Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day to celebrate family and give thanks for what you have. However, Paul Michael Merhige turned his family Thanksgiving day into a massacre. Was it his mental illness or a meticulously planned act?
thanksgiving 2009
In 2009, Thanksgiving fell on November 26th and families were spending time together and giving thanks for everything they had and the people in their lives. Families were eating turkey and watching football. People carrying out the traditions that had been in their families for years and others that were creating new traditions.
In Jupiter, Florida (a little over 50 miles north of Miami) in an upscale, gated community, Jim and Muriel Sitton were hosting their family Thanksgiving. Their 6-year-old daughter Makalya had written cards about how thankful she was that they strung on a clothesline. She also showed off her dancing and singing in an unplanned rehearsal for her upcoming performance in the Nutcracker the next day.
Her grandmother and grandfather, Muriel’s parents, 76-year-old Raymonde and Dr. Antoine Joseph came for the celebration as did her Aunt Carole and Uncle Michael Merhige. Carole and Michael’s twin daughters 33-year-olds Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight (pregnant with her first child) along with her husband Patrick Knight had been invited and they all came eager to have Thanksgiving with their family!
However, Carole and Michael’s 35-year-old son Paul hadn’t been invited by the Sittons. Despite not being invited, he had called his parents and told them that he was planning to come. In fact, he’d been calling them for days to get information about Thanksgiving. He’d repeatedly checked the time with his parents. He was estranged from most of his family and rarely, if ever, came to family functions so it wasn’t like him to want to participate in Thanksgiving. Carole and Michael never mentioned his plans to attend to the Sittons who hadn’t seen Paul in 13 years.
Carole told her daughter, Lisa that she’d had a “sinister thought” about Paul’s plans. She told LIsa, “I hope he doesn’t come and kill us all tonight.” To which Lisa said, “Mom, it came to my mind, but don’t say that to Dad because Dad would get upset that we had such ideas.” Even after checking and double checking the time he was an hour and a half late, but Paul did join the family for Thanksgiving. During dinner he didn’t eat anything. For 3-hours, Paul was there, but not actively participating in the day. After dinner and sing-alongs (where he was just on the periphery and not singing), Paul went outside to his car and retrieved a gun.
He walked calmly back in the house and without a word, he began shooting.
PAUL MICHAEL MERHIGE
Paul Michael Merhige was born in Florida in 1974 to Carole and Michael Merhige. He was their second child and second boy. He would soon be followed by twin girls, Lisa and Carla. He was a varsity athlete (football, baseball, and soccer) and honors student at his Miami prep school, Gulliver Preparatory Academy. He was described as “driven”, “mature”, “handsome”, “fit”, “personable”, and “quiet.” He was called “well-liked, but not popular.” Paul was the leader of the French honor society and as a kicker on the football team frequently had to practice on his own since it’s a specialty and not something they worked on in practice.
In his yearbook senior year, Paul had a senior page where he wrote a note to “all 32” members of his family. “I love you now and will forever. I have been so lucky to be blessed with having twin sisters and a protective older brother.” He wrote to his mom and dad, “Thank you for all that you have given me.” And Mom and Dad did give him a lot. In fact, they fully supported him financially and would continue to do so throughout his life. Upon graduating 3rd in his class in high school , Paul planned to attend the University of Miami. His plan was to graduate and become a doctor.
When he was 13, his family got into an argument and Paul overreacted just a scooch when he pulled out a loaded gun no one knew he had and pointed it at his family. The gun was never fired, but it was definitely a terrifying moment for the Merhige family. According to his mother, Paul then had a “nervous breakdown” when he was 19. He was an honors student, but he had always battled with depression and OCD and recently had begun to suffer from insomnia as well. On top of that, he was gaining weight and losing his hair. He’d been losing his hair since he was about 17 and had even started taking Rogaine in high school as a preventative measure.
College is a very common time for people to start showing signs of mental illness. The stresses of college as well as the life change can trigger or exacerbate mental illnesses. For Paul, that was the depression and OCD. He was a big germaphobe and showered repeatedly and for extended periods and would wear 2 pairs of underwear at one time and refused to wear shorts. And Paul’s OCD was out in full force. Not only was he still showering and shaving repeatedly, but he was struggling to make decisions and couldn’t keep a job. People with OCD can often struggle with decision making as they are typically worried about making the wrong choice or the uncertainty.
Another issue with his OCD was that it would cause him to revisit things like resentments and insults over and over again. So when he thought that he was rebuffed by his family (or anyone) he would think about it repeatedly and stew in it for years. Paul liked to debate with people about religion. Specifically, he liked to argue about whether or not people actually believed every word in the Bible. He wasn’t sure that anyone really believed every word.
Paul began skipping his meds and eventually (reportedly) attempted suicide by shooting himself. He’d told his psychiatrist that he couldn’t stop thinking about death. He also frequently threatened to kill his sisters. It was reported in a few sources that Paul was possibly jealous of his sisters or that he felt like a failure and needed to place blame somewhere. Back in 1998 or 1999 (he was 24-25), Paul took out a restraining order on his sister, Carla when he claimed she tried to kill him. He dropped the complaint a few weeks later. Then in 2006, Carla attempted to get a restraining order against Paul. She claimed that he threatened to kill her by slitting her throat and then kill himself. She also withdrew the complaint after a few weeks.
