Murder With My Husband - 140. The Thanksgiving Family Murders

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

*this case includes children* On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett discuss the brutal slaying of 4 family members at Thanksgiving.  Live Show Tickets: https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Links: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: the-sun.com, "Holiday Horrors: Most gruesome Thanksgiving murders from pastor who shot family over game to man who ‘waited 20 years’ to kill relatives," by Luke Kenton, November 25, 2021 "Merhige had history of mental problems, says man who knew him well," by John Lantigua, November 26, 2009 tampabay.com, "Gunman Said Nothing Before Killings,' November 29, 2009 palmbeachpost.com, "An unusual suspect: Merhige was likable honors student before he did the unthinkable," by Adam Playford, December 18, 2009 tampabay.com, "TV Show Plays Big Role in Murder Case," January 9, 2010 nbcmiami.com, "Witness: Thanksgiving Killer Went Back to Shoot Girl Again," by Janie Campbell, September 4, 2010 nbcmiami.com, "Thanksgiving Killer's Parents File Countersuit," by Brian Hamacher, November 29, 2011 palmbeachpost.com, "Merhige had history of mental problems, says man who knew him well," by John Lantigua, March 31, 2012 wptv.com, "10 Years After The Jupiter Thanksgiving Murders: A Family Remembers," by Kelley Dunn, November 22, 2019 YouTube.com, channel MirrorMind: The Disturbing Story of Paul Merhige | True Crime, November 24, 2021 Newspaper.com sources: Mike Phillips, The Miami Herald, "Khoury League starts traveling to Japan," 31 July 1986, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/632678571); citing print edition, p.24 The Stuart News, "Stations win six Emmys," 7 December 1992, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/886580679), citing print edition, p.D1 Andrew Marra, Bill DiPaolo, Eliot Kleinberg, Sun-Sentinel, "Shooter kills four in holiday rampage," 28 November 2009, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/286398908); citing print edition, pp. 1, 3 Elinor J. Brecher, The Miami Herald, "Tragedy echoes '73 murders, suicide," 29 November 2009, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/658361525); citing print edition, p.14A Carol Marbin Miller, Jennifer Lebovich, The Miami Herald, "Twin sisters silenced forever," 29 November 2009, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/658361459); citing print edition, pp.1A, 14A Robert Samuels, The Miami Herald, "Slain sisters' voices heard again," 1 December 2009, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/658492900); citing print edition, p.3B Liz Balmaseda, The Palm Beach Post, "Without Makayla," 25 December 2009, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/206748667); citing print edition, p.A1 John Lantigua, The Palm Beach Post, ""'Pleasant' motel guest rarely went out, explained to owner: 'I'm just resting'," 4 January 2010, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/208095494); citing print edition, pp. 1A, 8A Jane Musgrave, The Miami Herald, "Pair sued over son's spree," 16 September 2011, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/654931364); citing print edition, p. 3B Daphne Duret, The Palm Beach Post, “7 Life Sentences for Merhige: 'He Will Never See the Light of Day'," 28 October 2011, archived (https://www.newspapers.com/image/163645273); citing print edition, pp. 1A, 8A Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer, PXU Energy is back with Ultimate Summer Pat, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings! Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest blood flow start guaranteeing to keep you cool. The savings for coming from inside the house! Ultimate Summer Pat, energy savings and results so cool. PXU Energy, energy for everything. Hey everybody welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton

Moreland and he's the husband. I hope you guys all had such a good Thanksgiving. I know we did. And if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you just had a good last week. Okay, this is your official reminder about our virtual live show that is coming up. It is so soon. December 11th, make sure you get your tickets. We are covering a Christmas-themed murder. It was one I had actually never heard of until I started researching it. So I'm really excited for you all to hear it.

It's so cool to have everyone there live while we are literally Recording live right in front of you guys. It is always so different and I feel like everyone just has a good time together All right, Garrett that leads us right over into your 10 seconds You know for my 10 seconds today might get a little controversial, but I am not a big fan of turkey I don't know if you are, I just, I just, I feel like I had to throw this out there with Thanksgiving happened last week. And if you don't celebrate it, then you know what?

Be happy because Turkey is a little overrated in my opinion. But you know what it is, good ham. I do like a good like golden brown sugar ham. But Turkey's average, it's overrated. And I might get a lot of pushback from this. I just, I had to throw that out there. If you have, maybe I'm not eating the right turkey. Sorry family, maybe you guys need to step up your turkey game a little bit, but I can,

I can confidently say that over the 28 years that I've been alive I Don't think I've ever had a turkey or I'm like, oh my gosh This is amazing and this is going a little long But I compare it to like a steak. I'm like when I eat a good steak. I'm like, oh my gosh. This is amazing when I eat a good turkey I'm like, oh Turkey Ham on the other hand, it's pretty good. So let me know your guys' thoughts. Maybe I just need to eat a better turkey.

What would you say is the superior food item at a Thanksgiving dinner? I would say that I really like stuffing. No, you can only pick one. Oh. Superior top rated best ever. I think just classic mashed potatoes. Like you can not go wrong with like some mashed potatoes, you put some gravy on it, you put some pepper,

you put some salt, and then you just scarf those things up. So you're mashed potatoes. I'm a man. I mean, if you get a kid, if you can only pick one thing, yes, mashed potatoes. I'm the can of olives. That's my favorite part about Thanksgiving dinner, but you can get those okay You can't use those because you can get this anytime. So you got to come up so I can use those because those are my favorite part of things Giving dinner. Yeah, that's but you can eat those anytime. I don't even like dessert. I actually hate all Thanksgiving dinner Oh, pumpkin pie. I take back my mashed potatoes. I throw in pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie superior to all pumpkin pies your number, I throw in pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie superior to all pumpkin pies your number one on your roster number one on the roster

minds my can of all is pumpkin pie with some can of all is and on that note let's hop in this week's episode. All right, let's jump into the case. Our case sources are the sun.com Tampa Bay.com Palm Beach Post.com and BC Miami. com wp tv dot com mere mind on YouTube and the newspaper dot com each of the major holidays carries different meanings for different individuals so like Christmas is important if you're a Christian but if you're not Christmas may not even register for you it's a day like any other for some people Halloween is a day to let your hair down dress up and have and have fun, but for other people, it's satanic and evil.

