SOLVEDListenJupiter, Palm Beach County, Florida · 2010s
Murder of Lanny Horwitz
Lanny Horwitz was shot to death in his Florida home, and his former wife was convicted of second-degree murder after a retrial.
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What happened
On November 26, 2009, a Thanksgiving dinner in Jupiter, Florida, ended in a mass shooting when 35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige opened fire on members of his own family. Merhige waited three hours after dinner before beginning the shooting, reportedly stating, "I've been waiting 20 years to do this." He shot multiple relatives, killing his aunt Raymonde Joseph, his twin sisters Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, and his six-year-old cousin Makayla Sitton. Lisa Knight was pregnant at the time of her death. Lisa's husband, Patrick Knight, was severely wounded in the attack and spent three months in a coma as a result of his injuries.
The family had a documented history of prior violence. In July 1973, Paul Merhige's aunt, Salwa Merrige-Abrams, killed her ex-husband and two children before dying by suicide via barbiturate overdose. Merhige's own attendance at the 2009 Thanksgiving gathering came as a surprise to relatives, since he had been estranged from the family for several years and one of his sisters had previously obtained a temporary restraining order against him. Merhige's parents had invited him to the dinner without informing the Sitton family, who were hosting the event that year.
Following the shooting, a manhunt for Merhige was launched, and a $25,000 reward was offered for information leading to his arrest. He was arrested on January 2, 2010. On October 27, 2011, Merhige pleaded guilty to all charges related to the killings and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Civil litigation followed the criminal case. On September 15, 2011, Jim and Muriel Sitton — the parents of victim Makayla Sitton, with Muriel also the daughter of victim Raymonde Joseph — filed suit against Paul Merhige's parents, arguing that they could have prevented the murders by warning the Sittons of Merhige's presence at the gathering. In 2014, Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that Merhige's parents could not be held liable for the killings.
