CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #4

[missy1974]

Yes, different number altogether. They had to ID it by the VIN.

ok wait... does a vehicle there normally keep the same license plate number, regardless if the vehicle is sold? I might be misunderstanding. Here, I sell my vehicle, I take my plate into the insurer, the new owner has to go get their own, essentially, changing the plate number. We just changed our own truck from hubby to my name (I'm a better driver and get a better discount lol), they made us change the plate for that even lol

 

[Force Ten]

Does anyone think Chase’s internet searches for what kids need to travel to Mexico might be related to Chase taking off with his own kids? Disappearing with kids where no child support would be necessary? What ages were his children then? TIA!

Interesting thought.

 

[Force Ten]

ok wait... does a vehicle there normally keep the same license plate number, regardless if the vehicle is sold? I might be misunderstanding. Here, I sell my vehicle, I take my plate into the insurer, the new owner has to go get their own, essentially, changing the plate number. We just changed our own truck from hubby to my name (I'm a better driver and get a better discount lol), they made us change the plate for that even lol

Not unless you want customized plates.

 

[QueenBofOB]

So here's the 5 million dollar question:

What vehicle was JM driving to the Chick-fi-la? (sp? never been to one)

Summer's vehicle was the Dodge Ram, it would have had the car seats in them. Most people with children prefer driving a larger, albeit, safer vehicle. Several witnesses on the stand have said it was the vehicle she used. If she was running around buying stuff from Craigslist and/or Ross, wouldn't she have been driving it?

If JM was driving the Trooper, CM would have had to put the seats in the Trooper to make it look like the family had split together....................

Did CM kill JM some time around the restaurant date, stash JM's body (he did have several places to do that within a short distance), create a scenario where he shows up at the house "Joey's in trouble, we have to go" or just incapacitate the 3, stuff them in his service truck and grab car seats to put in the Trooper that was secreted in the general area of JM's body..............?

Questions, questions,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is exactly what I thought had happened, when I first started looking at this case. I just hope I am wrong and that they weren't further terrorized, by being abducted by a depraved psycho.

 

[Deleted member 192280]

Does anyone think Chase’s internet searches for what kids need to travel to Mexico might be related to Chase taking off with his own kids? Disappearing with kids where no child support would be necessary? What ages were his children then? TIA!

Where is the evidence that Chase did such internet search?

 

[Deleted member 192280]

For those who suspect Kavanaugh did it, do you think he could have done it alone?

 

[Sharyne]

For those who suspect Kavanaugh did it, do you think he could have done it alone?

I'm not absolutely sure who did it, but I don't believe Dan could have done it alone.

 

[wary]

I'm not absolutely sure who did it, but I don't believe Dan could have done it alone.

Not from Hawaii, he couldn’t.

 

[Deleted member 192280]

Not from Hawaii, he couldn’t.

Is it a hard fact that he was in Hawaii? Proof?

 

[wary]

Is it a hard fact that he was in Hawaii? Proof?

No proof at all, yet. The San Bernardino investigators seem to believe that he was in Hawaii, but as far as I know, they haven’t said why they believe it. (I believe that the investigator in charge of that hasn’t testified? I’m not sure if he would testify, in the State’s main case. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate as rebuttal?)

 

[Texas Red]

OMG I think the truck may have been altered! I've just found a photo of it on another site and the back is different.

Your photo : (vehicle as it is currently)

court photo - vehicle in 2014
View attachment 167463

Photo found on another site

Brake lights are lower, IMO. And it looks to me to be a different unit completely - much smaller rear opening. Do the prosecutors know this?

I don't think the lower photo is the same truck. It appears that there's a license plate on the lower left but it's illegible. How do you know it's the same truck?

 

[Deleted member 192280]

It seems likely that Joseph had been tortured before killed. That implies intense hate and extremely personal vendetta. It doesn't fit someone who's just interested in financial gains. For all the bad things CM has been know to have done, torturing Joseph and wiping out the entire family including two little kids would be both unnecessary and uncalled for. You can't label him sociopath and then say, well, a sociopath is capable of anything, so CM is capable of this crime, he likely did it.

Joseph wrote to Kavanaugh “Now, I, Summer & Kids know the ‘Real You’ and what you would potentially do to harm me and my family". What could 3 or 4 year old kids "know" about the real Kavanaugh? Little kids couldn't tell anything bad about a person unless it's visibly bad. Could there have been a nasty fight witnessed by the kids?

