where we have one of the other victims who's deceased, and she's still there,
is Lisa. NANCY GRACE: Lisa Knight has an MBA and works with her mother at Coldwell Banker.
She's Carla's twin sister and singing partner. They perform at Miami's juvenile lockup together at Christmas.
She obviously was shot inside the residence and she's able to make it outside the residence,
but she collapses outside and dies on scene. NANCY GRACE: Lisa's husband, Patrick Knight, also shot.
ERIC FRANK: You have the living room where Patrick fell, where it was determined that Patrick was shot
right there in the kitchen. NANCY GRACE: Patrick Knight's still alive and rushed to the hospital.
And there's one more victim clinging to life, a little angel who's life above all others should
be saved. It's Sitton's beautiful six-year-old little girl, Makayla. ERIC FRANK: I walked in Makayla's room.
You can see right away it's a little girl's room. All the little girl stuff that's on there, the stuffed animals
and things like that. And you can see the bullet casing on the bed. And the blood on the bed.
When you know that a child has been harmed. A child has been shot. Makes you wonder why.
Why would you do this to a child. And it raises that level of we're going to get you.
You don't mess with children. We need to find out who did this. NANCY GRACE: Who would carry out such a deplorable act, and no
less a Thanksgiving dinner? [intriguing music] NANCY GRACE: Thanksgiving is a holiday we all anticipate
with much enthusiasm. Everyone takes time off from work and a few days often expand to an entire week.
It's a time to relax, make and eat great food, and enjoy family. Put differences aside and celebrate togetherness.
It's not supposed to be a time for a 911 call. But in 2009, that's exactly what happens in Jupiter, Florida.
[ominuous music] NANCY GRACE: A bloodbath shatters this year's Thanksgiving for the Sitton and marriage families.
It also rocks the peaceful town of Jupiter, Florida. ERIC FRANK: How did this start, and how did it come to this
where we are now with the everyone who was shot and deceased in the residence? What led up to this?
We have interviews going on in the house, across the street, in the different rooms, and now we have to put all that together
of what we saw in the scene and to what it matches with what the witnesses and the victims
are telling us. The family was set to gather at this house, 3:30, 4:00 that day.
They were all there. Patrick, Carol, Lisa, Raymonde and all the other family members.
It's just a typical holiday that you or I or anybody else would probably have if we came from a large family.
Where do families always gather when you're at a family gathering? The kitchen. And that's what happened here.
And the family starts to do the sing-alongs for the holidays, the Christmas tunes.
Six-year-old Makayla is more than happy to show her family what she's doing the next day.
She is going to be featured in "The Nutcracker." She's one of the youngest ballet dancers
for this particular company, and so she's dancing and she's twirling and not a care in the world,
and she's absolutely adorable. [soft music] And then, as typical, at the end of the night,
everyone stands up. And it's time to start leaving now. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: So as they're getting ready to leave,
somebody comes to the door. [tense music] [gunshots] ERIC FRANK: What everyone says is all of a sudden,
there's this loud boom. And some people describe it as they thought something had
dropped, something had fallen. They didn't realize at that point that it was a gunshot.
Carla takes a couple stagger steps and then she drops. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: And after Carla falls,
you have Patrick Knight. ERIC FRANK: The round that hits him goes through him, hits the wall.
He drops there. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: People are trying to figure out what's going on.
Lisa tries to crawl away. She is trying to escape. [gunshots] We're pretty sure that that's where Lisa was shot.
And based on that blood trail is where she drops to the floor and begins to crawl.
And then the trail goes outside, where Lisa finally fell. Another family member, Clifford,
is now the next victim. [gunshots] ERIC FRANK: There were two, maybe three shots.
Clifford had a graze wound on the inside of his arm. As he's now turning and running out,
everyone's trying to run out that sliding glass door from the family room. [tense music]
[gunshot] The next person to be caught up in this chaotic event would be the mother of the host, Raymonde.
It's chaos. ERIC FRANK: She was actually still seated. There's a row of chairs that's on the side.
As he's walking in, he stands over her and shoots her in the shoulder and she drops to the floor.
Her husband and one of the other guests that was there were leaning over her as she's on the floor there.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: As she is receiving aid from her husband in an attempt to save her,
the killer puts a gun to her chest and pulls the trigger. [gunshot] DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: And make sure there's no other outcome.
So not only does he rob her of any chance of life, but he just did that in front of her husband.
