Although Merritt adamantly denied being at the location of the makeshift graves, he was arrested by the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Office on Nov. 5, 2014 and charged with four counts of murder. The man found a small human skull that appeared to belong to a child. Arrest in slaying of . Joseph Sr ran a successful waterfall business in suburban California, spending every inch of spare time with his raven-haired wife, Summer, and their two young sons, Gianni, four, and Joey Jr, three. Defence attorney Raj Maline in the series describes this suspect as a walking, talking red flag but Merritts team was barred in court from bringing up him or the other suspects without concrete evidence linking them to the crimes. Both are convinced of Merritts guilt, but even they shake their heads and raise eyebrows at some of the other unexpected threads to the case. Everything to Know About the Murdaugh Family Murders, Including Alex's Conviction, The McStay Mystery: A Family's Tragic End, Man Killed Business Associate, Wife and Kids Before Burying Their Remains in Calif. Desert, Detective Testifies in Court He Found No Evidence McStay Family Was Killed Inside Their Home. A family photo shows Joseph McStay, his wife Summer and sons Gianni and Joseph. The 58-year-old Merritt is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of McStay, 40; McStay's wife, Summer, 43; and the couple's two sons, Gianni, 4; and Joey, 3. . Case 8, Dorothy Scott So when the family seemingly disappeared four months later without telling any relatives, friends or business associates, and their car turned up four days later at the Mexican border, many people who knew them feared the worst. Detectives testified during Merrittspreliminary hearingin June 2015 that Merritt was a gambling man who had written multiple checks totaling more than $21,000 on Joseph McStays QuickBooks account in the weeks after the McStay family was last seen on Feb. 4, 2010. A motion filed in San Bernardino Superior Court on Nov. 20 on behalf of McStay family murder suspect Charles Chase Merritt by his attorney, James McGee, argued against the use of family photos and/or videos of the McStay family at trial, stating it could engender sympathy from the jury for the victims and prejudice the jury against Merritt. Then a biker in the Mojave Desert finds their bodies in shallow graves. Merritt insists on his innocence in the face of the prosecution's evidence, raising the question: Did Merritt murder the McStay family? Merritt told investigators that on Feb. 4, 2010, the day the family disappeared, Merritt and McStay met for lunch at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga for a business meeting. Merritt had previously worked with Joseph McStay, who owned and ran the Earth Inspired Products decorative fountain company. On June 10, 2019, a San Bernardino County jury found Charles 'Chase' Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family and recommended that he be sentenced to death. A California businessman has been sentenced to death for brutally murdering a family of four and then dumping their bodies in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert. Joseph McStay's mother Susan Blake addresses the court during the sentencing of Charles Chase Merritt on Jan. 21, 2020 . The deaths have been ruled a homicide. Princess Diana flashes a cheeky grin in rare bikini photos. Josephs father Patrick McStay, however, continues to be haunted by Merritts dark deeds. It wasnt until November 2013 that the case moved forward. But several family members did not believe that the man in the video was Joseph. Merritt was a close friend to the McStays and a business partner. The police concluded that Merritt killed the family for financial gain; the killer had a severe gambling problem, and after the murders, he managed to gain some control of Josephs business accounts. Their disappearance was widely reported by the national news media. A 3-pound Stanley-brand sledgehammer, the suspected murder weapon, was found in one of the graves, and the skeletal remains indicated the McStay family had suffered multiple bone fractures to the . Two shallow graves contained the remains of Joseph, his wife Summer, 4-year-old son Gianni and 3-year-old son Joe Jr. Investigators say they have a lot of work ahead to find the killers, and no predictions as to who they are or why they would kill a whole family. Today, he is still imprisoned on death row at Quentin State Prison, where he has been held since the day he was arrested. Charles "Chase" Merritt, who has been convicted of killing the 4-member McStay family of Fallbrook and burying their remains in the San Bernardino County desert back in 2010, carries papers to . In 2019, Charles "Chase" Merritt was accused of killing Joseph McStay's family during his trial for the murders. Later that night, he received a phone call from animal control, which was planning to take the dogs because they had been left outside without food for over a week. The bodies of 40-year-old California businessman Joseph McStay, his 43-year-old wife, Summer, and sons Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, were found . On February 9, when family and business partners hadnt heard from Joseph in five days, they sent a co-worker to the house to see if the familys beloved dogs were there. Pic credit: San Diego County Police. Chase went on TVand talked about his relationship with Joseph and one of the key statements that he made was