After nine years, a murder case is now going to trial. NBC 7’s Artie Ojeda has more on the suspect accused of killing the McStay family.
Greed drove a Southern California man to kill his business partner's family with a sledgehammer and bury their bodies in the desert, prosecutors said Monday.
Sean Daugherty, supervising deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County, said in opening statements at Charles "Chase" Merritt's trial that the defendant wrote checks for more than $21,000 on his partner's online bookkeeping account after the family was last seen alive.
Merritt is charged with killing Joseph McStay; McStay's wife, Summer; and their 3- and 4-year-old sons. The family's disappearance in 2010 perplexed investigators for years, with no signs of forced entry at their San Diego County home.
Three years later, their bodies were found more than 100 miles away in a remote area of San Bernardino County, along with a 3-pound sledgehammer and a child's pants and diaper.
Merritt "desperately tried to cover his tracks after the murders," Daugherty told jurors.
Shutterstock
Recent images of the family from the McStay family website.
NBC 7
Charles Merritt appears in a San Bernardino County courtroom to hear closing arguments in his case on May 28, 2019.
Getty Images
Three days before the family vanished, the defendant received an email stating he owed thousands of dollars to the company run by Joseph McStay.
Getty Images
On Nov. 19, 2013, family, friends and strangers gathered in the desert in Victorville for a memorial service for the McStay family. Four crosses were planted at the burial site where the remains of the McStay family were discovered earlier this month. The Fallbrook-based family had been missing since February 2010.
Lidia Leyva
Prosecutors showed jurors images of a baby's bath towel in a McStay family photo on the right. The remnants of the baby's hooded bathtowel were found in the grave.
Getty Images
Prosecutors showed jurors a paintbrush held by one of the McStay children on the left. The same paintbrush was found with a spoon and another tool inside a backpack in the grave.
aniuska arias
The McStay family in happier times - before their February 2010 disappearance that has stumped people across the country.
Getty Images
The missing poster featuring the Fallbrook family last seen in February 2010.
Renae Patterson
The remains of four people were discovered on November 11, 2013, in a remote desert area of Victorville, Calif. Officials later confirmed the remaions were those of McStay family.
AP
San Bernardino County Sheriff Edward J. McMahon, left, looks on as Michael McStay speaks in news conference at San Bernardino County Sheriff�s Department Head Quarter on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, in San Bernadino, Calif. McMahon confirmed that 40-year-old Joseph McStay and his 43-year-old wife, Summer, were found in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert this week. The couple and their two sons disappeared in February 2010. McStay was a brother of one of the victims. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
NBC 7 San Diego
San Bernardino officials held a press conference on November 15, 2013, to announce that the remains found earlier in the week in a remote desert area of Victorville, Calif., were those of the McStay family.
AP
Susan McStay, mother of Joseph McStay, left, and friend of victims' family, Emily, whose last name was not given, listen during a news conference at the San Bernardino County Sheriff�s Department Headquarters on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, in San Bernardino, Calif. San Bernardino County Sheriff Edward J. McMahon confirmed Joseph McStay and his 43-year-old wife, Summer, were found in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert this week. The couple and their two sons disappeared in February 2010.(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Getty Images
The remains of four people were discovered on November 11, 2013, in a remote desert area of Victorville, Calif. Officials later confirmed the remaions were those of McStay family.
Getty Images
The remains of four people were discovered on November 11, 2013, in a remote desert area of Victorville, Calif. Officials later confirmed the remaions were those of McStay family.
An image of Summer McStay courtesy of the family's website.
Facebook / LVK
An image of Joseph McStay courtesy of the family's website.
Getty Images
A video captured a group of people crossing the border into Mexico February 8. Relatives doubt this shows the McStays but investigators say the family may have voluntarily left the country and headed into Mexico.
Getty Images
Gianni McStay and Joseph McStay Jr.were last seen on February 4, 2010. They may be in the company of Summer McStay and Joseph McStay Sr. Joseph Jr. has a birthmark on his forehead. Joseph Sr. has tattoos on both of his shoulders. Summer may use the alias date of birth January 1, 1978. If you have any information contact 1 800-THE-LOST.
Telemundo
Joseph and Summer McStay.
Telemundo
LVK / Telemundo
adolfo jimenez
LVK / Telemundo
LVK / Telemundo
The children seen with their father.
For the first time, relatives take the media inside the McStay's house
Inside the McStay home.
Outside court, defense attorney Rajan Maline said his client's livelihood was tied to McStay being alive and the defense would show that prosecutors were relying on circumstantial evidence. Merritt's attorneys were expected to continue their opening statements Monday afternoon.
Authorities said that after the family disappeared, Merritt's cellphone was traced to the area near the gravesites and to a call seeking to close out McStay's QuickBooks account for his water features business.
They also say Merritt's DNA was discovered on the steering wheel and gearshift of McStay's SUV, which was impounded near the Mexican border a few days after the family vanished.
Charles 'Chase' Merritt was accused of killing his business partner's entire family. NBC 7's anchor Bridget Naso has the details.
Merritt's attorneys say McStay could have transferred the DNA to the vehicle after he met with Merritt shortly before the family vanished. They say none of Merritt's DNA was found at the gravesites but DNA belonging to other unidentified individuals turned up there. The McStay family disappeared from their home in Fallbrook, which is about 50 miles north of San Diego.
Daugherty said three victims died of blunt-force trauma to the head and there were not enough remains of one of the boys to determine how he was killed, the newspaper reported. Investigators spoke with Merritt shortly after the family went missing and noticed Merritt referred to them in the past tense, Daugherty said.
