EXCLUSIVE: McStay family husband feared his wife was POISONING him before they disappeared and were found dead in desert, claims explosive new book

[flowers]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533474/EXCLUSIVE-McStay-family-husband-feared-wife-POISONING-disappeared-dead-desert-claims-explosive-new-book.html

    Joseph McStay was suffering from a mystery illness in the months before him and his family suddenly went missing from their Californian home
    Doctors could not diagnose the baffling condition so friends started to suggest ‘fiery’ wife Summer could be poisoning him
    Explosive new book written by close confidante Chase Merritt reveals Joseph told him he would stop eating his wife’s food and start eating out
    Tell all memoir ‘Afraid of the Light’ will also detail how the couple’s relationship was in trouble and they hadn’t had sex for a year
    Merritt hopes the home truths will help unravel the mystery that led to the deaths of Joseph, Summer and their two sons Gianni and Joseph Jr

[truth_seeker]

A book for $$$ with virtually nothing about the case, but the suggestion the wife murdered her husband.

So how do all four wind up dead and buried?

Nobody from his family would be interviewed for this story. He's cashing in on his former business partner's death.

[flowers]

A book for $$$ with virtually nothing about the case, but the suggestion the wife murdered her husband.

So how do all four wind up dead and buried?

Nobody from his family would be interviewed for this story. He's cashing in on his former business partner's death.

Exactly. Why did all four end up dead and buried. It is all about the dollars for his new book.

[Rapunzel]

this story continues to fascinate.........

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


ww.cbs8.com/story/24277118/mcstay-murder-mystery-who-is-dan-kavanaugh

McStay murder mystery: Who is Dan Kavanaugh?
Posted: Dec 20, 2013 6:46 PM Updated: Dec 24, 2013 9:39 AM
By David Gotfredson,

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) -- Joseph McStay, 40, his wife Summer McStay, 43, and their two sons, Gianni, 5, and Joey, Jr., 4, went missing from their Fallbrook home in February 2010.

It would be almost four years before the skeletal remains of the family were discovered in shallow graves near Victorville on November 11.

Within a week of the family's disappearance in 2010, large sums of money started being transferred out of Joseph McStay's business bank account.

Where was the money going? Who was transferring it and why?

CBS News 8 caught up with the employee who admitted to his involvement in some of those transactions.

At first, Dan Kavanaugh, 32, was reluctant to talk about his former employer, Joseph McStay, when a CBS News 8 camera crew came knocking at his apartment door in Little Italy.

"No news questions right now bud, sorry, can't do it," said Kavanaugh.

A web designer by trade, Kavanaugh had been in charge of developing the online presence for Earth Inspired Products, Joseph McStay's custom fountain design and manufacturing business.

Eventually, Kavanaugh opened up to CBS News 8, denying that he had anything to do with the family's disappearance or murder.

Kavanaugh said he was in Oahu, Hawaii on a surfing trip at the time the family went missing.

"I was in Hawaii. You guys know that, right?" said Kavanaugh as he stood in the threshold of his apartment.

In a subsequent telephone interview, Kavanaugh looked up his online itinerary from the surfing vacation, and claimed he was in Oahu from Jan. 4, 2010 to Feb. 17, 2010, when he returned to San Diego.

"I have a hundred witnesses that saw me there (in Oahu) and can attest that I was there the whole time," said Kavanaugh.

Emails sent to Joseph McStay – and later retrieved by family members – confirmed Kavanaugh received thousands of dollars from the Earth Inspired Products business account after the McStays went missing.

"So, there are some curious withdrawals for business expenses and things around the time of the disappearance; but when you look further, the guy was 2,500 miles away. He has an alibi. And I had no resources to get anything like that done or motive," explained Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh said the transferred money was used to keep the fountain business going during Joseph McStay's unexplained absence.

He said he was working with Joseph's brother, Michael McStay, and Joseph's mother, Susan Blake, at the time the withdrawals were made.

"I actually transferred it (the money) to myself with Mike's knowledge," he said. "None of that money went to me. That money went to vendors, welders and manufacturers."

"Mike and I and his mom tried to salvage and run the business that we had built for a long time," Kavanaugh said.

But without Joseph McStay at the helm, the business would eventually fold.

In July 2011, Kavanaugh ended up selling McStay's business, Earth Inspired Products, to two individuals named Matthew Schneider and Joaquin Quintero, according to court records.