ERIC FRANK: This is when he turns, points the gun at her husband, pulls the trigger, does not go off,
racks it as he's walking, pulls it again, does not shoot. He racks it again. And now he walks back out through the kitchen.
He did go back to his vehicle and retrieved a second firearm, which we later determined
to be a 38 caliber revolver. This was the gun that he used to execute Makayla. An act that you can't explain is a killer
walking into a child's room and shooting this child, who may or may not have survived.
[intriguing music] What this scene shows us, the level of aggression and how dangerous this person can be.
It just shows the levels of depravity that he has. And one of the even more tragic things
that we found in the course of this was that Lisa was pregnant with Patrick's unborn child.
So now you have another unspoken victim for this entire tragedy. An unborn child is now tragically added
to a senseless list of victims. Even more bizarre is the identity of the shooter.
He's someone known to all the victims, a family member who catches them all off guard.
ERIC FRANK: The shooter was very quickly established as a family member who was identified as Paul Merhige.
NANCY GRACE: Paul Merhige is the son of Carol and Michael Merhige, the brother of slain
twin sisters, Carla and Lisa. He's not supposed to come to dinner, but at the last moment
he calls his dad, Michael, for directions. ERIC FRANK: He hadn't been to this house before.
He officially wasn't really even invited, from what we find out later. It was something that had been mentioned to his dad,
and dad said, it would be great to see you kind of thing. NANCY GRACE: Paul's uncle, Dr. Joseph tells police
a disturbing thing Paul said to him during the shooting spree. ERIC FRANK: After Paul shot Raymonde,
he then turned fire him on to Dr. Joseph and pulled the trigger, the weapon jammed.
And Dr. Joseph told us he looked back and Paul said, "I've been waiting 20 years to do this."
[intriguing music] NANCY GRACE: For most families, Thanksgiving dinner is a wonderful event where they get
to spend time with the people they love the most. For others, there can be one relative
they hope doesn't show up. That's what happens to one extended family in Jupiter,
Florida, Thanksgiving, 2009. The unwanted relative is Paul Merhige. He hasn't been to a family gathering for years.
Now, he arrives with evil on his mind. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: You have an individual
that actually came into a major family holiday and wiped out family. Familicide is pretty much the most horrific type of homicide
that you can consider. This was evil. Just evil. It definitely heightens the need to capture him because somebody
can go kill his own family. He could kill anybody. NANCY GRACE: Jupiter Police released Paul Merhige's name
to the media. An arrest warrant has been issued for a Florida man suspected of shooting family members
after a Thanksgiving party. US Marshals have joined the search for 35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige.
He's believed to be armed and was last seen driving away from the home where the attack took place.
MANNY PURI: This is a guy who's been on the run for less than 24 hours. You try to get as much information as possible
so you can try to predetermine where he's going to go. Who's he going to contact.
He fled in a 2007 Toyota Camry. We got that information and we learned that he traveled
southbound on the Turnpike. So these are hot leads that we got to try to investigate quickly.
We try to get cameras on the Turnpike. If he had a phone number. So we can track the phone.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: Florida is so easy to go in any direction, to move very quickly and not be seen.
It's a very transient state. Is he going to be laying in wait for you and tell you to give him a ride someplace?
How do you know that Paul's not in the crowd of people that are out there? NANCY GRACE: The trail for Paul Merhige goes cold.
MANNY PURI: The cameras that are all over the Turnpike were not filming, they were just live cameras.
So we could not get a direction of when he exited or when he got on. SunPass, tolls.
None of that was available to us. Because there was only live filming. NANCY GRACE: Investigators can't catch a solid lead.
All they have is Paul Merhige's vehicle make and model, and that he's last seen heading south on I-95.
MICHELLE SUSKAUER: It was terrifying. This was a mass shooting in our backyard with the shooter who
disappeared. NANCY GRACE: While US Marshals hunt for Paul Merhige, Jupiter detectives investigate his background.
They want to know what kind of person would do this and why. Who is Paul Merhige?
What they learn is deeply disturbing. When Paul was younger, he appeared to be just
your average normal person. No issues. No drama. Very much the go-to guy in high school.
Everybody liked him. He had plans to go off to college. He was a good looking guy, and very charismatic,
and he came from a wealthy family. In the 70s, the 80s, when he was growing up, he gets
put through a private school. He lives in an affluent neighborhood. He has the world at his feet.