something to the effect of he was definitely the last person who saw Joseph alive, San Bernardino County Sheriffs Sgt. Lastly, neither party to this case is arguing or disputing that it was in fact the McStays whom were the victims in this case, according to McGees motion. The McStays He was given the death penalty for killing Summer, Gianni, and Joseph Jr. Now, Merritt is on San Quentin Death Row. Witnesses say those checks were backdated to the last day the family was seen. Photo: McStay Family/ZUMA. The family consisted of Joseph McStay, 40, the father and co-owner of a company that built custom, high . The case had been baffling from the start. On November 5, 2014, Chase Merritt, a business associate of McStay was arrested and charged with four counts of murder, after his DNA was discovered inside the McStay vehicle. and a close friend of the family falls under suspicion. On February 10, 2010, Josephs business partner, Charles Chase Merritt, asked the authorities to check on the family, but an officer felt nothing was amiss. It gives you the story of the trial, and it gives you the story of the relationship between Merritt and Joseph McStay, and it gives you the understanding of the families on both sides going through the trial one of the interview subjects that we talked to said, This is going to be the comprehensive look at this story - which has not been done before.. Her disappearance was widely reported in the national news media. In October 2009, Joseph McStay excitedly e-mailed a friend about the house he and his wife had purchased in the San Diego suburb of Fallbrook, Calif. Since opening statements Jan. 7, prosecutors have tried to show jurors that he was the person who killed the McStay family in their Fallbrook home in northern San Diego County and buried them near the High Desert town of Victorville in San Bernardino County. Another two points would put us in good . There were also incisions in her bra that lead investigators to believe it was cut off, the motion states. To add a new type of media, please go to the Admin Console. Two Shallow Graves: The McStay Family Murders: With Suzanne Armstrong, Tony Azzaro, Taylor Jarvis, Shawn Patrick Murphy. 0. At around 7:47 pm, part of the family car was captured on a neighbors surveillance camera, but there was no sign of the family after that. The caller lacked the necessary passcodeto delete the account and the customer service representative was unable to carry out his requestleaving the damaging information for investigators to discover later. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. At that point, the investigation shifted from searching for missing persons to investigating a possible murder. The remains of Joseph Jr., 3, were so minimal that a cause of death could not be determined, San Bernardino . It would have been impossible for the McStays to travel into Mexico with insufficient documents. February 4, 2010, was the last day anyone could contact a member of the McStay family. Visitation will be held on Sunday, March 5th 2023 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at the Perry-McStay Funeral Home (2555 Pawtucket Ave, East Providence, RI 02914). Jaroslav Jerry Hanel had tormented the Diamond Head, Huong Lee and Long Nyugen were an elderly Vietnamese couple. Police announced they had arrested Charles "Chase" Merritt, Joseph McStay's business partner, and intended to charge him with the murders. Then began the authorities' quest to figure out who killed the loving family of four. Buried in the Desert: Was a Family Friend Their Killer? Joe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for The Sun since November 1999. And then there was another associate from Mr McStays work, the computer whiz who maintained the company website a man whod sent messages to MrMcStay essentially threatening to destroy the site and ruin the business. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. For years the familys mysterious disappearance would continue to baffle investigators until a motorcyclistriding the trails in the Mojave Desert on Nov. 13, 2013 made a gruesome discovery. At the time, Joseph owned an online company named Earth Inspired Products that sold decorative water fountains. Merritt is documented as writing checks totaling $21,000 on McStays business account, after McStay went missing. January 30, 2015 / 2:32 PM / CBS News. Investigators believe Summer was raped at the time as her pants were in the grave near her head, and her panties were in the pants as (if) they were pulled off together, according to the motion. I think its a story where people want answers, and this project is another step in trying to give people answers to what really happened.. The entire case left investigators and loved ones completely puzzled. memorial page for Virginia Lisa "Summer" Aranda McStay (27 Dec 1966-4 Feb 2010), Find a Grave Memorial ID 120355781, citing El Toro . Josephs brother found no sign of the family, so he left a note for the person feeding the dogs and asked them to call him, as he was concerned about his family. The following year, police arrested Merritt, whod worked with Mr McStay in his custom waterfall business. "The house was as if somebody just beamed them up to the Starship Enterprise," reporter Tony Shin, who covered the case for KNSD-TV, recalls in the latest episode of CNBC's "American Greed . Jan 2, 2018 By all accounts, Joseph McStay, age 40, and his wife Summer, age 43, were happy and living the American dream..