Also in 1998, there are records from Miami-Dade County that say that Paul was arrested for disorderly conduct and charged with a misdemeanor, but that’s all we know about that. Brother-in-law, Patrick Knight (who was also a board certified civil trial lawyer from Miami) didn’t appear to be Paul’s biggest fan even before the shooting. He described Paul as a “fat, lazy failure” who never had a job or a girlfriend and just stayed home all day on his computer. Paul was “by no means a functioning member of society.”
Back to thanksgiving...
Then in 2009, Paul Merhige started making meticulous plans. Weeks before Thanksgiving, Paul spent over $2,000 buying guns and ammunition. He went to 2 different gun shops to get his supplies and purchase a scope to be attached to the bolt-action rifle; a Remington 700. Paul claimed that he wanted the 4 guns he would buy for hunting. He packed up clothes and withdrew at least $12,000 in cash from the bank.
After dinner on Thanksgiving 2009, Paul began his massacre by methodically shooting members of his family. 16 family members were present and there had been no arguments or even heated conversations. They had sung songs and Makalya had shown her family her dances for her performance the next day. Paul went out to the car and was gone for about 20 minutes before he came back inside armed. The event was quick, but effective. As he stood near the fridge with what was described as an “evil haunting look” on his face, he picked off family members.
His sisters Carla and Lisa were one of the first to get shot. Both died from their injuries. Lisa’s husband, Patrick was shot in his stomach, but was conscious long enough to witness the rest of Paul’s actions. Raymonde Joseph was shot once in her shoulder. When her husband, (Doctor) Antoine attempted to stop the bleeding, Paul put the barrel of the gun to her chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through her sternum and heart. This shot jammed his gun. Paul pointed the gun at his uncle and tried to fire twice, but nothing happened.
At some point, he reportedly (by Patrick) reloaded the gun and said to his dad, “I’ve been waiting 20 years to do this.” Then, finally, Paul took his final victim in the most horrific way. He went to 6-year-old Makayla’s room where she was sleeping in her Tinkerbell pajamas. Before this night, Paul and Makayla had never met. Paul shot her in the back and the hip. Then he started to leave, but immediately after leaving her room, he went back and shot her a final time in the head. Then, he just walked out of the house, got into his 2007 Royal Blue Toyota Camry, and drove off.
The first 911 call came from a neighbor just after 10pm. They reported that they had heard gunshots. After the 1st call, more calls followed. Carla Merhige, Lisa Knight (and her unborn baby), Raymonde Joseph, and little Makayla Joy Sitton were all beyond help. Clifford Gebara was grazed in the melee. Patrick Knight was in critical condition. Once at the hospital, he was put into a medically induced coma for the next few months. The Red Cross disaster team received a call at 2 am and provided a place for the surviving family members to stay for the rest of the weekend. Representatives from the Red Cross were on site until 8 am.
When media coverage started, WPTV was especially present. Jim Sitton (Makalya’s dad) had worked there for years as a videographer. The vice president of WPTV even commented that “Jim Sitton is a much beloved member of our news team.” That’s even where he met his wife, Muriel back in 1995.
Quick Detour to Talk about the Sittons and Some of the Family
Muriel was a producer with Channel 5 in 1995 and she and Jim worked together earning the station an Emmy. Jim would actually go on to win several more Emmys with WPTV Channel 5. In November of 2000, Muriel and Jim got married at The Breakers in Palm Beach. In fact, the Wednesday before their daughter was murdered in her bed was their 9th wedding anniversary.
In 2002, they had a daughter; Makalya Joy. Makayla was described as a “voracious reader.” She loved to sing and dance and often told stories. She was even writing her own novel about a squirrel that her dad found a few days after the massacre. Makayla was going to be turning 7 just days after Thanksgiving that year. Muriel had been homeschooling Makayla and people said that Makayla was “wide-eyed and polite.” She loved dogs and her parents had just recently gotten her a King Charles Spaniel named Abby.
When Jim Sitton was talking about Makalya after that night, he said that “God packed a lot of sweetness into that little body. She’s just our life. I don’t know how we’re ever going to recover.” He also said that “He (Paul) tried to snuff out the light. He came into a baby’s room. He saw her innocence and he walked in and purposefully killed her.” Jim Sitton also said that he didn’t think that, in planning this family massacre, Paul had planned to kill Makayla. He thinks that once they were all together and everyone was fawning over Makayla, Paul got jealous.
does murder run in the merhige family?
Also, weirdly, this was not the first time the family had had a familicide. Back in 1973, an aunt of Paul’s on his dad’s side, killed her ex-husband and 2 children before killing herself. Salwa Merhige-Adams had given up her future as an opera singer to be a wife to her husband, James Adams (a pilot) and a mother to their children, Jack and Melissa Ann. Then, after 19-years of marriage, James left her for a flight attendant. They got a divorce, but after the final hearing, Salwa invited James over to the house to talk.
14-year-old Jack, 10-year-old Melissa Ann and the family dog were waiting in the car while their parents were in the house. They were alone in the master bedroom when Salwa took out her .38 caliber revolver and shot her ex-husband 4 times in the chest. Then Salwa brought Jack into the house and shot him until the gun was empty. Finally, she brought Melissa Ann into the house, but in a different room. Salwa shot her as well. After her family was dead, Salwa didn’t shoot herself. Instead, she swallowed a handful of pills; barbiturates. She didn’t die then either. She would spend 5 days in a coma at South Miami Hospital before dying.
paul merhige: man on the run
When Paul left the Sitton’s home Jupiter, he disappeared.
For part two, please click here!