But one thing that's kind of ironic is that the most widely celebrated holiday in America is one were almost sharply divided on. And that holiday, if you haven't guessed it, given that it was just a couple of days ago, is Thanksgiving. And what Thanksgiving means to you likely depends entirely on your family. So if you're someone who's blessed with a warm, close, knit loving family, you probably

look forward every year to spending time with them on Thanksgiving. But if your family is a unit where it might be dysfunctional or you guys differ on opinions, you might dread Thanksgiving. And today's story is about a kind of family that looked forward to Thanksgiving every year, every year that was until 2009, which for this family is the year that Thanksgiving would change forever. And I really should shift tone now because this is not a lighthearted story that I'm about to tell you.

I know our stories aren't typically lighthearted because our theme is murder, but today, like any Thanksgiving mill, it is a specially heavy, and I say this instead of giving a trigger warning, but just keep it in mind. All right, so let's get into it. If you go to Google Images and type the words Florida and House in the search bar, the results you'll get will be a gallery of very similar images, clay tile roofs, salmon colored stucco exterior, brick driveways, lush green grass, and palm trees. And that's exactly the kind of home that the sit-in family bought when they put a down payment on a three-bedroom house in Jupiter, Florida back in 2005. Now Jupiter is at the north end of Palm Beach County,

and it's one of the wealthier towns in Florida. Many celebrities have called Jupiter home at one time or another. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Bert Reynolds, Celine Dion, and Kid Rock have all had houses there. And the sit-ins, the family we're talking about, bought a newly constructed home And the sit-ins, the family we're talking about, bought a newly constructed home in the Paseos, which was a modern upscale development with multiple connected communities.

And the sit-ins were doing pretty well at this time in their life. Jim Sit-in, the father, had worked as a videographer for WPTV, the local NBC affiliate, for close to two decades. And his wife, Muriel, was a affiliate, for close to two decades. And his wife, Muriel, was a former producer for the same news station. So mom and dad both worked together at the news station. Both Jim and Muriel had won Emmys for their work there. But by 2009, Muriel had taken a step back from producing since the birth of their daughter, Michaela, who at this time was six years old.

And the absolute life of the Sitton's lives. It was an only child for Jim and Muriel, and they were both in their forties when she was born. So as you know, having a child over 40 can be pretty challenging. So they really pampered her with love and care and attention. The WPTV news crew considered Michaela to be practically a member of their team with how Jim sit and talked about her all of the time and always had pictures of her on the computers that everyone was using. She was a joyful, radiant little

girl bright and full of talent. She loved to write, to tell stories, and she wanted to grow up to be an author. But she was also a performer. She couldn't get enough singing and dancing. She played piano and loved ballet. In fact, she was cast in a holiday production of the Nutcracker and the premiere was set for the night after Thanksgiving this year. So 2009 had shaped into an eventful holiday season for the sit-in family.

All the more because they were the ones hosting Thanksgiving this year. 16 members of their extended family would be coming to their house. Oh my god, there's a lot of people. A ton. And of course, their house, large and roomy as it was, we've talked about that it's in a very nice area in Florida, was ideal for hosting not many people. They could definitely house 16 people.

Their expected guests included Muriel's parents, Raymonde and Antoine Joseph, as well as their cousin Clifford. They also invited Muriel's cousin Carol marriage, her husband Michael, and their grown twin daughters Carla marriage and Lisa Knight. So these are just some of the people that are coming over for Thanksgiving. Not going to remember all these people, but there is a lot of people. All reclare fires were going, not all of them are but there is a lot of people. All rec clarifies we're going not all of them are pertin to the story. Okay. So

Thanksgiving Day 2009 arrives in Florida. And as the sun began to set, the sit-ins family members trickled in and tell all 16 of them were there. Muriel was in the kitchen brewing the coffee and

preparing the meal, and Jim was making the rounds chatting up his guests, his family, and then in the middle rounds, chatting up his guests, his family, and then in the middle of this chaotic family Thanksgiving, Muriel's cousin, Michael Marrage's cell phone ring. He saw that it was his son Paul calling, so he picked up the call while at this Thanksgiving dinner,

and let Paul know that he was at the sit-ins house for this holiday. Now, 35-year-old Paul knew about the family gathering, but he hadn't been specifically invited. Paul had struggled for a long time with mental health issues, and he drifted away from much of his family, becoming kind of like a black sheep in the family,

so he usually didn't show up to family functions. And because of this, Jim sit in the Thanksgiving host, didn't even know to family functions. And because of this, Jim said in the Thanksgiving host, didn't even know Paul very well. Like when Michael marriage gets this call from his adult son, they're kind of like, oh, yeah, we barely met him. But when Michael got off the phone, he announced to everyone that he'd just given Paul the black sheep of the family directions. And he was on his way to Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Okay.

Now, the sittings weren't uneasy with this, but they decided not to protest. After all, Paul was family. They may not know him very well, but he probably wanted to be here with the family. And family dynamics are so weird. I feel like there is just always something. I know.