The sale of Earth Inspired Products and the subsequent creation of a corporation called Water Feature Supply, Inc. resulted in a lawsuit being filed in February 2012 in San Diego Superior Court  (case # 37.2012-00092477).

The lawsuit detailed ownership disputes between the plaintiffs, Schneider and Quintero, and another party named Patrick Maloy.

The lawsuit was dismissed in May of 2012 and Maloy retained ownership of the Water Feature Supply domain and business.

Joseph McStay's original web site domain name associated with Earth Inspired Products currently directs users back to McStayFamily.org.

Joseph McStay's father, Patrick McStay, told CBS News 8 that Kavanaugh had no right to sell the business to Schneider and Quintero.

"So, are you going to tell me that Kavanaugh was running the company? He had no authority to run anything. He was a nobody. He was a web guy. He took care of the web and that's it," said Patrick McStay. "I think he wanted to gain access to the business and sell it."

Kavanaugh saw his role in Earth Inspired Products differently.

"I didn't just do the web site," he said. "I created all of the traffic to the site. Joe did very little. He just answered the phone. I built the entire business."

Court records show Kavanaugh had trouble with the law in the years after the McStays disappeared.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court in two, separate domestic violence cases involving altercations with girlfriends, records show.

In August 2011, Kavanaugh was charged with five misdemeanor counts (in case # M134711DV).

According to a 2013 probation report obtained by CBS News 8:

On 8/1/2011 at 2:44 a.m. officers were called to **** Riveria Drive in San Diego. They heard a woman screaming from the second story of the apartment complex… The defendant (Kavanaugh) came downstairs and let officers in. Officers found the defendant's girlfriend, ****** ******* in the bedroom crying. She had abrasions on both knees.

She said the defendant pulled her out of the car and onto the ground, causing the abrasions to her knees.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty to a single, misdemeanor count: battery of a current or former significant other, and received three years probation.

In July 2013, Kavanaugh was charged with felony domestic violence (in case # SCD249328).

Probation officers filed a sentencing report that described the incident, which occurred July 5, 2013 at 12:30 a.m.:

The victim was distraught and her dress was disheveled. She was crying and her makeup was smeared. She came out of the apartment and stood behind one of the officers. She pointed to her balcony where officers found the defendant hanging on a 4th floor ledge. The defendant was attempting to get to another balcony. At gunpoint, they directed the defendant to return to the victim's balcony and he complied.

The victim stated she was with the defendant, her boyfriend, outside her apartment building. He wanted to come to her apartment but she repeatedly told him she did not want him there. He insisted and walked with her to the elevator. She again told him she did not want him at her apartment.

The defendant was upset and grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her from the elevator, through the hall, to her apartment. She yelled for help. She said the defendant used her keys to enter the apartment and threw her on the couch. She yelled for help but the defendant covered her mouth and told her to be quiet… She attempted to leave through the front door. He grabbed her and carried her to the bedroom. He threw her on the bed and she started yelling for help. He pinned her down and covered her mouth to keep her from yelling. She was afraid and punched and kicked the defendant. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife and fork. She pointed the knife at the defendant but he grabbed it away from her.

She had bruising and scratches on her wrists… She also had a scrape on her right elbow. She did not seek medical attention.

The defendant had scratch marks on his neck and chest and a scrape to the right side of his face.

The records said Kavanaugh told officers that he and his girlfriend had been drinking and that, "She was rowdy and out of hand."

He also told arresting officers that the victim "had taken ecstasy" and that she was having "a bad trip," according to the probation report.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty in October 2013, in a plea bargain, to felony false imprisonment and was placed on formal probation.

Defense attorney Isaac Blumberg of San Diego submitted a statement of mitigation to the judge in the case, which included several letters of support from Kavanaugh's business associates, friends, mother and brother.

"Daniel hasn't got a mean bone in his body," his mother, Tamara Lyn Terry, wrote in her statement to the judge.

"I have four sons I raised myself… Daniel, the eldest son of mine is and always has been a kind and loving big brother. Kind to me, an overwhelmed single mother, he helped enormously, being supportive, and even helping financially. I need Daniel. Our FAMILY needs Daniel. I swear, on my honor, Daniel is worthy of your consideration and mercy," his mother wrote.

"I have known Daniel Kavanaugh to be a hardworking, honest and highly intelligent individual," restaurant owner Peter Busalacci wrote the judge.

"The quality of his work has been exceptional and his personality is always pleasant. These (restaurant) web sites have been improved considerably by his services," wrote Busalacci.

