Mystery Location No. 75: November 19, 2017

First Clue: premeditated

I couldn’t find a photo of the house, so you’ll have to copy and paste this link and then use the street view option to see what the house looks like. It’s the house behind the tree. www.google.com/maps/place/104+Via+Veracruz,+Jupiter,+FL+33458/@26.9191105,-80.1099187,3a,75y,186.47h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVjZarmyIfZhZIUGLsahYCQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x88ded5e2b05f498f:0x32ce3128cf79ceb6!8m2!3d26.9188789!4d-80.1099475

The address is 104 Via Veracruz, Jupiter, Florida. Jupiter is the name of the king of the Roman gods. On Thanksgiving Day of 2009, which was November 26th, 16 people sat down to Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Jim and Muriel Sitton, and one of them was Paul Michael Merhige, an estranged, mentally ill member of the family that the Sittons did not know was coming until the last minute.

After dinner, they all gathered around the piano and sang songs and everybody fussed over Makayla Sitton, the Sittons’ six year old daughter, because she sang so well. After Makayla was put to bed, Merhige went out to his car and came back with a gun and shot his twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight (who was pregnant), who were age 33; his aunt Raymonde Joseph, 76; and Patrick Knight (Lisa’s husband). Another cousin was also injured. Then he went to the bedroom where Makayla was sleeping and shot her three times. His sisters, aunt and Makayla all died at the scene.

That weekend, Merhige was featured on America’s Most Wanted and he was captured at a motel in Long Key, Florida, on January 2, 2010. The state attorney was going for the death penalty because the murders were premeditated, but under a plea deal, he received seven life sentences.

I think that the Sitton family still lives in the house.