But when we go through his history, he does have mental health issues. For whatever reason, there's a family argument,
and he's only 13 years old, but he pulls a gun and nobody in the family even knew he had a weapon.
He went around the country to some very prestigious mental health centers for specific diagnoses.
He was also diagnosed with depression. Now, depression can manifest itself in a bunch of different ways.
It doesn't necessarily mean that you're sitting in a corner and you're crying. It can manifest in anger.
NANCY GRACE: Paul Merhige's parents seek treatment and medication for their son,
but they're helpless. His mental health continues to disintegrate. DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: Paul goes off to college,
and he has what his mother calls a mental breakdown at 19. He's on his own. And there's nobody there to make sure he takes medicine
or to make sure he feels comfortable or to explain anything for him. For the first time, Paul has to do it all on his own.
And he doesn't. And so he fell apart. He fails out of college. His parents actually buy him a condo
and provide him a permanent housekeeper. At one point in time, Paul actually tells his therapist,
I think I should move back home. My parents moved me out. If I have to suffer, they should suffer, too.
NANCY GRACE: It seems Paul Merhige blames his own family for his unhappiness and for his fragile mental state.
He becomes deeply resentful of his older twin sisters, who are successful and happy with their lives.
DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: When Paul was younger, he idolized his sisters. He said it quite often that I am so lucky,
I have the most amazing sisters. I have the best relationship. And then, all of a sudden that changed.
Several years go by and then lo and behold, Carla turns around and files for a protective order against him
and is granted that order. He lunged at her with a knife. He said specifically, he was going to slit her throat
and kill her. NANCY GRACE: It's clear, Paul Merhige has a diabolical agenda when he shows up for Thanksgiving
at the last minute. [intriguing music] DR. KIMBERLIE MASSNICK: His father is the one that invited him or facilitated
him getting to Thanksgiving dinner that day. He was not invited to Thanksgiving the year before.
He was told the year before by the uncle, you're not welcome here. So he was not invited and the father abided by that.
However, this year, the father decides that maybe it'll be OK. So imagine their surprise when they opened the door.
The Sittons weren't real happy when they were the hosts of this event. This family get together.
And somebody they didn't invite was now there. He didn't partake in any food, but he did sit.
And he was talking with some family on the back patio at some point in the living room,
he was talking with other family members. There were no indications. Everyone we talked to there were no indications
that this was about to occur. As Paul gets there, everybody's a little bit on edge, but then things
seem to calm down a little bit. He does participate when the family starts to do the sing-alongs for the holidays, the Christmas tunes,
and little Makayla is dancing around. Paul's there for three hours before he decides,
OK, now's the time. He was very jealous of the fact that other people had normalcy.
He is jealous of his sisters. Makayla, the little six-year-old. She got a lot of attention that night.
The family loved and adored her. She's a child. And she got to show off and be the center of attention.
That probably didn't play well in Paul's book. And so it's almost right after that that the mood shifts
and Paul decides it's time to do what Paul's going to do. "I've been waiting 20 years to do this."
My personal opinion is that he chose Thanksgiving because he knew everybody was going to be there.
What better place to get everyone together? He wanted everybody together. And he knew everybody would be there, including his parents.
And he did not attempt to kill his parents. He wanted his parents to see. He wanted his parents to suffer.
NANCY GRACE: Three victims now dead, two others fighting for their lives, including little Makayla.
We had sent multiple detectives to do interviews and such. And one of those detectives was also sent to the hospital down
in West Palm to attempt to one, interview the victims, if possible, and two, also gather evidence from them,
clothing, whatever else may be recovered. The detective called and said at that point
that when he got there that Makayla who had been flown down by helicopter, had been declared
deceased at the hospital. [somber music] My next job was then to tell Jim and Muriel
that their daughter was dead. NANCY GRACE: What type of monster would target an innocent, precious six-year-old
little girl? MANNY PURI: He switched to another gun to continue it. So this was evil.
This is a guy that we definitely need to catch and bring to justice. [tense music]
NANCY GRACE: Resentment runs deep for relatives who feel alienated and excluded from family.
In the case of Paul Merhige, resentment turns into something malignant and dangerous.
[intriguing music] NANCY GRACE: The Merhige family massacre and the cold blooded execution of a six-year-old little girl,
Makayla, Thanksgiving, 2009 is pure evil. And now, a maniac is on the loose. Police must find him.