Kavanaugh remains on active probation and continues to attend court-ordered, domestic violence classes.  He has not been named as a suspect by law enforcement in the McStay murders.

"As far as you asking me if I'm a violent person, the answer is a resounding no. Definitely not," Kavanaugh told CBS News 8.

(This report has been updated since its original posting)

[Rapunzel]

My money would be on Merritt having something to do with the murders...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.cbs8.com/story/24245580/mcstay-murder-mystery-who-is-chase-merritt


McStay murder mystery: Who is Chase Merritt?
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 4:22 PM Updated: Dec 20, 2013 1:43 PM
By David Gotfredson,


Chase Merritt, undated Dept. of Corrections mug shot (left); 2013 photo from Daily Mail online (right) Chase Merritt, undated Dept. of Corrections mug shot (left); 2013 photo from Daily Mail online (right)

   SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) -- When skeletal remains of the McStays were discovered last month near Victorville, detectives started taking a closer look at people associated with the Fallbrook family of four.

One of those individuals is Charles Ray Merritt, also known as Chase Merritt, a metal worker and former business partner of Joseph McStay.

Merritt, 56, is a hard man to find. CBS News 8 affiliates checked four different addresses and came up empty. We also left telephone messages and emails with Merritt and his associates, but received no response.

Merritt worked for Joseph McStay's fountain design and manufacturing company in February 2010, when Joseph, his wife Summer, and their two young sons mysteriously went missing from their Fallbrook home.

Days after the McStay bodies were discovered on November 11 by an off-road motorcycle rider in the desert near Victorville, Merritt was interviewed by the online tabloid, Daily Mail, which quoted Merritt as saying:

"I was the last person Joseph saw. He came to Rancho Cucamonga on February 4 to talk to me about a huge business deal we had going on in Saudi Arabia.

We met for an hour-and-a-half for lunch. He was so excited. We had the Saudi Arabian project and a few other things going on. The business had never been so good and we were looking forward to the future. He did nothing to suggest there was anything wrong or untoward.

We both left and went home and I spoke to him on the phone about two or three times on his drive back to Fallbrook, all standard business stuff. The last time I spoke to him was around 6 o'clock."

The last call from Joseph McStay's cell phone reportedly was placed to Chase Merritt's cell phone; a call Merritt claimed he did not answer.

For the past three decades, Merritt has lived in and around Los Angeles and Victorville.

According to public records, Merritt once lived in Apple Valley, Calif., about 12 miles away from the site where the McStay family was found buried in shallow graves.

Merritt also used a mailing address in Oro Grande, Calif., according to a pair of 2011 traffic citations obtained by CBS News 8. The address listed on the traffic tickets is six miles away from the McStay grave sites.

And 35 years ago, Merritt was convicted of burglarizing a house located at 15854 Kewanee in Apple Valley, Calif., just five miles away from the McStay grave sites.

Despite the Victorville connection, Joseph McStay's father, Patrick McStay, told CBS News 8 that he has a hard time believing Merritt had anything to do with the murders.

"What does Chase have to gain with Joey gone? Chase isn't going to get the company," said Patrick McStay. "If you recall, Chase took a lie detector test and he passed."

Merritt claimed in his interview with Daily Mail that he agreed to a polygraph examination at the request of San Diego County Sheriff's Department detectives. He said he had passed the test in the early stages of the 2010 investigation, despite "a couple of inconsistencies."

"Was I a suspect? Well, I don't know if I'm the only one they asked to do a lie detector test, but I am the only one who actually agreed. They were certainly on my case," Merritt said to Daily Mail.

Court records show Merritt is a two-time ex-con with a criminal history that includes burglary, grand theft, petty theft, receiving stolen property, criminal trespass, and several arrest warrants.

The following list of Merritt's criminal cases was contained in a 2001 probation report as well as other court records, obtained by CBS News 8.  The list does not include traffic infractions.
ADULT HISTORY DATE    CHARGE    DISPOSITION (MAX SENTENCE)
02-04-77    Burglary    66 days in jail
07-28-77    Petty theft    60 days in jail
10-24-78    Criminal trespass    30 days in jail
11-18-78    Burglary    2 years in prison
04-16-85    Receiving stolen property    365 days in jail
02-04-87    Receiving stolen property    16 months in prison
05-21-88    Receiving stolen property    14 days in jail
06-17-88    Parole violation    
04-02-01
   Burglary
Grand theft
   180 days in jail

Merritt's most recent felony conviction was in 2001, court records showed, when he admitted to stealing $32,000 worth of welding and drilling equipment from San Gabriel Valley Ornamental Iron Works in Monrovia, Calif.

He pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft charges and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

Merritt violated probation several times in subsequent years and failed to appear in court on numerous occasions, resulting in his probation period being extended and at least seven warrants being issued for his arrest between 2001 and 2010, the records showed.

His probation from the 2001 felony case ended on Sept. 14, 2010.

Merritt has also received several citations for driving on a suspended license, and appeared in Victorville traffic court as recently as July 2013.

None of Merritt's past crimes are violent in nature, as he pointed out in his interview with Daily Mail.

"Nine out of ten people on this planet have got some kind of criminal background," Merritt said to the tabloid.

"I am an old man. I got into trouble here and there when I was a kid, but I do not have some long criminal history, which is what people have tried to imply," he said.

Merritt has not been named by law enforcement as a suspect in the McStay murders, and Patrick McStay insisted his son trusted Merritt as a business partner.

"I have to have faith in Chase because I have to have faith in my son. I believe that (Joseph McStay) trusted Chase and believed in Chase," Patrick McStay said. "Do I think Chase is involved? I don't think so and I truly hope not."

(CORRECTION: The original version of this report included a drunk driving charge in the criminal history of Chase Merritt.  In fact, Merritt has no conviction for drunk driving.  CBS News 8 regrets the error.)

[flowers]

this story continues to fascinate.........

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


ww.cbs8.com/story/24277118/mcstay-murder-mystery-who-is-dan-kavanaugh

McStay murder mystery: Who is Dan Kavanaugh?
Posted: Dec 20, 2013 6:46 PM Updated: Dec 24, 2013 9:39 AM
By David Gotfredson,

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) -- Joseph McStay, 40, his wife Summer McStay, 43, and their two sons, Gianni, 5, and Joey, Jr., 4, went missing from their Fallbrook home in February 2010.

It would be almost four years before the skeletal remains of the family were discovered in shallow graves near Victorville on November 11.

Within a week of the family's disappearance in 2010, large sums of money started being transferred out of Joseph McStay's business bank account.

Where was the money going? Who was transferring it and why?

CBS News 8 caught up with the employee who admitted to his involvement in some of those transactions.

At first, Dan Kavanaugh, 32, was reluctant to talk about his former employer, Joseph McStay, when a CBS News 8 camera crew came knocking at his apartment door in Little Italy.

"No news questions right now bud, sorry, can't do it," said Kavanaugh.

A web designer by trade, Kavanaugh had been in charge of developing the online presence for Earth Inspired Products, Joseph McStay's custom fountain design and manufacturing business.

Eventually, Kavanaugh opened up to CBS News 8, denying that he had anything to do with the family's disappearance or murder.

Kavanaugh said he was in Oahu, Hawaii on a surfing trip at the time the family went missing.

"I was in Hawaii. You guys know that, right?" said Kavanaugh as he stood in the threshold of his apartment.

In a subsequent telephone interview, Kavanaugh looked up his online itinerary from the surfing vacation, and claimed he was in Oahu from Jan. 4, 2010 to Feb. 17, 2010, when he returned to San Diego.

"I have a hundred witnesses that saw me there (in Oahu) and can attest that I was there the whole time," said Kavanaugh.

Emails sent to Joseph McStay – and later retrieved by family members – confirmed Kavanaugh received thousands of dollars from the Earth Inspired Products business account after the McStays went missing.

"So, there are some curious withdrawals for business expenses and things around the time of the disappearance; but when you look further, the guy was 2,500 miles away. He has an alibi. And I had no resources to get anything like that done or motive," explained Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh said the transferred money was used to keep the fountain business going during Joseph McStay's unexplained absence.

He said he was working with Joseph's brother, Michael McStay, and Joseph's mother, Susan Blake, at the time the withdrawals were made.

"I actually transferred it (the money) to myself with Mike's knowledge," he said. "None of that money went to me. That money went to vendors, welders and manufacturers."

"Mike and I and his mom tried to salvage and run the business that we had built for a long time," Kavanaugh said.

But without Joseph McStay at the helm, the business would eventually fold.

In July 2011, Kavanaugh ended up selling McStay's business, Earth Inspired Products, to two individuals named Matthew Schneider and Joaquin Quintero, according to court records.

