Look out for wildlife like rattlesnakes. While Summer stayed home to take care of the children, she planned to go to work soon. Joseph had a newly successful business designing and installing water fountains. Sheriffs investigators believe Merritt, a business associate of Joseph McStay who built custom decorative water fountains for McStays online business, killed the McStays for financial gain. Lee Harvey Oswald autopsy photo. Their children, Gianni and Joseph Jr., were 4 and 3, respectively. San Bernardino County sheriffs investigators believe Summer McStay, who along with her husband Joseph and two young sons was fatally beaten with a sledgehammer and buried in a shallow grave near Victorville, may have been raped before she was killed, according to a court document. Joseph McStay's mother Susan Blake addresses the court during the sentencing of Charles Chase Merritt on Jan. 21, 2020 . Prosecutors claim that the McStays were murdered by Merritt for . Merritt constantly denied he had anything to do with the crime. Investigators immediately seized the car and searched it for evidence. Then a biker in the Mojave Desert finds their bodies in shallow graves. An attorney eventually represented Merritt, and the jury decided in favor of the victims. These bodies were soon confirmed as the McStay family. However, a breakthrough in the case came in November 2014 when the cops found Merritts DNA on the steering wheel of McStays car. The memorial is located about 200 feet west of Quary road and requires visitors to leave their car at Quary Road and walk east to the actual location. However, friends and family claimed this would be out of character, and the couple still had a large amount of money in a bank account that remained untouched. Photo: McStay Family/ZUMA. Around about February 4, 2010, the McStay family, Joseph, 40; his wife, Summer, 43; and their . The murder suspect, Charles "Chase" Merritt, was present in court, wearing a gray shirt and pattern tie that was delivered to him by his family. Apr 20, 2020 Joan's husband, Hal Rogers, stayed behind to care for the family's dairy farm.. Joan, Michelle and Christe Rogers.. Photo Source: Crime 1.7k votes, 195 comments.. From the LA Times: "A jury Monday found a man guilty of bludgeoning a family of four and burying their bodies in shallow , Charles Ray Merritt has been sentenced to death for the murders of McStay family members, .. Investigation Discovery's 'Two Shallow Graves' follows the trial of Charles "Chase" Merritt, accused of murdering Joseph McStay and his family. Merritt is documented as writing checks totaling $21,000 on McStays business account, after McStay went missing. This led to speculation that the family may have willingly fled the country. Jaroslav Jerry Hanel had tormented the Diamond Head neighborhood of Honolulu, HI, for years, but one day, he completely snapped and murdered landlord, Lois Cain, shot two responding police officers, and set fire to the neighborhood. Merrit himself, the producers say, was nervous to participate since he could not control the narrative. 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. Jun 15, 2015 Merritt has said there is no direct evidence linking him to the crime scene.. Similarly, on February 6, his phone pinged off of towers in Victorville, placing him at the burial site. The family was from Fallbrook, a quiet bedroom community in San Diego County. The McStay family murders occurred on or about February 4, 2010, after the family disappeared from their home in Fallbrook, California, United States. Two Shallow Graves on ID is examining the tragic murders of the McStay family, who were butchered by business associate Charles Chase Merritt, and buried in the desert near Victorville, California, in 2010. To learn more about the case, tune into Monday's episode of "American Greed" at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNBC. Authorities say Merritt, a business associate of 40-year-old Joseph McStay, beat the family to death inside their residence. Family members of the victims . The man convicted of killing a California family of four and burying them in the Mojave Desert nearly 10 years ago has been sentenced to death, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael A . The McStay family of Fallbrook were last heard from or seen on Feb. 4, 2010. A hearing on McGees motion is scheduled Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court. They had a loving circle of friends and family, enjoyed taking trips and watching their young sons grow and learn. Merritt's DNA was found on the steering wheel and gearshift, even though Merritt told detectives he had never driven that vehicle. But several family members did not believe that the man in the video was Joseph. The defense now moves to exclude certain expected testimony and evidence from the prosecutions case in chief on the grounds that this evidence is not relevant, and that the onlypurposes of the expected evidence are to sensationalize the alleged crimes and inflame the passions of the jury against Mr. Merritt, according to the Nov. 20 motion. The autopsy revealed all four victims died from blunt force trauma to their heads. The McStay family mysteriously disappeared from their California home on February 15, 2010. Heavy. The motive was greed and the murders were brutal. They were living at Fallbrook and simply listed as missing. It would take years for investigators to discover the family's grisly fate. The family consisted of Joseph McStay, 40, the father and co-owner of a company that built custom, high . Merritt is accused of killing his former business associate, Joseph McStay, McStay's wife Summer, and their two small children on Feb. 4, 2010. The four-year-old Gianni had suffered a shocking seven blows to the head. The sledge hammer is the likely murder weapon. Lying beside the family was a sledgehammer. Merritt was a close friend to the McStays and a business partner. The shocking find led to even more mysteries and revealed a surprising number of suspects who seemingly had motives to go after the family, according to a new series premiering this weekend on Investigation Discovery. Jaroslav Jerry Hanel had tormented the Diamond Head, Huong Lee and Long Nyugen were an elderly Vietnamese couple. 