 

[Deleted member 192280]

We need to remember that convicting a wrong person is not just condemning an innocent person to death, but also letting the real murderer(s) free, who will be living among us.

 

[Texas Red]

It had a different license plate when they went looking for it in 2014, it that's what you mean? It was because it was licensed by a new owner, nothing suspicious about it. IMO I just heard that in Smith's testimony when listening to see if they checked to see if there were any modifications to the truck.

In California the plate stays with the vehicle when it's sold. The only time it's replaced is if it's lost, stolen, damaged or the owner wants to pay extra for a personalized vanity plate.

 

[Cricket28]

It seems likely that Joseph had been tortured before killed. That implies intense hate and extremely personal vendetta. It doesn't fit someone who's just interested in financial gains. For all the bad things CM has been know to have done, torturing Joseph and wiping out the entire family including two little kids would be both unnecessary and uncalled for. You can't label him sociopath and then say, well, a sociopath is capable of anything, so CM is capable of this crime, he likely did it.

Joseph wrote to Kavanaugh “Now, I, Summer & Kids know the ‘Real You’ and what you would potentially do to harm me and my family". What could 3 or 4 year old kids "know" about the real Kavanaugh? Little kids couldn't tell anything bad about a person unless it's visibly bad. Could there have been a nasty fight witnessed by the kids?

BBM

I think the white cord around JM's neck was to torture and control him while he was alive. The fact that it was under the blanket JM was wrapped in tells me it wasn't for transporting the body. I think JM was first incapacitated by the broken rib and broken leg. Then the cord wrapped around his neck. If JM had changed his QB password that day, then maybe CM used the cord to get the new password. Then printed/deleted that chk on the 4th to make sure JM gave him the right Password.

I think JM was wrapped in the blanket to conceal his body and SM and the kids were put in large suitcases or storage containers.

I'm just curious why the cut off end of the cord was found outside the grave. Did he really remember to bring with them?

MOO

 

[Cricket28]

Another thing I was wondering about, CM's phone pinged in Santa Clarita on 2/5/10. Santa Clarita is about 1 1/2 hours E of RC and Victorville is about an hour N from RC but in the opposite direction. I wonder if Santa Clarita is where he dumped some of the evidence eg: wallets, phones, etc.

MOO

 

[Mountain Misst]

Have we covered the financials yet... Am including my notes here from interaction with our threads way-back-when it was current discussion.
My notes have to be considered as IMO, as I'm a mere mortal and can make errors as best as the next person. However those who have followed the case will surely be able to verify.

A Quickbooks ‘Custom’ account was created in 2008 as an Online Account for EIP by Joseph McStay. The user Joseph McStay accessed this account with a password. Joey did not write cheques from this account at any stage, using it as an online ledger.
On 1st February 2010 the account was accessed from a computer other than that owned by the McStays using the username set up by Joey. As to how “X” accessed this account i.e. by password, we are not privy to that information at this stage. This person then added the vendor ‘chase merritt’ [sic] note Chase was already listed in the other Quickbooks account.
The following ‘fraudulent’ activity was NOT performed on any of the McStay family computers recovered from the house by LE. All cheques have ‘questionable’ signatures.
1st February 2010
12:24pm ‘chase merritt’ added as a Vendor to the QB Custom account. [note lower case]
12:34 – 12:52pm two cheques were ‘deposited’ into the Vendor account for chase merritt; printed out and also deleted from the account. So someone is possibly using the account to print cheques in favour of ‘chase merritt’…… Note none of these cheques drawn on 1st Feb were ever cashed. I suggest it was a trial run by a potential fraudster.
2nd February 2010
11:27am – 11:34am cheque for $2495.00 printed in favour of ‘chase merritt’ with a notation ‘SA101’ (Saudi Arabian fountain deal). This cheque was deleted in the QB account in an possible effort to hide the transaction. This cheque was cashed by Chase Merritt.
5th February 2010
12:06pm – 12.38pm transactions:
12:06 – $4500.00 cheque printed in favour of ‘chase merritt’ with a notation ‘paul mitchell’. This cheque was deleted in the QB account in an possible effort to hide the transaction. The cheque was DATED 5 FEB 2010; later edited to change the date to 4 February 2010. This cheque was not cashed, or banked.
12:19 – metro sheet metal was added as a Vendor
12:21-12:29 – cheques printed in favour of ‘metro sheet metal’ $1650.00 and $250.00 (backdated to 4 Feb). These two cheques were delivered by hand to Metro Sheet Metal Co. by Chase Merritt whom subsequently banked them in good faith.
12:38pm – cheque for $2350.00 printed in favour of ‘chase merritt’ (backdated to 4 Feb) This cheque was deleted in the QB account in an possible effort to hide the transaction. Following a questionable signature, Chase Merritt deposited this cheque into his personal bank account.
8th February 2010
2:20pm – cheque for $6500.00 printed in favour of ‘chase merritt’ (backdated to 4 Feb) This cheque was deleted in the QB account in an possible effort to hide the transaction. Following a questionable signature, Chase Merritt deposited this cheque into his Bank of America account on 9th February.
At 2:44pm a phone call from Chase Merritt’s cellphone lasting 107minutes was made to Quickbooks. The caller identified himself as Joseph McStay and requested that the QB subscription be cancelled. He was advised that further passwords needed to be provided – they weren’t and the account was not cancelled.
9th February 2010
8:06am An online attempt was made to cancel the QB account.
As for the McStay desktop computer accessing this Custom account in an effort to generate cheques:
4th February 2010
7:59pm cheque for $4000.00 entered in favour of ‘chase merritt’. This cheque was NOT printed and deleted at 8:05pm.

