The 2009 Thanksgiving Dinner That Became A Massacre
ZUMA Press Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoJim Sitton (right) and his family at a memorial service for Makayla in December 2009.
Thanksgiving Day 2009 started out like any other holiday for the Sitton family in Jupiter, Florida.
At Jim Sitton’s home in an upscale gated community, 17 family members gathered around the table. Six-year-old Makayla Sitton had written cards expressing gratitude for her loved ones, stringing them up as Thanksgiving decorations. After the turkey dinner, relatives stood around the piano for a sing-along, their voices filling the house with holiday cheer.
Among them sat 35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige, a cousin who had spent three hours eating, singing, and enjoying Thanksgiving with his family.
But Merhige wasn’t celebrating. He was plotting an unfathomable Thanksgiving crime.
There were no arguments, no warnings, and no red flags during the Thanksgiving festivities. In fact, the day seemed picture-perfect — until Merhige briefly left and returned with a handgun.
In an instant, the Thanksgiving celebration became a bloodbath. Merhige methodically opened fire on his relatives, shooting four family members dead and injuring two others. His victims included his twin sisters — 33-year-old Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, who was pregnant — his elderly aunt Raymonde Joseph, and six-year-old Makayla, who was shot to death in her bedroom. The little girl who had been singing Thanksgiving songs just hours earlier would never make it to her seventh birthday a few days later.
As he walked away from the carnage, Merhige was reportedly heard saying he had “been waiting 20 years to do this.”
Jupiter Police DepartmentPaul Merhige, the man who killed four of his family members on Thanksgiving 2009.
“He had this whole thing pre-planned,” Jim Sitton later told CBS News. His goal was to shoot his sisters and punish his parents.”
“He tried to snuff out the light,” Sitton continued. “He came into a baby’s room. He saw her innocence and he walked in and purposefully killed her.”
The killer then left the scene, and a massive manhunt ensued. He was finally arrested in January, and the subsequent investigation revealed a troubled family history. One of Merhige’s aunts had murdered her ex-husband and two children in 1973. Merhige himself had a history of mental illness, suicide attempts, and restraining orders filed by siblings who claimed he’d threatened to kill them. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
For the rest of the Sitton family, Thanksgiving would never again be a day of celebration. Instead, it was only a painful reminder of the monster who had shared their table.
