Summary
Name:
Monique BerkleyYears Active:
2005Status:
ImprisonedClass:
MurdererVictims:
1Method:
ShootingNationality:
USASummary: Murderer
Name:
Monique BerkleyStatus:
ImprisonedVictims:
1Method:
ShootingNationality:
USAYears Active:
2005Date Convicted:
September 25, 2007Monique Susanne Berkley was born in 1980. Public records and news reports give few details about her childhood, family, or schooling.
As an adult she lived in Clayton, North Carolina. She was married to Paul Berkley, who served as a Navy reservist. News accounts from the mid-2000s list her age in her mid- to late-20s.
On December 18, 2005, Paul Berkley, a 46-year-old naval reservist, was shot on a pathway at Millbrook Exchange Park in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Police said his wife, Monique Berkley, 26, was also shot and called 911 to report the attack. Investigators charged Monique Berkley and two men, Andrew Deshawn Canty and Latwon Darrell Johnson, with first-degree murder. Authorities said the method of killing was a shooting.
Police reported that Monique Berkley had been having an affair with Andrew Canty and that Canty had moved into her house while her husband was deployed. Prosecutors said Monique had plotted to kill her husband and that the three planned to share a payout from a $400,000 life insurance policy. Court testimony said the couple had gone to a movie and then to the park, and that Canty walked past them and shot Paul Berkley and Monique Berkley. Investigators said Canty also took Paul Berkley’s wallet to make the scene look like a robbery.
An autopsy later showed that Paul Berkley had a gunshot wound to the head and a one-inch stab wound near his right ear. Authorities said they never recovered the murder weapon and believed it was thrown in a river. Investigators said a gun sold to Canty was test-fired before the killing and that shell casings from that test matched casings at the scene.
Raleigh police arrested Monique Berkley, Canty and Johnson the day after the shooting. Canty pleaded guilty on August 20, 2007, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Monique Berkley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on September 25, 2007. Latwon Johnson later pleaded guilty as well.