It's always drama. It's always something going on. It's just, it's so funny. Well, Paul's mental health issues and behavior were such that the other family members who'd hosted the previous Thanksgiving gatherings in years before had told the marriages that they wouldn't be invited if Paul, their adult son, was attending. So this was a pretty big deal in the family. Like for Paul to call his dad and his dad, Michael marriage, say, yeah, here's directions

come on over to the sit-ins home. This was a pretty big deal. But the sit-ins knew that Paul, who was 35 and had long been dependent on his parents, was now living on his own. And they assumed that he was doing better. He'd finally moved out of his parents' house. Maybe he was closer to conquering the mental health struggles

that had been haunting him since he was closer to conquering the mental health struggles that had been haunting him since he was in college. But what are these mental health struggles you might ask? Who is Paul? And really why isn't he getting invited to thanks-givings? Like why is he the only family member that doesn't get to come? To everyone's surprise, it hadn't always been this way with Paul. And I'll tell you all about it right now.

Up to that point, when Paul Marriage began college, he had been your average well-adjusted kid. He was the first of his parents' three children, born in September 1974, a year after his parents' wed. And two years later, his mother gave birth to the two twin daughters, Lisa and Carla, who were invited to Thanksgiving and showed up. They grew up in Miami-Dade County in Florida and all three of the marriage children attended private schools. Their parents were both successful realtors and all three

excelled academically. Lisa and Carla, the twins, went to Catholic school where they were known to sing duets in elementary school talent shows and Paul attended the prestigious Golover Preparatory Academy all throughout school even at elementary grade school levels Paul was a star athlete in multiple sports when he was 11 he was one of 16 South Florida little league baseball players to fly to Japan to can be in the International Boys Baseball Association Championships. That's so cool. In his senior year of high school, he played soccer and he played on the football team, notably kicking a winning 45-year-old.

Oh, 40. He kicked the 45-year-old. You're kidding me, babe. A winning 45-year-old. Notably kicking a winning 45 yard filled goal. I'm going to say the game. You almost take a year. Let's get. Notably kicking a winning 45 yard filled goal and beating the rival team. And because of his talent, Paul won multiple scholarships. He was well liked,

handsome, thoughtful, and driven. And he planned to attend the University of Miami and becoming doctor. He was a top scholar and graduated from Goldenburg Prep, third in his class with a 5.16 grade point average. Oh my gosh. Okay, so what went wrong? Right. Well, in his senior yearbook, Paul Marridge dedicated a whole page to his parents and sisters.

I mean, he's basically the golden boy at this point. Yep. He thinks his parents for the values and the morals that they passed along to him and to his sisters, Carla and Lisa, he wrote quote, I have been so lucky to be blessed with having twin sisters and being your protective older brother. We may fight a lot, but that is only because we love each other so much and would not trade it for the world. He thanked his grandparents, his aunt and uncles, his cousins for their support, noting quote, all 32 of us in the family.

32. 32. Okay, so it's a very large family. And needless to say at this point in his life, Paul is kind of their shining jewel. Like he's their golden boy, he's getting scholarships. But you already know, I started this story saying that he hasn't been invited to family thanksgiving and so long.

So where did things go wrong? Well, it wasn't immediately after high school. Just like he planned, Paul got accepted to University of Miami, where in his freshman year, he became a member of the school's Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Something I have never been a part of. It looked like Paul was on track to become the leader that his mentors at

Goldberg knew he would be. But then something happened at 19 years old, a year into college, trying to become a doctor. Paul suffered a mental breakdown, severe depression and obsessive compulsive behaviors took over his life and his personality. And to everyone who knew him, it was as though Paul had become a totally different person. Was he doing drugs or was it something that just triggered?

Just snapped, just triggered. By the age of 20, Paul dropped out of school and was unable to take care of even his own basic needs. Geez, okay. And that led to him becoming completely dependent on his family for financial support. So it sounds like this downward slide happens suddenly and very rapidly. Do they know what maybe triggered it? Was he at a party?

Like was he just, they have no idea? They have no idea, but I do, he is diagnosed with OCD, and I do know that OCD can happen like this, like just in a split second. You don't have it one day, you have it the next. And this is so sad to see someone just change so completely, virtually overnight, where the person that you knew and loved just seems to disappear.

Paul was formally diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he had a severe case of it, and he had a particular obsession with cleanliness, which is common, but is not the only type of OCD. Paul would shower and shave over and over again several times a day, among many other life-disrupting behaviors. And after being evaluated, he was deemed to be legally disabled. This is how bad this mental illness had taken over him. Interesting, okay.

So for the next 12 years, Paul lived with his family and this became a turbulent time as he became increasingly volatile and aggressive to people. He had problems making decisions for himself and he couldn't hold down a job or socialize very well so he had very few friends. He became obese, his hair fell out and he often couldn't sleep at night. He wouldn't always take his meds and he would often threaten suicide. He even made several suicide attempts and in one of them he shot himself and later threatened his parents with the same gun.

Paul would go on to be committed to a psychiatric hospital three separate times over the next decade. And his once solid relationship with his family was deteriorating throughout this time, especially with his twin sisters, whose lives continued on these average trajectories while his fell apart completely. Paul envied his sisters and he also blamed them for the state of his own life. He had once been them and now he felt like he had this lack of success. His behavior toward them grew ugly and he began making threats towards them. So the relationship between Paul and his sisters was becoming very unhealthy. Paul accused his sister Carla of domestic violence in 1996 when he was

about 21 or 22. He told the courts that Carla had broken down his bedroom door and wrestled him to the floor, saying to him that if she had a chance to kill him and get away with it, she would. Now I'm not saying it's not true, but I feel like it's not true. It is hard because this does seem like a common theme throughout the story that Paul consistently plays the victim and maybe exaggerates things that happen in order to continue to be the victim. But again, he's obviously mentally unstable at this point in his life just to give some back context.