The sale of Earth Inspired Products and the subsequent creation of a corporation called Water Feature Supply, Inc. resulted in a lawsuit being filed in February 2012 in San Diego Superior Court  (case # 37.2012-00092477).

The lawsuit detailed ownership disputes between the plaintiffs, Schneider and Quintero, and another party named Patrick Maloy.

The lawsuit was dismissed in May of 2012 and Maloy retained ownership of the Water Feature Supply domain and business.

Joseph McStay's original web site domain name associated with Earth Inspired Products currently directs users back to McStayFamily.org.

Joseph McStay's father, Patrick McStay, told CBS News 8 that Kavanaugh had no right to sell the business to Schneider and Quintero.

"So, are you going to tell me that Kavanaugh was running the company? He had no authority to run anything. He was a nobody. He was a web guy. He took care of the web and that's it," said Patrick McStay. "I think he wanted to gain access to the business and sell it."

Kavanaugh saw his role in Earth Inspired Products differently.

"I didn't just do the web site," he said. "I created all of the traffic to the site. Joe did very little. He just answered the phone. I built the entire business."

Court records show Kavanaugh had trouble with the law in the years after the McStays disappeared.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court in two, separate domestic violence cases involving altercations with girlfriends, records show.

In August 2011, Kavanaugh was charged with five misdemeanor counts (in case # M134711DV).

According to a 2013 probation report obtained by CBS News 8:

On 8/1/2011 at 2:44 a.m. officers were called to **** Riveria Drive in San Diego. They heard a woman screaming from the second story of the apartment complex… The defendant (Kavanaugh) came downstairs and let officers in. Officers found the defendant's girlfriend, ****** ******* in the bedroom crying. She had abrasions on both knees.

She said the defendant pulled her out of the car and onto the ground, causing the abrasions to her knees.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty to a single, misdemeanor count: battery of a current or former significant other, and received three years probation.

In July 2013, Kavanaugh was charged with felony domestic violence (in case # SCD249328).

Probation officers filed a sentencing report that described the incident, which occurred July 5, 2013 at 12:30 a.m.:

The victim was distraught and her dress was disheveled. She was crying and her makeup was smeared. She came out of the apartment and stood behind one of the officers. She pointed to her balcony where officers found the defendant hanging on a 4th floor ledge. The defendant was attempting to get to another balcony. At gunpoint, they directed the defendant to return to the victim's balcony and he complied.

The victim stated she was with the defendant, her boyfriend, outside her apartment building. He wanted to come to her apartment but she repeatedly told him she did not want him there. He insisted and walked with her to the elevator. She again told him she did not want him at her apartment.

The defendant was upset and grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her from the elevator, through the hall, to her apartment. She yelled for help. She said the defendant used her keys to enter the apartment and threw her on the couch. She yelled for help but the defendant covered her mouth and told her to be quiet… She attempted to leave through the front door. He grabbed her and carried her to the bedroom. He threw her on the bed and she started yelling for help. He pinned her down and covered her mouth to keep her from yelling. She was afraid and punched and kicked the defendant. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife and fork. She pointed the knife at the defendant but he grabbed it away from her.

She had bruising and scratches on her wrists… She also had a scrape on her right elbow. She did not seek medical attention.

The defendant had scratch marks on his neck and chest and a scrape to the right side of his face.

The records said Kavanaugh told officers that he and his girlfriend had been drinking and that, "She was rowdy and out of hand."

He also told arresting officers that the victim "had taken ecstasy" and that she was having "a bad trip," according to the probation report.

Kavanaugh pleaded guilty in October 2013, in a plea bargain, to felony false imprisonment and was placed on formal probation.

Defense attorney Isaac Blumberg of San Diego submitted a statement of mitigation to the judge in the case, which included several letters of support from Kavanaugh's business associates, friends, mother and brother.

"Daniel hasn't got a mean bone in his body," his mother, Tamara Lyn Terry, wrote in her statement to the judge.

"I have four sons I raised myself… Daniel, the eldest son of mine is and always has been a kind and loving big brother. Kind to me, an overwhelmed single mother, he helped enormously, being supportive, and even helping financially. I need Daniel. Our FAMILY needs Daniel. I swear, on my honor, Daniel is worthy of your consideration and mercy," his mother wrote.

"I have known Daniel Kavanaugh to be a hardworking, honest and highly intelligent individual," restaurant owner Peter Busalacci wrote the judge.

"The quality of his work has been exceptional and his personality is always pleasant. These (restaurant) web sites have been improved considerably by his services," wrote Busalacci.