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. 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. A motorcyclist found human remains in a desert near Victorville, California. Their car was located a few days later, near San Diego, close to the Mexican border. The original memorial consisting of 4 white crosses. SAN BERNARDINO, California- The man accused of killing four members of the McStay family in 2010 will stand trial, a California judge ruled this week. In November 2013, almost four years later, a motorcycle rider found two shallow grave sites in the desert, just north of Victorville. There were at least four impacts to the skull of Joseph McStay, and at least seven impacts to 4-year-old Gianni. Source: wikipedia | CBS News |. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. BREAKING: A jury found Charles 'Chase' Merritt GUILTY of first-degree murder in the bludgeoning deaths of the McStay family, Joseph (40), Summer (43), Gianni (4), Joseph Jr. (3). SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Prosecutors say a sledgehammer was used to kill all four members of the McStay family, and the 4-year-old boy was struck seven times. In February 2010, the McStay family vanished without a trace, propelling the authorities to investigate. 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. On June 10, 2019, a San Bernardino County jury found Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family. A Family Vanishes: With Stacy Keach. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Charles 'Chase' Merritt was convicted in June of killing his former business associate Joseph McStay, McStay's wife Summer and the couple's children The McStay family vanished from their San Diego . Charles Ray Merritt, 61, stands trial for the murder of a couple and their two sons in San Bernardino County, California. Chase further stated that Joseph called him at around 8:28 pm on that evening. Initial investigation revealed that the family car was found at around 11 pm on February 8, 2010, in a parking lot close to the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California. Skip Ancestry navigation Main Menu Home LOS ANGELES A Southern California man was sentenced to death Tuesday for the 10-year-old killings of a family of four whose bodies were found buried in shallow graves in the California desert . GUILTY. Merritt was arrested for the family's killings the following year, when his DNA was discovered inside the family vehicle, dumped near the border, and fake company checks traced back to him. If you wish to write to us in regards to this matter, please be advised that we reserve the right to post your. Reportedly, on January 21, 2020, Merritt was convicted of his crime and issued a sentence of life in prison and the death penalty. I think that, when this show airs, so many people know the case Theres going to be a lot of debate. Prosecutors claim that the McStays were murdered by Merritt for financial gain. I did not do this.. The investigation revealed that Chase was a gambling addict who owed Joseph about $42,000. But there was an astonishing number of other people whod had significant run-ins with the McStays, according to the new series. The family's disappearance had puzzled investigators, who said there . 0. Please be respectful of the memorial and do not leave any trash when you . McGee argued that the use of family photos and/or videos in the case should only be relevant if they are used for identifying victims, otherwise they are irrelevant. Lord Hanuman Angry Animated Wallpapers Hd posted by Sarah Anderson a28a80e3cc. Our priority is picking up the points as soon as we can. 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. It was sort of one sort of absurdity after the other, Kevin Fitzpatrick, an executive producer of Two Shallow Graves, tells The Independent. 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 . When Joseph needed to develop his bespoke company, he enlisted Merritt, a fabricator, for assistance. In late November 2009, the family moved to Fallbrook, California, for a fresh start in a peaceful and friendly neighborhood. However, a new discovery on border surveillance video changed the course of the investigation. 16 Rare Photos of Princess Diana. One of the most infamous murder cases in the Inland area will be a focus of the second season premiere of the Oxygen show "Killer Motive" Saturday, Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. Defense attorney Rajan Maline has continued to proclaimhis clients innocence, arguing there's no physical evidence linking Merritt to themurder scene. Chase, you are a low-life coward and a baby killer. The man found a small human skull that appeared to belong to a child. 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. The details of Walker's death are equally lurid and disturbing. Merritt used the money to fuel his gambling addiction at nearby casinos, in which he lost thousands of dollars. Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and the couple's two young sons mysteriously disappeared in Feb. 2010. The first three episodes of Two Shallow Graves will air on ID (Investigation Discovery) on Sunday, May 22, at 9:00 PM ET. So, lets find out what happened then, shall we? If you have any suggestions for any crime locations, infamous crimes or infamous people you want me to cover, (mostly around WA state as that is where I live. He was sentenced to death on January 21, 2020. According to reports, denying his involvement in the murders, Merritt told the court. At the beginning, hes like, I know this case better than the attorneys, Mr Fitpatrick adds. But hed also tell Kay during his television interview that he had definitely been the last person to see Joseph. Detectives said Merritt had grown up in the area and was familiar with the terrain. The investigation into the disappearance of the McStay family in February 2010 and the subsequent disappearance of money from the company's bank account led investigators to believe Merritt was responsible. A 3-pound sledgehammer was found with the bodies . Merritts trial has been delayed multiple times due to Merritt attempting to represent himself and repeatedly firing his attorneys, he has gone through five between November 2013 to February 2016. I think its probably true; he has read everything, hes currently working on a book about his case and hes constantly working on it in some way. January 30, 2015 / 2:32 PM / CBS News. Merritt, in the series, contends: They didnt have any direct evidence to support that I did these crimes. On Feb. 4, 2010, Joseph and Summer McStay, ages 40 and 43, and their two sons, Gianni, 4, and 3-year-old Joey Jr., vanished without a trace from their Fallbrook home. 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. A man riding his dirt bike in the area discovered some of the remains and contacted police. The missing persons flier for the McStay family. The remains were identified as the McStay family's and were buried in two shallow graves. Timeline of Gabby Petito Tragedy 1 Year After Killer Brian Laundrie's Body Was Found, Calif. Man Gets Death Penalty for Killing Business Partner, Victim's Wife, Kids Before Burying Bodies, Murder, Greed and the Mojave Desert: The Mystery Behind the McStay Family Murder. Your login session has expired. The bones found in shallow graves in Southern California's Mojave Desert belong to a San Diego-area family of four missing since 2010 and likely murdered, authorities said. Charles Merritt, former business partner of Joseph McStay, has just been found guilty of killing the entire McStay family with a sledgehammer and burying their bodies in the desert. Investigators were stumped until they came upon a distressing hint that directed them towards Charles "Chase" Merritt, a close friend and business partner of Joseph McStay's. 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.. 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. It was February 4, 2010, when the small village of Fallbrook, in San Diego County, was shaken by the disappearance of a whole family. Syd Field Four Screenplays Pdf 11 !!HOT!! Two Shallow Graves: The McStay Family Murders: With Suzanne Armstrong, Tony Azzaro, Taylor Jarvis, Shawn Patrick Murphy. SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Prosecutors say a sledgehammer was used to kill all four members of the McStay family, and the 4-year-old boy was struck seven times. 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 . Merritts trial finally began on January 7, 2019 and on June 10, 2019, a San Bernardino County jury found Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family. In 2020, Merritt was sentenced to death following a conviction on four murder counts. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. The paint was still fresh on the walls, the corners bordered by blue painter . When questioned about his choice of language by investigators, Merritt said he had no idea why he'd done that. He found no signs of a break-in, except for a partially open window, which he used to get into the house. SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - He wrote a book on the McStay case, but an investigative author is expressing shock over the tragic new twist in the case. Lots of peoples names came up, and lots of different theories came up, executive producer Jacinda A Davis tells The Independent. Skip to main content. 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. He was convicted in June 2019, however, and sentenced to death the following January. 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. The grave sites were the main discussion in court. At that point, the investigation shifted from searching for missing persons to investigating a possible murder. 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. John F. Kennedy autopsy photo (#1) 0. The remains were identified as the McStay familys and were buried in two shallow graves. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department described in detail what they found, describing the remains of four bodies, 45 groups of bones, including ribs and parts of legs from two adults and two children. Gas prices rise for 31st consecutive day in LA County, Carjacking victim comes face to face with suspect during wild chase, How Paul Murdaugh helped solve his own murder. When you look at the totality of the picture, you just came right back to its Charles Merritt, Imes tellsAmerican Greed.. Investigation Discovery aired a docuseries focused on the McStay family murders in late May. It's very difficult to review this case, as there, The FBi has been murdering people for years since their, Clearly its hard for some people to understand that although, What is taking so long? Princess Diana flashes a cheeky grin in rare bikini photos. The skeletal remains of Joseph McStay were found with a cutoff extension cord wrapped around the neck, and the rest of the body wrapped in a white towel, all of it secured by a tie-down strap. Nov. 17, 2013 -- The 2010 disappearance of the McStay family, whose skeletal remains were discovered in shallow graves in the California desert last week, led a former North Carolina radio host to . On November 7, 2014, police announced they had arrested Charles "Chase" Merritt, Joseph . Searches about travelling to Mexico were also uncovered on the familys computer, bolstering a theory that theyd gone on a trip. I would follow all of these paths, but I never followed just one to the exclusion of the others., She says: To be honest, I was not disappointed when they arrested Chase [Merritt] but scared that perhaps [investigators] didnt look into the whole thing enough because of the fact that we found so much compelling stuff in these other peoples files..