After accusing his sister, he also accused his family members of wanting him to get worse and not better. And he took this to court, but the court dismissed the case. And over the next decade, Paul would routinely threaten to kill his sisters, threatening to cut Carla's throat, just very violent things. Then, in May of 2006, the tables turned, and Carla accused Paul of domestic violence, and she filed a protective order. She was reporting that Paul was threatening to kill her on a regular basis, and she wanted

the courts help to prevent further incidents of violence and harassment. But after taking some time to think about it, and despite her fear of her brother, Carla marriage voluntarily withdrew her request for a restraining order just three weeks after filing it. But by this time, and I say this, knowing very well that mental health struggles are real, but also affect a lot of people. Everyone in Paul's family was exhausted. I mean, the legal system has gotten involved. He's still living with his parents. He's threatening to kill family members. So now you understand why he's

not being invited to Thanksgiving dinners. At this point, his parents decide that it's time that he moved out. It was, they wanted to help him as much as they could, but also it was becoming dangerous for everyone who lived in the home. So they bought him a condo in Coral Gables. That's where University of Miami is located. So he could live on his own, apart from the family, try to maintain a life of his own. How old is he at this point? He's in his early 30s at this point. Okay.

And his family also hired a housekeeper to look after the apartment, as well as after Paul a little bit to make sure that he took his meds. So Paul moves out, and now the marriage house was quiet for a change. They ever deemed him like a danger to society or anything like that.

I mean, I guess if he was in the psychiatric hospitals a couple of times, then yes. Yeah, three separate times. But then they deemed him safe after he was in there or how does that? Yes, you get released, but also it's their son. It's their family member. So of course it would be hard to be like,

just put him away. You know what I mean? You want him to get better. You want, he's ill. So you want to take care of him, but they had just reached a point that it had become too much. So they decide to move him out, pay for everything, and pay for someone to watch him make sure he's taking his meds. And when this happens, the marriage house becomes quiet, and the family was finally able to breathe a little. It had been a really rough decade for this family.

At this point, it's 2007, and Paul was approaching his mid-30s, unable to hold down a job of any kind or really function as an adult, while his sisters were both engaged and both had full-time jobs on top of all the volunteering work that they did. Now, Carla, who's a bit younger than Paul, was working for the county of Miami-Dade as an advocate for troubled youth. Her twin sister, Linda, was also working for the county at this time.

She worked at the courthouse. And that holiday season, the two sisters volunteered at the Juvenile Detention Center where they sang a duet for the female inmates. And like I said, this wasn't a rare occurrence. Carla and Lisa actually sang frequently and all over the country together since they were little. They sang at their church, at courthouse holiday parties, and at weddings, funerals, other

functions like that. And these two twin sisters were so close that many described them as inseparable, as is often the case with twins. They spoke on the phone multiple times a day, they went on joint family vacations, and they were foundational support for each other. Whatever had gone wrong with their once promising brother Paul, it didn't show up in them, and everyone the sisters knew adored them. That year, in 2007, they continued on with life together in one direction as Paul stayed moving the other way. Lisa married a litigation attorney named Patrick Knight, who was also a motivational speaker,

and she left her courthouse job to work as a realtor like her parents. But that same year, Carla's fiance died suddenly from an aneurysm, leaving Carla devastated. Lisa's heart broke for her twin sister and she was there for Carla every step of the way. Two years after her fiance's death in 2009, Carla was still recovering emotionally

and it was only then finally getting back to singing again with the emotional support of Lisa who was now pregnant with her first child. And Carla was finding plenty to distract herself with over the 2009 holiday season. And on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Carla was working overtime well into the evening to make sure that a Thanksgiving charity donation from the mayor reached the dozens of needy families it was intended for in time for the holiday. I only say this so you understand just who these twins were. Yeah. So that's sort of what was going on in the years, and then eventually the weeks leading up

to this Thanksgiving dinner we started the story off with. But the one thing that's different this year was Paul Marriage was expressing an interest in joining the family for Thanksgiving. I wonder what the twins were thinking about this, because we know the sit-ins were obviously thinking, but I wonder what the twins were thinking about this because we know the sit-ins were obviously thinking but I wonder what the twins were thinking right well I think Everyone was kind of like oh geez Okay, here comes the here we go. You know and maybe we all have that type of person in the family where on Thanksgiving dinner

You're like oh shoot those people that person's kind of it's kind of hard cuz patents that person but Just kidding keep going Payton's that person, but just kidding, keep going. So Paul asked his parents several times what that year's holiday plans were. And they let him know that dinner that year was being hosted by his cousin, Muriel, sit in and her husband, Jim at their house in Jupiter, Florida. This is about 90 miles north of Coral Gables, which is a bit of a trek for Paul,

but also for the rest of the marriages who lived in the same area. So finally, he had traveled far to come. On Thanksgiving evening, everyone was at the sit-in house. Like I said, coffee was being brewed, dinner was being prepared, and then Paul called his father, Michael, asking to attend and clarifying directions to the house. Also asking several times, in fact,

what time the party began, and how long everyone expected to be there now after the call Paul's mother Carol turned to Lisa. This is her daughter one of the twins and remarked quote I hope he doesn't come and kill us all tonight. Oh my gosh Lisa told her mom that the same thought had crossed her mind when she found out that Paul was calling to come so this is why I asked my question earlier because they obviously somewhat think he is a danger to society. Yes. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I know they probably would never be like, oh, he's going to go murder a bunch of people. But in their back of their minds, they were obviously a joke still has truth. 100% I think a joke always has, except the one I just made about you, a joke always has a little bit of truth. Right. Depending on the situation. Right.