Kavanaugh remains on active probation and continues to attend court-ordered, domestic violence classes.  He has not been named as a suspect by law enforcement in the McStay murders.

"As far as you asking me if I'm a violent person, the answer is a resounding no. Definitely not," Kavanaugh told CBS News 8.

(This report has been updated since its original posting)

yep.....he had something to do with them.

[Rapunzel]

http://www.cbs8.com/story/24256729/mcstay-murder-mystery-who-is-vick-johansen

McStay murder mystery: Who is Vick Johansen?

Posted: Dec 18, 2013 5:44 PM Updated: Dec 19, 2013 6:59 AM
By David Gotfredson,

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (CBS 8) -- Before Joseph and Summer McStay and their two sons, Gianni and Joey, Jr., went missing from their Fallbrook home in February of 2010, the family lived in the beach community of San Clemente.

The remains of the family of four were discovered buried in the desert near Victorville last month. No one has been arrested and no suspects have been named.

Summer Martelli met Joseph McStay in 2004, when she lived with her boyfriend in the Southern California mountain community of Big Bear Lake.

The boyfriend, an ex-marine named Vick Wyatt Johansen, had purchased the Big Bear home – located at 796 Conklin Road – in 2002 for $226,000, property records show.

Email records obtained by McStay family members indicate that Summer met Joseph McStay and became pregnant with their first son, Gianni, while she was living in Big Bear in 2004.

Johansen added Summer's name to property records associated with the Big Bear Lake home in January 2005. He quit claimed the home to Summer Martelli one year later in January 2006.

Court records reveal Johansen made criminal threats against a neighbor and her 12-year-old daughter in 2004, while Johansen was living in Big Bear with Summer Martelli.

The neighbor, who requested that she not be identified, wrote a description of the 2004 incident in a restraining order declaration obtained by CBS News 8:
On April 20, 2004 I was standing in front of my dining room window facing my driveway when I saw a person with bleached blonde hair pass by and head for my back yard. I went to my sliding window off of my living room and opened the door to see this defendant walking up on my patio deck. He started taking off a dog run leach that he loaned us months ago. It was hooked around two trees next to my deck. As he was up on my patio deck to take the cable off of the trees he was looking at me yelling, "I am going to kill your son" over & over & over. And then said, "I am going to kill you and your daughter." I told him that my son doesn't live here anymore and he said, "You better stay away from my house." As he was going to the other tree to finish taking down the dog run he was shaking a 1 ½ foot metal pipe and yelling, "I am going to kill you, your son and your daughter. I was a Marine and I know how to kill." As he was leaving my back yard he was still yelling, "I am going to kill you, your daughter, and your son" over & over.

In the court papers, the neighbor also described another alleged stalking incident involving Johansen:

My daughter and her two friends were walking down our street and when they walked pass (sic) Vick Johansen's house. He walked out with his dog and followed the girls very closely. As the girls got scared and walked faster, he also walked faster. The girls called me on their cell phone and they were crying & shaking because they were frightened that Vick was going to hurt them.

My son went into the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton – San Diego, CA. Now my 12 year (old) daughter and myself are alone in our house and have to fear that Vick Johansen might keep coming by our house and harassing us. Or he might follow my daughter again while she walks by his house on her way to and from school.

Big Bear Lake sheriff deputies arrested Johansen on April 20, 2004 and he was charged in San Bernardino Superior Court (case # MBV25296) with one misdemeanor count of making criminal threats.

Johansen, at the time age 27, pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge on May 5, 2004 and received probation.

The judge ordered Johansen to attend a 24-week anger management program and served him with the restraining order to keep him away from his neighbor and her children. He was given credit for six days already served in jail.

On June 29, 2004, a judge issued a bench warrant for Johansen's arrest when he failed to enroll in the anger management program, according to court minute orders obtained by CBS News 8. Probation was reinstated on Aug. 12, 2004.

Another bench warrant was issued on Sept. 30, 2004 when Johansen failed to appear in court. Probation was reinstated again on Nov. 30, 2004.

Johansen completed the anger management program on Dec. 15, 2004, according to a report filed with the court.

Over the years, Johansen kept in contact with Summer McStay, even after her marriage to Joseph McStay and the births of their sons, Gianni and Joey, Jr., according to family email records.

"He also swore up and down that she was his soul mate and that she was going to bear his children; and no on else was going to bear his children," said Patrick McStay, Joseph McStay's father.

