Five years ago, the McStays were living the California dream. The family had moved into a new home in Fallbrook, and Joseph McStay’s business was taking off.
He had started a company called Earth Inspired Products that sold waterfalls, and online orders were strong.
McStay connected with Chase Merritt, who manufactured custom indoor waterfalls. The two quickly bonded.
“We talked constantly. … He came down and had dinner with me and my family once or twice a week virtually every week,” Merritt told CNN’s Randi Kaye. “Joseph was my best friend.”
It’s a surprising statement considering where Merritt is now — behind bars, charged with murder in the deaths of McStay; his wife, Summer; and their two small children, Gianni and Joseph Jr.
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Officers believe the McStays were killed in the home, but 11 days passed between the family’s disappearance and an alert to the sheriff’s department. It took San Diego investigators three days to obtain the warrants they needed to complete a full search, and during that time, the home remained unsealed.
How reliable is evidence gathered at the McStay house so many days after investigators say the family was killed there? Could one person kill a family of four and bury the bodies 100 miles away?
And the fact that it has been five years since the family went missing does not make the prosecution’s case any easier.
“I think the biggest obstacle … is time. Because witnesses forget, people forget the time frames, what occurred, etc.,” Ramos said.