But Lisa then added after she agreed with her mom. She said, but don't say that to dad because he'll get upset that we even had such ideas that that thought even crossed our head. Again, going back to the struggle when this is your own blood, you know, you love them. 100%. And it sounded like maybe they were saying this half ingest or in a joking tone. Yeah, in a joking way, which I'm sure they were. But beneath the surface, there was obviously a legitimate fear, you know, like you just said. Michael then had to inform everyone at the 16-person family Thanksgiving that Paul, their

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By going to rocketmoney.com slash husband. That's rocketmoney.com slash husband. Rocketmoney.com slash husband. Everyone, including the Sittons and the extended family members who were there, were sort of caught off guard by this news. The news that Paul would be arriving soon. Jim sit and viewed Paul as being, quote, on the fringe of the family and had only met him once or twice before.

He hadn't even seen Paul in over a decade. That's how distant Paul was from the family. He knew about Paul's mental health issues, but like I was saying earlier, he was under the impression that they were improving. I mean, if Paul's showing interest in coming for family Thanksgiving, he must be getting better. Yeah, it was a good point. Everyone went back to their conversations, and then the attention turned to little

Michaela, the six-year-old girl who began making out Thanksgiving cards for everyone. She wrote how thankful she was for each member of their family, and then they hung the cards on a clothes line. This is the fun part about Thanksgiving, right? Is like being grateful for each other, these fun little traditions. The night continued, and Muriel and Jim began getting dinner ready to be served,

and that's when Paul marriage finally showed up. An hour and a half after everyone had arrived, and the last of the 17 guests to come to this dinner. But nothing seemed especially out of the ordinary. Muriel led him over to the rest of the 17 guests to come to this dinner. But nothing seemed especially out of the ordinary. Muriel led him over to the rest of the family to say hello to his relatives, and then she introduced him to 6 year old Michaela. And the normally friendly and outgoing little girl suddenly stiffened and grew quiet. And everyone noticed. Like maybe she sensed something dark or off-putting about Paul, but the whole family noticed

that she froze up was acting shy and this wasn't really like her. But anyway, the turkey was now fully cooked and it was time for everyone to sit down and eat Thanksgiving. So that's what they did. Everyone sat down and began digging in. Paul sat along with his family near them and he didn't say anything during the meal and he didn't seem hungry. He didn't even eat. He just sat at the table. Which I'm sure they probably thought it wasn't that weird considering his mental state. Well, and also you're walking on eggshells here.

Yeah. Like you're like, well, we want him to feel welcome. We're not going to poke, you know, it's it's just pleasantries, right? He sat quietly while everyone ate, and as the conversation swelled around him and the members of his extended family shared stories. Eventually, after some time passed, and the meal had begun to settle, and everyone's stomachs, dessert was served. Carla then sat down at the piano, and Lisa, her twin sister, joined her, and Paul's two sisters, saying Christmas carols for everyone. After this, it was time for a performance from the star of the evening, Little Michaela,

who sang songs at the piano and then in her feature act presented for her own family in In Promptu, dress rehearsal, showing everyone the dance that she was going to perform in the following night's presentation of the Nutcracker. Very like Kibou's child energy here. Like I am the presentation of the Nutcracker. Very like caboose child energy here. Like I am the star of the show. Let me perform. Let me do something super cute. Okay.

So after doing her dance, Michaela recited Psalm 100 for everyone, and then it was bedtime. Mom, Muriel walked Michaela down the hall, brushed her teeth, and put her into her PJs and tucked her into bed. And then she returned to the party, which was now kind of winding down, as it was getting late, and everyone had been at the couple's home for nearly five hours.

And you know how it is when you reach that time of night where the battery has drained, and it's time to decompress, that kind of collective draining of energy that's like an unspoken queue that it's time to call it a night, everyone just kind of starts getting quiet. But it was at this point, while everyone was slowly starting to say their goodbyes, no one noticed Paul marriage excuse himself through the front door. 20 minutes would then pass as everyone's just like kind of getting ready. I'm so nervous. And as people are now standing and preparing to leave, Paul walks back into the sit-ins house through the back door. And suddenly, without a word, gun shots. Jim sit in, looks toward the kitchen,

and sees Paul marriage standing by the refrigerator with a handgun. He had just shot his 76-year-old aunt, Raymonde Joseph, in the shoulder. And as her husband, Antoine, cowers next to her, Paul points the gun at the center of his aunt's chest and shoots her again, blowing a hole through her sternum and killing her instantly. Paul then turns the gun towards his sister Carla and shoots her. And then he points it at Lisa and shoots her too. both twin sisters dropped to the floor. Now unbeknownst to the now panicking family, Paul had gone out to his car and collected four guns which he now had on him at this time.

And his reign of terror had just begun. As Lisa's husband Patrick bends over to tend to her and try to stop her bleeding. Paul blasts a bullet through him as well. Oh my gosh, this is ridiculous. He fires again and a bullet grazes his cousin Clifford. Antoine Joseph is on the floor trying to perform CPR on his 76 year old wife, Raymonde. Paul then aims the gun as uncle Antoine directly at his head and Antoine calls out in French don't do this But Paul pulls the trigger anyways twice and the gun jams both times So everyone begins running for cover at this point I mean there are four people have been shot five people have been shot and

Jim's son bolts through the rear door into the backyard where he dials 911 from his cellphone So he gets out of the house and begins calling 911. I think I always am like the gun jam like someone tackling But I mean when you're in the moment, it's like you You can't say what one you would do. It's just You can't ever criticize someone because you have no idea what's going on Right and while Jim is behind the house, his house, dialing 911, he hears another series of shots, three of them.