Johansen wrote this email to Summer in September 2005:

Summer, I am sincerely happy for you and your family, I am proud of you.
I assure you I am a true friend of your family.
You can still call me if you ever need help with anything.
Don't forget about me,
I am still out here.
I genuinely care about your well being, and all those that you love.
Friendship can be the most beautiful of true love.
The trials of life will always reveal the truth.
I believe in you Summer. Don't forget. I truely (sic) believe in you.
Knowing you're out there gives me faith in the world.
Knowing that you are blessed with a child shows me that you're beauty is
blossoming into the world.
All of my heart goes out to you.
Summer Girl
Forever….........

He also wrote this email on Dec. 23, 2009, six weeks before the family's disappearance:
I love you for ever.. Happy Birthday Summer.. for ever and ever.. -Vick

To Patrick McStay, the fact that Summer had an old boyfriend contacting her via email was reason for concern.

"Well, he's got a violent background," said Patrick McStay, referring to Johansen's criminal threat conviction.

"If I'm a cop, I'm going to look at this guy seriously. I'm going to run down everything I can about him. Where was he? What was he doing? Who's he associating with? What's going on?" said Patrick McStay.

As it turns out, Johansen had moved from Big Bear Lake to San Clemente by the time the McStay family went missing.

At 1:10 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2010, deputies arrested Johansen on charges of interfering with a business and resisting a peace officer, after he refused to leave the OC Tavern, according to an Orange County jail booking record.

The OC Tavern -- located at 2369 S El Camino Real, San Clemente – is directly next door to an office building that Joseph McStay had leased to operate his fountain business, Earth Inspired Products.

At the time of Johansen's arrest, however, it appears McStay had already moved out of his office at 2377 S El Camino Real, Suite A.

Johansen gave Orange County deputies his address -- in the 200 block of Avenida Lobiero in San Clemente -- when he was booked into jail for the 2010 arrest. The address is about two miles away from the San Clemente home that Joseph and Summer McStay had rented prior to their move to Fallbrook.

The resulting misdemeanor complaint charged Johansen with one count of interfering with a business. "Defendant unlawfully refused to leave the premises of the business establishment after being requested to leave by the owner's agent," the charging document said.

Johansen pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to one year probation, given credit for three days in custody, ordered to stay away from the OC Tavern, and was required to provide a DNA sample, the court records said.

CBS News 8 has been unable to reach Vick Johansen for comment because currently he is incarcerated in the Mono County Jail in Bridgeport, Calif.

Officers arrested Johansen in October on a vandalism charge for allegedly breaking out a door window of a bar in Mammoth Lakes.

A Mono County Superior Court official told CBS News 8 that Johansen, 36, is known as a transient veteran in the small, mountain community.

Johansen's criminal history in Mono County includes a felony vandalism conviction in August 2011, when he destroyed an $800 computer during an altercation with roommates; and a misdemeanor disturbing the peace conviction in June 2013, when he threatened a teller at a Bank of America.

His probation was revoked in July 2013 when Johansen allegedly returned to the same Bank of America branch in violation of a court order.

In 2011, Patrick McStay had urged San Diego County Sheriff Department detectives to investigate Johansen's background; one of many leads they failed to follow, according to the elder McStay.

"The problem with all of this is the San Diego Sheriff's Department never bothered to look into any of this," said Patrick McStay.

Sheriff's officials defended their work in the days following the discovery of the McStay remains, saying a team of detectives spent countless hours on the case.

"We looked at bank records, phone records ... we never stopped investigating the case, never," San Diego Sheriff Spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

The murder investigation now has been turned over to the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

[Rapunzel]

http://www.cbs8.com/story/24235590/mcstay-murder-mystery-who-is-michael-mcfadden

McStay murder mystery: Who is Michael McFadden?
Posted: Dec 16, 2013 5:54 PM Updated: Dec 17, 2013 6:45 AM
By David Gotfredson,

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (CBS 8) -- It has been five weeks since the skeletal remains of Joseph and Summer McStay and their two young sons were found buried in the high desert near Victorville.

CBS News 8 investigated several people associated with the Fallbrook family that went missing in February 2010, and then was found murdered on November 11.

Michael James McFadden is the current husband of Joseph McStay's ex-wife, Heather; and the step-father of Joseph's McStay's now 17-year-old son by the first marriage.

A few months before the McStay family disappeared from their Fallbrook home on Feb. 4, 2010, Summer McStay filed a Child Protective Services complaint against McFadden, according to Joseph McStay's father, Patrick McStay.

