Cold Cases That Were Finally Solved: The McStay Family Disappearance

Joseph McStay was 40 years old and lived in Fallbrook, California with his 43 year old wife Summer and their sons Gianni (age 4) and Joseph Jr. (age 3). Everybody loved Joe, the boys were full of life and Summer was an amazing mom. She was very protective of her kids. Joe owned and operated Earth Inspired Products, a company that built decorative fountains, which he ran from home. 

The family would spend their free time surfing and hanging out at the beach. 

On the morning of Thursday, February 4th, 2010, Joe was talking on the phone with his dad, Patrick. He informed his father he was going to meet with a business associated around noon, so he had to get going. Summer spent the day overseeing the renovations being done on their house and planning for Joseph Jr's birthday party that weekend.

At lunch time Joe ate at a Chick-fil-a in the local mall. He had talked business with Chase Merrit. This was the last known sighting of Joe.

Later that night, at 7:47 pm, a neighbor's surveillance system  caught the McStay family's 1996 Isuzu Trooper driving off. In the surveillance recording, who was in the vehicle could not be seen. 

At 8:28 pm,  Joe's business associate, Merritt, received a call from Joe's phone, which went to voice mail. Merritt later told police that he ignored it because he was watching a movie. Joe's cellphone pinged a tower in Fallbrook. This was the last call made from Joe's phone.

On February 9th, Dan Kavanaugh, who managed Joe's business' website, contacted Patrick to inform him that he hadn't been able to get a hold of Joe or Summer for days. Patrick lived in Texas, so he called Joe's brother, Michael, who lived near Joe.

On February 10th, law enforcement was notified about the missing family. Officers went to the McStay's house, but did not go inside. The doors were locked and the police said that they didn't find anything suspicious so they left.

Merrit says he decided to go over to the McStay's house to check things out for himself. He drove past the house and saw the family's two dogs, Bear and Digger outside. 

On February 13th, Michael drove to the McStay's house to see what is going on. Merrit met Michael there and they both climbed inside the house through an open window. Eggs were rotting on the kitchen counter and coffee grinds were scattered about. There was popcorn on the couch and clothes were thrown everywhere. Michael decided to wait a few days, to see if the family would show up before calling police.

On February 15th, Michael contacted the Sheriff's department, who went to the house to investigate and immediately notified homicide as per policy. The officers didn't seal off the residence, they simply locked the house back up and left to go get search warrants.

In the meantime, Joe's mother went to the McStay's home and cleaned up the kitchen. Investigators also let Joe's family and friends remove some items from the home. 

Authorities also had put out a BOLO on the family's Isuzu and instantly got a hit. It had been impounded from a mall near the Mexican border, between 5 and 5:30 p.m., four days after the family had went missing.

On February 19th, the officers returned with warrants to fully search the home. They discovered that a week before the family disappeared, there was a search on the family's computer about getting passports to Mexico.

Summer's sister stated that her passport was expired

The McStay family had left their computers and the kids' stroller behind.

The McStay family had more than $100,000 in bank accounts, with no withdrawal of funds, and their accounts were untouched after their disappearance.

If the McStay family was going on a trip or running away or what have you, why didn't they empty their accounts?

Investigators also uncovered surveillance footage from the evening of February 8th, that showed a family of four resembling the McStays walking across the border into Mexico around 7 p.m.

If that had been the McStay family crossing the boarder, what did they do for an hour and a half before they crossed the boarder? 

There was no surviellance footage of the McStay family from the mall, the bank or any of the stores between there and the border.

Why would the McStay family park their vehicle and walk over the border in the dark?

Patrick said that Summer was fearful of Mexico and would never take her kids there. He also stated that he was sure the people in the surveillance footage was not the Joe and his family. 

Patrick was upset how the case had been handled so far and the direction it was being led into, so he contacted the head of a non-profit search and rescue organization, Tim Miller.

Miller traveled to California to investigate the McStay family disappearance. Miller recruited investigative journalist, Steph Watts for assistance. 