There is nothing more important than finding Paul. He had already killed four people.
He had tried to kill multiple other people at that residence. So the propensity for violence was very high with him.
We needed to find him, and we needed to find him as fast as we could. We have to get into his mind to find out what is he thinking.
Where is he potentially going to go. MANNY PURI: The only way to be a successful fugitive
is to abandon everything you know and who you know. And that is the only way you're going to stay on the run.
Because as soon as you contact somebody you know or you go someplace that you have gone before, the jig is up, you're going to be caught.
ERIC FRANK: Search warrants were conducted at his residence in Miami. What they found in the course of the search
warrants is that Paul, leading up to this, started destroying his computers. He removed the hard drives from his computers.
He was pre-planning this. He was ready to run, right up to the day of this incident.
And he did just that. NANCY GRACE: Investigators focus on digital trails like ATM visits that Paul Merhige may leave behind.
They're hoping for clues as to his next move. ERIC FRANK: As we're going into the bank accounts,
we're seeing that this is something Paul was planning. Every day he would go to an ATM and he
would take money out from these ATMs, different bank ATMs. The day before Thanksgiving, he goes
to a bank and takes out a huge amount of money, $10,000 plus. We received a phone call from a gentleman who
owned a gun store in Fort Lauderdale, and he said he had seen the story. He saw Paul's name and photo on the news and the reason
he was calling, because he said this guy was just here to purchase multiple firearms, several handguns, I believe,
as well as a Remington 700, which is a sniper rifle. What SWAT teams and military use.
He then went to a nearby Bass Pro Shop and they had 22 caliber rifle and of Ruger 1022,
I believe that was there. And ammunition. Adding more to his inventory. Obviously, we knew he was armed.
We started learning how well armed he was. All this is telling us, he's building up.
This plan is going to happen. There's no argument. There's no question. This was 100% premeditated.
This is someone who knew exactly what he was doing. NANCY GRACE: The family's terrified.
Paul Merhige will return to finish what he started. At this point, we don't know where Paul is,
so we want to make sure they're safe. So we gave them 24 hour protection starting right then and there.
There was a memorial service that was held by the family for all the victims. So all the family was together.
We had counter-sniper team set up just in case he was going to show up to try to take
out additional family members. We didn't know. NANCY GRACE: Sure enough, a member
of Paul Merhige's family calls police in a panic, certain Paul is in his building.
We had a tip from a relative that was residing in a condo complex/hotel complex,
the DoubleTree. Investigators didn't hesitate to jump on a tip out of Miami, dispatching dozens of officers to a popular hotel.
Police, SWAT teams and US Marshals moved in last night surrounding the DoubleTree Grand Hotel
and condominium after a man spotted someone who looked like Merhige. Tourists and locals were caught off guard
by the large police presence. We basically locked down a two block area and we evacuated.
We just thought that oh, this is it. He came back. He's coming to finish the job.
The relative had told us where he had seen the suspect. I proceeded to the security office to review video footage.
It wasn't Merhige on the film. The days, countdown to Christmas and still no sign
of Paul Merhige. ERIC FRANK: There was no activity on the bank accounts. There were no activity on his phone.
We didn't know if he was going to try to flee the country or if he already had fled the country.
We exhausted all the leads we could with known associates, with phone records, bank statements.
Everything we could do on a paper trail was done. You have to start changing the way you're going to conduct
the investigation because he's not doing the typical things normal fugitive is going to do.
So you have to start changing your way of thinking and planning about how you're going to capture him.
NANCY GRACE: Jupiter Police and the US Marshals turned to the media for assistance
in a national manhunt. So now I took the stance of I've got to flood the media with this guy's picture.
REPORTER: Palm Beach County State's attorney's office has issued a warrant for four counts of murder.
US Marshals have joined the search for 35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige. He's believed to be armed.
He was last seen driving away from the home where the attack took place. Anything I could find on him, I was going
to put on TV, on newspapers. I needed the public's help, the media's help to flush this guy out, to get him nervous
for him to make a mistake. REPORTER: US Marshals now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of this man here.
MANNY PURI: We used billboards, which was a new thing at the time. Every time the media would call and wanted
to do an interview with me for an update, I did it. So it was always on the news, almost every day.