CPS investigations are confidential, so the exact nature of the complaint cannot be confirmed.

"No one knows what the CPS report said because we're not allowed to see it," Patrick McStay told CBS News 8 in an interview from his home in Texas. "I have evidence that there were threats made, after the CPS report, to Joey and Summer."

Patrick McStay claimed the threat was made by McFadden, and was related to the CPS complaint allegedly filed by Summer McStay.

"I know that Joey had discussed going for custody of his eldest boy. I know that there was a CPS report. I have found evidence that there was a threat. I found my son's notes that tell me what was going on, and McFadden is named in the notes," Patrick McStay said. "To me, that is enough to investigate this guy."

McFadden, 49, works at a jewelry store in Laguna Beach, once owned by his father-in-law.

McFadden hung up when reached on the telephone by a CBS News 8 producer, so we sent a camera crew by his store. He has not been named as a suspect in the McStay murders and declined to answer questions about the case.

Court records show McFadden is an ex-con who served prison time following a felony, domestic violence assault 15 years ago.

In July of 1998, Huntington Beach police officers arrested McFadden after the brutal assault that caused great bodily injury to his then girlfriend, a mother of four children, according to court records.

"Michael McFadden broke into my house and repeatedly punched me, head butted me, choked me, kicked me… telling me he was going to kill me. I believe had I not escaped I would not be here today," the victim wrote in a declaration in support of a restraining order.

The woman, who CBS News 8 is not identifying, was age 39 at the time of the incident. The beating left her with a "concussion and 30 stitches on my forehead," according to her declaration.

"I ran to my brother's house. The ambulance was called. Michael McFadden fled the scene to his house in Laguna and was arrested shortly thereafter," the declaration continued. "I am afraid for myself and my four children."

The woman included photographs of her injuries in the court filing. There was no indication in the court papers that a weapon was used in the attack.

McFadden, then age 33, was charged in Orange County Superior Court with eight felony counts, including burglary, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, corporal injury to a spouse (or significant other), terrorist threats, and attempted murder.

In January 2000, McFadden pleaded guilty to a pair of felonies: assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, and terrorist threats. He was sentenced to two years, eight months in prison; and ended up serving 15 months.

"What can you take from this? I mean, I gotta figure this guy is pretty dangerous," said Patrick McStay, Joseph McStay's father.

CBS News 8 wanted to ask McFadden about his criminal history and the CPS complaint that Summer McStay allegedly filed against him.  Instead, he escorted our camera crew out of the jewelry store without commenting on the case.

Recently, however, an online forum user with the name Michael McFadden posted the following remarks on the crime-sleuthing web site, Blink on Crime:

I am Michael J. McFadden… I am not a criminal nor did I murder the McStay family… My family is trying to get through this horrible tragedy as privately as possible but I am growing tired of all the name calling and mudslinging toward me… I liked Joey and he was my friend so knock it off!

My "rap sheet" is all from one terrible night in my life. That night was the last time I consumed alcohol. I have been a solid productive member of society since. I am a father, husband and business owner. I love life and have a positive outlook… I committed a crime... years ago. That crime involved myself, my girlfriend and another man. Period. I'm not proud of it but frankly I served my time and never looked back. My family attends church and love God. We love each other and have good lives.

[flowers]

Good grief....any one of these people could be suspects.

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

Is this the same family that was last seen on video walking toward the Mexican border, and then simply vanished?   I remember seeing a "missing" TV special on a family like that a couple of years ago.   

[Rapunzel]

Is this the same family that was last seen on video walking toward the Mexican border, and then simply vanished?   I remember seeing a "missing" TV special on a family like that a couple of years ago.   

Yes, it is them.  They were found the middle of November buried in the desert outside Victorville.

[truth_seeker]

Fascinating case. Very tough one to solve. No mention of drugs, alcohol for any of those in the story.

I don't think they went to Mexico. The vehicle may have been dropped there, as a diversion, or by perps fleeing into Mexico.

I doubt the website guy did it. I doubt the business partner did it.  I doubt McFadden did it.

My money would be on Jahansen, or somebody else not mentioned.

[Rapunzel]

The partners history and proximity to Victorville interests me, but Jahansen peaked my interest the more I read about him and his history and since he had lived in Big Bear he would have been familiar with the Victorville/Apple Valley area as the easiest route up the mountain to Big Bear is through Apple Valley - not the front of the mountain.