And these shots come from inside the bedroom of his six-year-old daughter, Michaela. Inside the house, Paul Marriage begins to exit Michaela's bedroom, but then he turns background and fires two more shots. That's five bullets that he shot into six-year-old Michaela's bedroom, but then he turns background and fires two more shots. That's five bullets that he shot into six year old Michaela. Okay. He then exits and walks back down the hallway past the shell, shocked survivors and towards the front door.

He opens the door as his extended family cowers in fear in the sitting's home. Just before he leaves, Paul hesitates, turns around and says, I've been waiting 20 years to do this. He then gets into his car and speeds away from Thanksgiving dinner. Inside, Makayla's bedroom, her parents find the little girl motionless in her bed with five bullet wounds. By this time, multiple calls had already flooded into 911 from family members and from neighbors who heard the shots from the house. First responders raced to the sit and stuck a home but they're too late to save twin sisters Lisa Knight and Carla marriage. They both died. They both died his twin sisters and 76 year old Aunt Raymonde Joseph died as well. Patrick Knight Lisa's

husband is still alive and is rushed to the hospital. Patrick Knight, Lisa's husband is still alive and is rushed to the hospital. He was shot, but he is still alive. And little Michaela Sitten is airlifted to the hospital by helicopter, but she's pronounced dead upon arrival. Oh, okay. Search helicopter swarm the area of the Sitten's house,

looking for any trace of Paul or his blue Toyota Camry. The Sitten's then had to explain to authorities what their family Thanksgiving party had turned into. Their daughter had spent the night writing notes to each family member about what she loved about them only to be brutally murdered in her bed. And it was all at the hands of 35-year- marriage, a kid who had everything going for him, but was overcome by mental illness. He had spent the night with his family watching them eat and be merry, only to annihilate them. What I don't really know what to say, but like what an absolute peer evil thing to do, all his family has done and tried to do was help him. And he killed

them. Yeah. And then and he killed the not that it makes it any different than anyone else dying, but he killed a six year old girl who he had just met that. He had just met. And he made it a point to killer. He walked back to her bedroom. It's absolutely horrendous. By the end of the night and throughout the week that followed, Americans ate their Thanksgiving leftovers, took down Thanksgiving decor, and began setting up their Christmas lights. But over at the sit-in home, it would be yellow crime

scene tape adorning the house instead of holiday decorations. And a massive manhunt begins for Paul Marage who had murdered four family members at Thanksgiving dinner and then somehow vanished. Patrick Knight, who up to that Thanksgiving night was an expectant father, was now a widower who would spend the next three months in a medically-induced coma.

It would be touch-and-go, and doctors did not believe he would survive because you have to remember his wife was pregnant. Yeah, I forgot about that. Family and friends of the marriages were in shock. Quote, we are devastated. One family member wrote in an email, the pain is too much to bear. Why? Why? Why? Where is God? A neighbor of the marriages, not the sins who talked to the press, described them as quote, wonderful people. The fact is, they have lost all three of their children all at the same time, and I can't

imagine how painful that must be for them. The fact that the twin sisters came into life together and then died on the same day too, that was a quote from someone. Meanwhile, police were fearing that Paul marriage had fled the state or even possibly the country. They knew Paul had ties to both Michigan through a doctor who had treated him, as well as Haiti, that's where his mother's side of the family is from. Police put out $100,000 reward for any information leading to Paul marriage's capture, and America's

most wanted began working on a segment profiling him. But devastating to family and investigators, everyone would soon learn that Paul had been planning this massacre for weeks. If not months. He dropped $2,000 on guns and ammunition from a local fire arm store, where he told the salesman that he was going hunting. And in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Paul marriage withdrew at least $12,000 in cash from a savings account that his parents had set up for him. He was using this as getaway money. And he'd had his clothing all packed and ready to go

because when police found his place, it was cleared out of essentials when they searched it. So he had packed a bag, got his getaway money, got his getaway car, went to this Thanksgiving dinner, murdered four of his family members, shooting five, attempting to shoot six, and then drove away and disappeared. Now on December 2nd, as everyone back home was grieving,

a heavy set man with a shaved head checked into the edgewater lodge on Long Key, which was in the middle of the Florida Keys halfway between Miami and Key West. The man said his name was John Baca and that he was from the city of Homestead on the far southern end of Miami-Dade County. The boat tells owner, Paul Faff recognized John Baca

as he stopped by the edgewater lodge only a few days earlier, asking Faff if he'd had any vacancies. And Faff certainly had vacancies. In fact, much of the 16-unit, two-story motel was vacant, as Torsten exactly flocked to this town early in the early weeks of December. The guest calling himself John Bacca was checked into room 14 on the second floor of the building, the front of which faced the ocean while the back overlooked US1 the highway that connected the keys. Now John Baca paid for his room weekly in cash and refused to make service telling the

facts that he'd look after the room himself. His only requirement was reliable internet service, otherwise this pleasant low-key guest kept completely to himself. He kept to himself so completely that after not seeing him for a number of days, owner Paul Faff grew concerned about the man's welfare and knocked on the door of his room to check. When John Baca came to the door, Faff asked him, are you alive? Yes, I'm just resting, John Baca replied. On January 2, 2010, five weeks after John Bocka checked into that motel, Paul Faff, the owner, was watching college football on Fox.