They search the McStay home and are baffled that the authorities never sealed off the home as a crime scene. They find no signs of foul play, however they find no indications that the family was planning a trip.

The next day Miller and Steph travel to the Mexican border in the search for answers, but called off their search once the police had shown them the surveillance video of a family crossing the border.

The case went cold until the FBI took it over in 2013.

On November 11th, 2013 at 9:58 a.m., a motorcyclist called 911 to say he had found human remains while he was riding in the Mohave desert. When the sheriff's department arrived on scene, they found two shallow graves and four skeletons. 

Two days later, the remains were identified being the missing McStay family. Their deaths were ruled a homicide and the authorities said they believed the family died of blunt force trauma. Investigators believed that the murder weapon was a 3-pound sledgehammer, which was found in the grave containing the remains of Summer and her son. They also believe that the family was tortured before death.

On November 15th, the San Bernardino sheriff's department took over the case. They re-interviewed and looked at everyone from the McStay's lives.

Michael had withdrew money from Joe's bank account in the first few weeks after the family disappeared. He also had sold off some of Joe's property. Michael claims he did that so the McStay's house wouldn't go into foreclosure.

Joe's business was worth more than a million dollars. 

Kavanaugh had began withdrawing money from the business account starting on February 6th, 2010. Kavanaugh claims he had permission from the family to do this to use it to keep Joe's business going. In 2011, without the family's permission and even though he didn't own any part of the company, Kavanaugh sold Joe's business.

Merritt was the last known person to have had contact with Joseph McStay. Merritt had felony convictions for burglary and receiving stolen property. His most recent felony conviction, in 2001, was for the theft of $32,000 worth of welding and drilling equipment from San Gabriel Valley Ornamental Iron Works. An acquaintance of Merritt's told a San Diego reporter, "I think police should look at him and anyone associated with him."

Merritt alleged that Summer had anger issues and that Joseph had been ill for some time with a mysterious ailment. Joseph's family confirmed that he had an unexplained illness and that Summer was possessive of her husband, but they called Merritt's suggestion that she was responsible for his illness unfounded.

The McStays' relatives believe that Summer's email records show that her ex-boyfriend, Vick W. Johansen, was obsessed with Summer for years after their relationship ended. Johansen had a criminal history that included violent threats, felony vandalism, disturbing the peace, interfering with a business and resisting a peace officer. The family also said that his pattern of movement around the time of the disappearance was suspicious.

On November 5th, 2014, detectives from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrested Merritt in connection with the deaths of the McStay family on the fact that they had recovered Merrit's DNA from their car. He was charged with four counts of murder, and the district attorney was seeking the death penalty.

Patrick was shocked and saddened that Merrit would do such a thing to Joe and his family. Patrick said that he thinks Merrit killed the family over money and that Joe possibly was going to fire Merrit before the family went missing.

Prosecutors alleged that Merritt's motive was a gambling problem, and that killed the family over money. They said that he wrote checks totaling more than $21,000 on Joseph's business account in the days after the family was killed, and then went on a gambling spree at nearby casinos, where he lost thousands of dollars. 

Merritt's trial was had repeated delays and as of February 2016, he had gone through five attorneys. 

In January 2018, a trial-setting conference was scheduled for February 23. Merritt's attorney filed a motion in San Bernardino Superior Court on April 7, 2018, arguing that Joseph's business and accounting records were hearsay evidence and therefore inadmissible. On May 4, the case was scheduled to go to trial in July 2018. 

The trial finally began on January 7, 2019, in a San Bernardino court, with both sides making opening statements.

On June 10, 2019, a San Bernardino County jury found 62 year old Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family. He could face the death sentence as a result.

On June 24th, 2019, a jury of 12 people recommended a sentence of death for Merritt, in counts two, three and four, but life in prison without the possibility of parole on count one.

The jury recommended Merritt be put to death for the murders of Summer McStay and her two young sons, but recommended life in prison without parole for the murder of Joseph McStay.

Merritt will be formally sentenced September 27th of this year.

It is expected that Merritt and his defense team will appeal the quadruple murder conviction.

Do you agree that Merrit is guilty and that he acted alone?