Previously married to Nancy Weaverling - the couple had two children, Rebecca, 16 and Zeke, 18 before they divorced after about 14 years of marriage - Paul Berkley had married and divorced again before he met Monique. The couple married in Las Vegas about four years ago, and they moved to the suburb of Clayton, closer to Monique’s family, about three years ago.During the December 18 stroll in the park that followed dinner and a movie, Paul Berkley was shot in the head and Monique was wounded in the shoulder. Monique then made a bizarre 911 call to police to report her injury, but for three minutes never mentioned that her husband was also wounded. It was only after the dispatcher asked what the background noise was that Monique said that Berkley had also been shot.Monique Berkley, Johnson and Canty are being held in a North Carolina jail without bail. If convicted, they all could face the death penalty.Zeke and Rebecca have returned to Santa Paula to be with their mother and grandmother.
Life insurance the payoff in North Carolina murder of SP native
December 28, 2005
Santa Paula News
The life insurance policy of a Santa Paula native, who had just returned from his second tour of war duty when he was fatally shot in a deserted park, was the motive of the killing, his wife told authorities on Thursday.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe life insurance policy of a Santa Paula native, who had just returned from his second tour of war duty when he was fatally shot in a deserted park, was the motive of the killing, his wife told authorities on Thursday. The murder of Paul Berkley, 46, was carried out by the 18-year-old boyfriend of Monique Berkley, 26, and her stepdaughter’s former boyfriend, the woman told Raleigh police.Paul Berkley was shot in the early morning hours of December 18 in Millbrook Exchange Park in North Raleigh. Monique Berkley told investigators that she planned to split the proceeds of his life insurance policy with her boyfriend, Andrew Canty and Latwon Johnson, also 18.Investigators allege Berkley and the two teenagers plotted to kill her husband after her step-daughter, who had dated Johnson, told Monique and Canty that her father knew of the their affair and planned a divorce. A Navy Reservist, Paul Berkley had just returned for Christmas break after his second tour of duty in Bahrain. Canty had moved into the Berkley home shortly after Paul Berkley had been deployed.Monique Berkley, born of a prominent Tampa, Florida family, moved to California about six years ago to live with a woman she met on the Internet in a gay and lesbian chat room. In 1999, the two women were united in a religious ceremony at a church in Santa Paula. Monique left her partner - who subsequently underwent a sex change operation - on her partner’s birthday for Berkley.