When during a commercial break, there was a promo for that night's episode of America's Most Wanted, which was going to profile Paul Marridge and the Thanksgiving Massacre he had done weeks earlier. When marriages face popped up on the screen, Fath immediately recognized him. It was his guest, John Baca, the man who'd been staying in room 14 since December. Now though marriage didn't have a completely shaven head like Baca did, it was clearly the same guy.

America's most wanted is my room guest for my room 14 guest. So Faf went to his wife who co-owned the motel with him And he said Melinda. That was his wife's name. Melinda. I'm freaking out. The guy who killed his family on Thanksgiving He's in room 14. Oh, call line number one. Next to Megan Megan was the Faf's grown daughter who lived at the motel in the room right next to where it was now believed marriage was staying So Paul Faf pulled up the America's most wanted website and Melinda his wife took one look at Paul marriages photo and her hair stood up They'd been unknowingly harboring a fugitive at their motel jumping into an ad and it is Native I used their body wash. I use their shampoo. We use their sunscreen, everything.

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was thought to be armed and dangerous. Melinda phoned their daughter Megan and told her, get your purse, close your curtain, and lock your door and come to the office immediately. Melinda then quietly evacuated the remaining few guests at the motel and the fast returned to their house. I can't imagine being in this position of realizing this. Like that would be so terrifying. Once they were home and in a safe place, the fast then called the America's most wanted hotline. The hotline operator asked Melinda on a scale of one to ten how sure they

were that it was Paul marriage and the facts were practically screaming ten, ten, like it's a ten, like we know for sure it's him. They were absolutely certain it was Paul staying in their motel. When they provided the tag number on the vehicle. I think that's kind of funny. Are you like a hundred percent sure? Like do you know for sure? Like yes, come over right now. Please. He's literally staying here. Yeah. When they run his tag number on the vehicle, it did not connect back to the Toyota Camry in the parking lot,

but rather to in 1991 Lexus, that Paul marriage had owned a few years before. So essentially, he had just swapped out the license plate with an old one. Again, pointing to the fact that this was 100% first degree murder planned out. You know, for someone who's had to have, I guess, their family support

and couldn't live on his quote unquote own, you sure figured out how to do all this somehow. Yeah, which, I don't know. Took a lot of planning. Yeah. So after the call finished, unmarked police cars began quietly swarming the motel. The US Marshall showed up, along with police from Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties,

and slowly moved in on the motel. A camera crew, for America's most wanted, was also at the scene, of course. And at around 10pm that night, the police shattered the sliding glass door to room 14 and ambushed Paul Marridge, leaving him too stun to do anything other than surrender without resistance. Well, also, they did like taste him so he was quite literally stunned, like he probably couldn't do anything. Then they put handcuffs on him and led him out into the parking lot where America's most wanted held a microphone

to his face. And with his eyes to the ground, he shook his head and told them of how he'd been tormented for years with chronic medical and mental problems. It's been a nightmare. He said, I didn't even know what I was doing. Okay, but police already knew that he'd been plotting this for a long time. You can't really say that when you spent weeks plotting. And that's why I said what I said earlier.

He obviously knew what he was doing. Right. Whatever his mental health issues, he'd known exactly what he was doing. Right. Whatever his mental health issues, he'd known exactly what he was doing. Yep. And one person who believed Paul marriage was a cold calculating killer was his uncle, Antoine Joseph, whose wife was among the four dead that night. This was the uncle who the two bullets had jammed. Antoine was a physician, and he'd once treated Paul marriage.

And later came to the conclusion that Paul was dangerous and disturbed and he actually banned Paul from attending his own Thanksgiving gathering the year before because he was like this guy's a threat to society. He's dangerous. According to Antoine Joseph, Paul marriage was quote, a faker, a spoiled rich kid who harassed his twin sisters. Paul was smart, Antoine said he'd looked up diseases, then display the symptoms. One day it was OCD, then it was chronic fatigue syndrome.

Wow. Okay. Back at the edgewater lodge, the police cornered off room 14 where Paul had stayed and searched it thoroughly. They're saying he's saying he faked. He's been faking everything. So his uncle, his entire life, his uncle, who had treated him in the past before the murders, had said he is sadistic, he's dangerous, he's going to hurt someone. I think that he's mentally ill, but I also think that he's doing research to learn about certain illnesses to be the victim. He's putting himself, he's playing on it, all of this stuff. While police were searching his hotel room, they found receipts from Kmart where he'd spent close to $500

on what appeared to be a suicide kit. It was like a mask, duct tape, helium kits, a paddle leash, and tie downs along with a book on assisted suicide called Final Exit. His Kmart bounty also included putting snacks, canned bush baked beans, and medicine. So, it seemed he wasn't planning on that final exit right away. Like, he was still gonna be alive for a while. They also found jars of peanut butter, bread, sneakers, wrappers, fig new ins, canned fruit, bottled water, and the rooms and amenities included a kitchenette.

So, Paul was basically able to hunker down in his room cook for himself and hide out. Like, this was all part of the plan. He'd also been exchanging emails with someone named Dr. J, who was urging him to turn himself in. Advice he obviously didn't take. Throughout his stay, Paul Marridge had his car parked in the motel's parking lot behind some hedges,

so it couldn't be seen from the road, and he kept it covered with a silver tarp. So who knows what his plan was, or if he even had one, but he clearly did not want to get caught. In total, he was charged with four counts of first degree murder, and after a year of delays in February 2011, he pleaded not guilty to all charges. But that changed after prosecutors offered him a plea deal, which Paul marriage accepted, then changing his plea to guilty that October. Did they try to say he was mentally unstable or crazy at all?

