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?
For part 1, click HERE
Thanksgiving 2009
paul merhige: man on the run
On November 28th, a warrant was issued for Paul’s arrest. A manhunt had begun immediately after he disappeared and on December 3rd, Palm Beach County State Attorney, Michael McAuliffe decided that it was time to call in the FBI. It was assumed that Paul Michael Merhige had most likely fled the state. Why would he stay? On December 4th, security camera footage was found from the day before he shot his family. In the footage, Paul is at a gun shop in South Florida. He’s chatting with a clerk. Probably about the scope he wanted attached to the rifle he was purchasing.
US deputy marshal, Barry Golden was certain that Paul didn’t go far. He had been on the lam for about 5 weeks and could have gone literally anywhere, but Golden said, “Because of the way he is, we didn’t think that he would travel far. He’s been spoon-fed by his parents for his whole life.” Paul had taken the $12,000 (from his parents’ bank account) so he had money, but that would only last so long. He’d never held down a job so it’s not like he could make more money easily. Paul had also either killed his family or had become so estranged to them that it wasn’t likely any of them would help him hide. Not to mention that cops everywhere were looking for him.
In January, the case gets some help from America’s Most Wanted. Jim Sitton and John Walsh pleaded for information about Paul Merhige. A reward of $100,000 for information was offered with Paul’s car information (color, make, model, and license plate) and people were warned that he was armed and dangerous. Due to the gruesomeness of the murders and the fact that he bolted after, Paul Merhige was considered one of the nations most wanted criminals.
Shortly after this broadcast the owners of the Edgewater Lodge noticed that the guy they were looking for on America’s Most Wanted looked a lot like the guest in room 14 in their motel in the Florida Keys. However, he’d checked in under the name John Baca and gave them a made-up number when he prepaid for 2 weeks in cash. In another attempt to conceal his identity, he had swapped the license plate on his Camry and kept the car covered with a car cover he had purchased before the murders. The owners said that the reclusive guest only left his room to wash his clothes.
They called in the tip to the authorities and on Saturday, January 2, 2010 just after 10 P.M., US marshals evacuated the motel and broke down the door to his room. He had barricaded himself in his room by putting a mattress and a bar against the doors. Paul got up from the laptop and ran into the bathroom. He had “suicide devices” or things that he could use to commit suicide – a cord tied in a noose, 3 small helium tanks, a plastic hood, and a rubber hose – in the closet. He also had canned beans, allergy meds, and pain reliever along with undies and Snack Packs.
People involved with the case would speculate that this stash of things would actually make it seem like he wasn’t planing to commit suicide because he was “taking care of himself.” However, prior to his arrest, Paul had gone to Borders Books and bought Final Exit: The Practicalities a how to book on how to commit suicide. Along with this assortment of things, Paul also had 2 handguns in his room; a K-Mart receipt for a mask, duct tape, helium kids, paddle leash, and tie downs; and 5 cellphones. He was talking on them while he was on the run and this made police think maybe he had accomplices who were hiding him, but the numbers belonged to people that didn’t know Paul. The number given to the motel owners belonged to a man named Wade Leconey. Another number on one of the phones belonged to a guy named Michael who was shocked to find out that his number was involved because he’d had it for 12 years and didn’t know Paul Merhige.
Paul had also been receiving calls from a 305 area code which is Miami. It actually is used for all of Miami-Dade county and part of Monroe county including the Florida Keys. Paul had been following everything about his own manhunt on the internet. He had also shaved his head possibly in an attempt to “disguise” himself? When the authorities busted into his motel room with their guns drawn, this guy had the audacity to say, “Don’t shoot me!” He had to be tased 3 times before he would cooperate with the police and allow himself to be apprehended. Paul was taken to the Palm Beach County jail. Upon his arrest, Paul seemed to be confused about the things he’d done. In the interrogation, Paul “rambled” without ever directly confessing or even talking about that specific event.
America’s Most Wanted was there when he was arrested and Paul told cameras: “Eighteen years, I’ve been tormented. I’ve had chronic medical problems, mental problems, it’s been a nightmare. I didn’t even know what I was doing. It was the only thing I could do. I went several times to turn myself in. I was waiting for my parents to maybe make a statement, and tell me to turn myself in. I didn’t know what to do and today [night of his arrest], right now, watching on TV, my cousin, I didn’t know. I’ve been wanting, I didn’t know what to do. I just can’t believe I’ve done all this. I just can’t believe it.”
Paul told the officers, “It’s impossible, you know, to reconcile what happened with me. It’s just, it’s not even real. I’m not violent. I’ve never been violent. I’m not a criminal or a drug addict. It’s just unbelievable what I’ve done to everybody.” Then he asked the officer if this was going to be a long ordeal. What are we talking? A year? 2? And then what? Worst case scenario? He would later say to his dad over the phone, “Hopefully, after the case, hopefully I get sent to a hospital.” The owners of the Edgewater were awarded the $100,000 for their tip that led to Paul’s arrest.
Law & Order
The arraignment was scheduled for February 2nd, 2010 where he pleaded not guilty. Paul was charged with 4 counts of 1st degree murder for Carla, Lisa, Raymonde, and Makayla and 3 counts of attempted 1st degree murder for Clifford, Antoine, and Patrick. Prosecutors planned to seek the death penalty. If successful, Paul Merhige would be the first defendant to get the death penalty in Palm Beach County State Court in more than 20 years. Paul was scheduled to go to trial August 8th, 2011, and Jim Sitton was determined to get Paul the death penalty. Jim was quoted as saying, “If there’s anyone who deserves the death penalty, it it someone who would execute my 6-year-old daughter while she is in bed.”