REPORTER: I'm curious, though, why he hasn't been caught, because usually this kind of publicity,
this amount it gets the suspect. REPORTER 2: Take a look at these pictures of the man who police
say fatally shot four of his relatives on Thanksgiving, including his cousin's six-year-old daughter.
These pictures are from an ATM taken November, 22. Several days before the murders.
You had print media, you had national media and you had local media. While the suspect allegedly targeted his family
based on years of resentment, police are now worried that he's so desperate he'd
be willing to turn the gun on anyone who tried to capture him. There was an intense interest for the country
to see what was going to happen and what was going to be written in this final chapter
of this terrible story. [intriguing music] ERIC FRANK: We're approaching Christmas now.
We're putting his face out there, his name out there. There's very few people who did not know what was happening.
For the family, though, everyone has to remember they're all still under 24 hour protection
from the Jupiter Police Department. The stress levels, I could tell you, in that house were immense, because they don't know
what's the potential to happen. We don't know where he is. Is he going to come back on Christmas now?
NANCY GRACE: It's been almost five weeks since Paul Merhige unleashed horror on his own family and he can't be found.
Four of his relatives are dead. One in a coma, clinging to life. Christmas, 2009 passes.
Then, New Year's 2010 comes and goes. Paul Merhige still at large. Investigators now turn to the TV show "America's Most Wanted",
hoping for help from the public. ERIC FRANK: "America's Most Wanted" ran several versions of it.
They were huge in helping us, putting the word out there to the world of who Paul Merhige was
and that we wanted him. MANNY PURI: So me and Detective Erik Frank flew up to DC for the "America's Most Wanted" show.
They were going to air a piece that we had filmed on January, 2nd. And what happens is the case investigators go up prior
to the show being aired, and they talk to the operators, the people who actually answer the phones.
And what we do is we give them pieces of information that the public doesn't have.
So, you know if an operator raises your hand or something and they're getting a piece of information
that the public doesn't know, it's a hot tip. It's good because the public doesn't know it.
Me and Eric had sat down for dinner with two of the producers, and we just ordered,
and one of the "Americas' Most Wanted" operators calls me on the phone. Now, this is roughly 6:30 and the show hasn't aired.
And the person is saying that we've got a tip. I was shocked on why am I getting a tip now.
NANCY GRACE: The tip is from a couple who own a motel in Long Key, Florida. And she told me that the hotel owners were watching the college
football game and saw a commercial of "Americas' Most Wanted", what was going to air.
When this commercial came up for the show, and it flashed a picture of Paul on there
and the vehicle, possible description, they freaked out. MANNY PURI: I called the owners of the hotel
and they started telling me that they recognized him from the commercial, and that he's been in the hotel
and his car is in the parking lot, but has a tarp on it. Now, they went and lifted up this tarp, which
I did not tell them to do, because we don't want to put them in danger. And they came back with a license plate
and I nudged Eric and I said, run this tag for me while I'm talking and getting more information.
NANCY GRACE: The license plate is in the system as an expired tag registered to none other than Paul's
father, Michael Merhige. Now, alarms go off. Now I know it's the real deal. NANCY GRACE: US Marshal Manny Puri
calls his office in Key West. I said you need to head to mile marker 67 on the highway
and get eyes on. ERIC FRANK: Local sheriffs were called. They set up roadblocks immediately on the island.
We had an army coming. Marshals, detectives, local agencies, sheriff's office. Everyone was coming to set up to make sure he
did not escape that island. They very slowly, quietly started evacuating everyone
from the surrounding rooms. They're going to get this extremely dangerous person.
We don't know what we're sending them into. We knew that Paul has this huge amount of firepower.
What's going to happen? MANNY PURI: They got there and they put eyes on and he was still inside.
They could see the light. They could see him moving around. And they're getting the operations plan
together, which is setting up a perimeter, getting the entry team. How are they going to make entry.
All the tactical decisions you need to make. Remember, the man is armed and dangerous.
[tense music] Authorities surround the motel. They don't know if Paul Merhige has detected them yet.
And they went through the sliding glass door. They did a rake and break, and they threw a flashbang in
and they got him running to the bathroom. There were several weapons in the house,
but he didn't get to them. He wasn't compliant and he was tased and he was handcuffed and brought out.
Everything was done perfectly because he had no idea were outside his door. NANCY GRACE: Paul Merhige is now in the custody
of US Marshals who transport him back to Jupiter. The question remains, how has he eluded
authorities for five weeks? Once Paul was arrested, his hotel room was now sealed.