His defense did, but they deemed him content. Because he knew what he was doing. He planned it. Okay. And also, there was the death penalty on the table. They offered to take it off the table if he pled guilty, which is why he changed his plea. But Jim and Muriel sit in one and Paul defaced the death penalty.

Jim sit in told reporters, if there's anyone who deserves the death penalty, it is someone who would execute my six-year-old daughter while she was asleep in her bed. The sit-ins were blindsided by this plea deal and lobbied for the case to go to trial, which was publicly supported by America's most wanted host, John Walsh, who himself had lost his six-year-old son to murder. However, Patrick Knight, who had come out of his coma and was recovering, felt that going to trial would be like

reliving the night all over again so he was against it. After Paul Marridge pled guilty, he was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in prison. But the nightmare didn't all end there, unfortunately. Paul Marridge had truly succeeded in tearing apart this family, which may have been his goal, honestly. He obviously hated all of them. The sit-ins together with surviving victim Patrick Knight sued Paul's parents Michael and Carol Marridge alleging criminal negligence.

They claimed that the marriages knew their son Paul was dangerous, but nonetheless invited them to Thanksgiving anyways without consulting anyone. They just said, hey, Paul's coming, we already gave him directions. Jim sit in had especially harsh words to say about Michael and Carol marriage. Mike created the monster, he said to the press. I was comparing the other day the way we were raising Michaela and the way Paul was raised. We were character training her. You don't, you know, don't like Qi, etc.

But Paul was me, me, me. He was a two-year-old. He was a loser, a parasite who never worked a day in his life. This isn't my words. This is the words of the people involved in the story. The Sittons lawsuit against the marriages was eventually dismissed. But then, the marriages turned around and sued the sit-ins, placing the blame on them because they allowed Paul into their home once he arrived in spite of knowing he was unstable.

The marriages said the sit-ins knew about Paul's history and pointed to Dr. Antoine Joseph's warning about Paul and his own boy caught against Paul attending his gathering in 2008. So the marriages were now claiming in their counter suit that the rampage never would have happened if the sit-in simply wouldn't have opened the door. The suit was also dismissed and neither family has spoken about this since. And I only included this piece of information, not to further exploit everything that happened, but to show once again how many victims become like be become impacted by one person's decisions. Yeah.

Quite literally he tore his family apart. The only way they knew how to heal was to try to turn around and blame someone. And I'm not going to, I don't think I'm going to say anything on the situation because I was in the situation and I, I don't think I can fathom what happened. Right. It's hard not to feel like enormous sympathy for both sides. They each suffered such tremendous loss. The sittin's lost not only their daughter, but Muriel's

sitin also lost her mother. And then the marriages lost their two twin daughters and their son pretty much like their sons now in prison for life, which I could be totally wrong. But I'm sure they're probably more upset about the twins than their son, but I mean, who knows? You know, is Michaela would now have been 19 years old and in her second year of college. Jim sit and had said at the time, God packed a lot of sweetness into that body. She's just our life. I don't know how we were ever going to recover.

He and his wife launched a foundation in Michaela's name to help provide music and dance lessons to recover. He and his wife launched a foundation in Mikaela's name to help provide music and dance lessons to kids. They also had one of Mikaela's stories published by the children's book illustrator Tyler Hollis. The students still live in the same house, and Paul Marage is currently serving out his sentence at the late correctional institute in Claremont, Florida. Now one thing that I think is essential for me to add here before we finish the case, is that so many people struggle with mental health. It's important that we not stigmatize people with these issues. Someone like Paul Marridge is not representative of people with mental illness.

And it's just as likely that marriage had an untreated personality disorder like Jim Sutton had suggested some fundamental deficits at the character level. The crimes he carried out were cold, calculated, and methodical, and he used mental illness almost as a crutch even until the end, as a way to possibly get out of facing more serious consequences for his actions. Which is extremely messed up. Because now, because now- It just hurts everyone else that does struggle with mental illness. Right. You're putting this stigma on them that isn't true but it's such a

horrible thing that he did it's so outside the reach of what most of us can imagine that it's tempting to pin it on some other state of mind some disorder and Paul marriage knew that he knew that he could use his mental illness struggles as a crutch but anyway I mean this story was so heartbreaking and terrible. But if there's anything remotely close to a happy ending in all of this, it's this. Really more of a happy epilogue, as there can't really be a happy ending to stories like this.

But in 2012, Muriel Sitten became pregnant again at the age of 50 after losing her six-year-old daughter. And the Sitten's had another daughter, a true miracle baby. And two years later, another daughter joined their household. And so that void that was left by Michaela's senseless death, I'm sure it's still there, but there's less of an emptiness in their lives because they again have the gift and privilege of being parents. And that's something for them to be grateful for. And that is the story of the bloody Thanksgiving. That is, that was too much. That was a lot. It's such a sad story.

It's a lot. It's extremely sad and horrific and traumatizing. Well, and it just goes to show that, you know, the whole time I was researching, I was torn between, I think he really did struggle with mental illness. But you don't get to use it as a bad habit. But you don't get a plan, and you don't get to do it. And that's the hard part, right, is you have sympathy because you understand mental illness and you understand that struggle. But then when you see what he's done, there's no sympathy to be had. No, he planned a mass murder. Yeah. A mass execution.

Literally, what do you plan? And so many people at that Thanksgiving dinner knew and he had to. He had to. He had to change. It's a stop. It multiple chances. It's he did not care. And I think the part that I really digs it in the grave is that right after he killed my Kayla and he turned to walk out, he had to pause, stop, turn around and tell all of this family who is now going through the worst thing that will ever happen in their whole life. Yes. I've been wanting to do this for 20 years.

Horrible. That just like is the nail in the coffin for me. All right, you guys, that was our episode for this week. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.