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Prosecutors are presenting evidence against McStay family murder suspect Charles Chase Merritt during a preliminary hearing this morning in San Bernardino Superior Court.Sheriff’s Detective Jose Armando Avila testified this morning that he was working the homicide detail when the remains of the McStay family were discovered on Nov. 11, 2013 in the desert near Victorville.“At some point we discovered the skull of a child,” said Avila. The remainder of the small child’s bone system was later found.“We found clothing that appeared to belong to an adult, and then we found clothing that appeared to belong to a child.” he said.He also testified that among items found near and in the graves were a child’s blue pants with diapers in them and a 3-pound sledgehammer, Avila said.Merritt, 58, of Homeland, stands charged with four counts of murder for the beating deaths of Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and their two sons, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, in their Fallbrook home, in San Diego County, on or around Feb. 4, 2010.
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — After months of silence about a motive, prosecutors on Monday began presenting evidence in the case against a California man accused of killing a family of four and burying their bodies in shallow desert graves.The testimony came during a preliminary hearing in which a judge will decide whether Charles "Chase" Merritt, 58, must stand trial for the deaths of his business partner, Joseph McStay, the man's wife and their two young sons.Merritt, who was arrested last November, has pleaded not guilty to four murder charges.Merritt's lawyer, Jimmy Mettias, said in an earlier interview that he expected prosecutors to allege his client used a sledgehammer to kill the McStays after a business dispute and covered up his tracks by painting the family's house and burying his victims and the weapon in the desert.The McStay family vanished in February 2010, puzzling investigators who said there were no signs of forced entry at the home, nothing was missing, and the couple's credit cards and tens of thousands of dollars in bank accounts were untouched.
Authorities have kept quiet for months about what drove them to charge a California man with killing a family of four and burying their bodies in shallow desert graves north of Los Angeles.But San Bernardino prosecutors on Monday are expected to finally reveal the case they've been building against 58-year-old welder Charles "Chase" Merritt for the murders of his business partner, Joseph McStay, the man's wife and their two young sons.
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Topic: McStay Family Murder Thread (Read 628 times)