And that was a search warrant was executed to get all the property and all the evidence in there.
And part of what we wanted to do with that was to see where did Paul go, how did he end up in this room.
NANCY GRACE: The motel owners tell investigators Paul paid cash for the room six months before the murders,
and he checks in shortly after Thanksgiving. ERIC FRANK: He basically was at that hotel from only a couple
of days after this occurred, till right to the day we arrested him. Our belief is that we put this out there to the world
so quickly, and with such volume of keeping this on the front lines of the media and the front page
of every newspaper, that it forced him to go to ground, and hopefully that it did save any other family members' lives
if he was going to go after anyone because everyone was on alert. Florida was on alert.
The nation was on alert. MICHELLE SUSKAUER: But for this media blast, who knows if he
ever would have been captured. And the media really was the hero in this case, in making sure that the shooter was brought to justice
and was captured before he could hurt or kill anyone else. NANCY GRACE: Paul Merhige's surviving relatives
relieved he's finally in custody, but it's a bittersweet consolation. The fear of him being out there
and coming to kill him maybe is over. But nothing brings back Makayla. Nothing brings back the people they lost.
The memories are still there. NANCY GRACE: Two months after Paul Merhige's capture,
Patrick Knight wakes from his coma. To him, this was still the very next day. He did not know of anyone else who had gotten shot.
He had no knowledge of this because he was in a coma. Patrick had no idea that his wife and unborn child were dead.
Michael and Carol not only lost their daughter Lisa, their unborn grandchild, and Carla,
they also lost their son, Paul. They lost their entire family in one disastrous moment.
The Sitton family wants the death penalty for Paul Merhige but prosecutors believe his mental health
history makes that almost impossible, so they offer a plea deal. Seven consecutive life sentences,
one for each murder and attempted murder, with no right to appeal. Paul Merhige takes the deal.
MICHELLE SUSKAUER: Life in Florida is life. There's no parole, meaning you're sentenced.
The only way you get out is feet first. So it was effectively over. [soft music]
MICHELLE SUSKAUER: If there was ever an ability to have any semblance of closure, having him sentenced,
done and goodbye would be it. How do you get past something that's impossible to get past?
NANCY GRACE: Michael Merhige is the only family member still in contact with Paul.
We all hope that in time with new children, new family members, new traditions, new values, that they too can
once again have Thanksgiving. And it just be Thanksgiving. ERIC FRANK: One of the most important things
as an investigator in dealing with homicide is to get justice for those victims.
And in this case, to get justice for Lisa, for Carla, for Raymonde, but also for Makayla,
who was executed at six years of age, not being able to live her life. That's what was important.
And that's what we did to put Paul Merhige away. It doesn't define what Thanksgiving is.
He's going to die in jail. And the family has their justice. [soft music] It said that no feeling runs more deeply
than love within a family. In the case of one extended family, the opposite is true.
Hate run as deep as the evil that drove it, and the consequences are tragic. I'm Nancy Grace.
Thank you for joining us here on "The Christmas Killings." [suspenseful music]

Police receive a call reporting gunshots fired inside a residence. Officers arrive at a grisly scene: four people are dead, including a young girl. Could a killer’s resentments of his family enjoying Thanksgiving together have lead to their murder?

Hosted by Nancy Grace, The Christmas Killings is a true crime docuseries that blends merry with mystery as it delves into holiday-season homicide investigations.

Brief Summary

Thanksgiving 2009 in Jupiter, Florida, turns deadly when Paul Merhige shoots family members, resulting in multiple fatalities and a nationwide manhunt.

Key points

Thanksgiving Nightmare. A joyful family gathering turns into a horrific shooting scene.
A Child's Tragic Fate. Six-year-old Makayla Sitton is shot, raising the stakes of the tragedy.
The Shooter Revealed. The shooter is identified as Paul Merhige, a family member with a dark past.
The Merhige Family Massacre. A chilling account of the Thanksgiving tragedy that left four dead and one in a coma.
Paul Merhige's Capture. After weeks on the run, Paul Merhige is finally apprehended by authorities.
The Aftermath of the Tragedy. The surviving family members grapple with loss and seek justice for their loved ones.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This was evil. Just evil.

Dr. Kimberlie Massnick describing the act.

17:47WatchApr 1, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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