State Attorney Michael McAuliffe was the prosecutor on the case, and while Paul’s parents had supported him financially for his entire life, this was apparently the cutoff point and they were not going to hire him an attorney. Paul didn’t have money of his own so he was to be represented by a public defender, Carey Haughwout. Paul’s defense team thought about trying to argue for insanity. However, that was going to be very difficult since he planned the murders meticulously and then absconded.
However, insanity as a defense is tricky. It has been described as a “double-edged sword” that can often prove to the jury that they defendant is dangerous and could make them more likely to vote for the death penalty. In Florida, a majority of the jury has to vote for the death penalty and then the judge makes the final call.
The defense planned to call experts on schizophrenia and OCD. Veteran criminal profilers mentioned that Paul’s behavior was more like that of a sociopath than someone who was insane. They said that he knew what he did was wrong, but he didn’t care. Former FBI criminal profiler, Gregg McCrary said, “His escape indicates he appreciated the wrongfulness of what he was doing. He did it and then fled.” Another profiler believes that during Paul’s time in hiding, he began to feel remorse: “When they sit down in the darkest room at the darkest point of night and look into their soul, it’s really hard to justify killing a child. When you kill significant others in your life, it’s an act you eventually have to admit to yourself is so horrific that soon you have to hold yourself accountable.”
During the investigation and lead up to the trial, it was made clear that Paul had been holding a grudge against his family and brooding in his hatred for more than a decade. It was also shown that 3 months before the murders, Paul had been treated by a doctor in Detroit, but sources don’t say why he was treated. His uncle, Dr. Antoine Joseph has treated him for a little bit as well, but again we don’t know for how long or what for.
3 months before the trial, Paul accepted a plea deal where he would get a conviction of 7 consecutive life sentences without the chance for parole or appeals in lieu of the death penalty. Paul told the judge that even though he was taking a number of antipsychotics, he was absolutely lucid enough to take the plea deal and plead guilty. The family had to agree to this deal and Jim Sitton was NOT happy with it. He carried a cutting of Makayla’s hair with him into the court when he begged the judge and prosecutors not to spare Paul’s life. He told the judge, “We were not prepared to accept this today. This is a last-minute deal that’s being ram-rodded down our throats.”
Circuit Judge Joseph Marx gave the family a piece of advice that he carried with him. Marx’s own wife had been shot and killed while she was pregnant in 1994. He told the family, “I make sure that I go out and do my best to live a good life everyday. And I try to remember every good thing I did. I believe one day, I’ll see them again and I want to remember to be able to tell them this is what I did on this day.” The Sitton’s thought that McAuliffe agreed to the plea deal for political reasons. They said that their “faith in the justice system was shattered.” Jim said, “I now have more faith in the prisoners and the fellow inmates of Starke (the jail) to take justice than I do the State Attorney’s Office because at least in prison, they know what to do with baby killers.”
McAuliffe assured the court that the prosecutor’s office had been debating the offer for a while and had included law enforcement in their decision making. He told the court that he believed the plea deal was the appropriate choice and though he did empathize with the family, cost was also not a factor in their decision. They did consider the significant amount of time that would go into a death penalty case. Clifford Gebara held his Bible and read about Cain and Abel from Genesis. Muriel Sitton said that the meek man sitting in the court was not the methodical man that gunned down his family. By this time, 50-year-old Muriel was now 5 months pregnant with another baby girl. She said, “This killer you see in the courtroom today is not the man that was in our home that night. He was a cold-blooded killer without remorse, without mercy, who just gunned down our family members and would have killed more of us had we not escaped out of the house.”
Patrick had been in a coma until March of 2010 and at the court date for the plea deal, he accepted the deal because he wanted to “pick up the pieces” and he didn’t want to have to deal with the appeals process for the next 2 decades. Jim Sitton’s pleas became passionate and while he was urging the judge to postpone this decision he dropped to his knees. He wanted to “prepare a proper presentation.” Jim also said, “This plea decision is far too important to rush through without any time for us, for all of us to think. We’ve been waiting patiently for almost 2 years for this case to come to trial…Justice is what’s at stake here.” Judge Marx demanded that he stop. On October 11th, 2011, Paul Michael Merhige pleaded guilty to the 4 counts of 1st degree murder and 3 counts of attempted 1st degree murder and received 7 consecutive life sentences. In doing this, he avoided both a trial and the death penalty.
Retaliation
After the plea deal and Paul’s conviction, the Sitton’s filed a civil suit against Paul’s parents, Michael and Carole. He claimed that they had been negligent because they knew their son was planning to attend the dinner despite not being invited and they didn’t tell the Sittons he was coming. He said that they had had a bad feeling about Paul’s attendance and even thought he would kill. The Sittons were alleging that the Merhiges had the opportunity to stop their son, but they didn’t. Patrick Knight filed a similar lawsuit regarding the death of his wife Lisa and their unborn child. Both suits were rejected by the judge.
Jim and Muriel Sitton still live in the house where the infamous Thanksgiving massacre took place. They told a news outlet that they feel like there are far more good memories in the house than that one night. They said it’s where they feel closest to Makayla. Her room is almost unchanged and the dress she had worn before she changed into her Tinkerbell PJs hangs on the closet door. Their alarm clock is Makayla’s voice telling them to wake up. They also said that they sometimes still call the answering machine for Muriel’s mom to hear her voice as well.
The Sittons started a foundation in Makayla’s name to carry on her love of dance and music which includes an annual concert.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out anything about Paul today like if he’s alive or dead, but if he’s alive he’s in prison and away from the family he destroyed. I couldn’t find up-to-date information on anyone. Hopefully that means they are all trying to continue on with their lives and do their best to follow the advice of Judge Marx and try to remember at least 1 good thing that happens everyday.
[…] For part two, please click here! […]