 

[Niner]

Tuesday, February 5th:
*Trial continues-No Jurors (@ 10:30am PT) - CA - McStay Family: Joseph (40), Summer (43), Gianni (4) & Joey Jr (3) (Feb. 4, 2010, Fallbrook; found Nov. 11, 2013) - *Charles "Chase" Ray Merritt (57/now 60) arrested (11/5/14) & indicted (11/7/14) of 4 counts of murder with special circumstance; plead not guilty. DP case.
12 jurors & 6 alternates were finalized on Tuesday (12/11/18). 8 women & 4 men, while the alternates include 4 men & 2 women. Trial started 1/7/19. Dark on Fridays.
Skipping Day 1 thru 6 – reference post #1180 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #2
Skipping Day 7 thru 12 – reference post #1121 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #3
1/28/19 Day 12: State witnesses: Susan Heckaman, worked for Geis Construction. Jeffrey Martin, Martin's company (Geis Construction) did business with McStay's company. Dr. Chanikarn Changsri, medical examiner. Trial continues 1/29.
1/29/19 Day 13: State witnesses: Elva Fonseca, used to work for Merritt. Joseph Steers, was a detective with SDSD. Diana Wright, FBI forensic examiner. Sergeant Ryan Smith, lead detective. Field trip tomorrow for the jury, they will not be in court No court tomorrow (1/30). Trial resumes Thursday morning (1/31).
1/30/19 Day 14: Jurors visit grave site. Trial continues 1/31.
1/31/19 Day 15: State witnesses: Det. Ryan Smith. Carmen T. Garcia, worked for Metro Sheet Metal from 2007. Michael Dominick Bosillo, works for T-Mobile in Dallas, Custodian Records Testifier. David Lipnitzky, custodian of records from AT&T. No testimony on Monday or Tuesday, Tuesday late morning (~10:30am) they will be discussing motions. On Tuesday 2/5 they are going to meet & take video depo of Ryan Baker, the customer service rep from Quickbooks. Jury back on Wednesday, 2/6.


Don't know if I should mark this day as Day 16?? No jurors, so...

 

[Tortoise]

I went back to Smith's testimony about the truck, when asking about how they determined if this was the same truck as Merritt's... he said they found a home video at the McStay residence with it in it.

at 11:30 of the video:
CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #4

Surely they verified the back of the truck was either the same or different than it was in 2010, right? lol If not, and it changed between Feb 2010 and 2014, and they are insisting that it is his truck because of the lights matching in the video, that may not be good... With those lights up so high how did it light up the taillight (the invisible one that I can't see haha)

I suppose it depends what angle the home video was filmed from. From the side it looks to me as if it could be mistaken for the same truck to someone not looking for differences, from the back it's completely different.

Texas asked how I know it's the same truck - I don't - I'm going by what was stated below the photograph which may be erroneous. It certainly needs investigating. It's parked up by a waterfall which suggests to me it was parked at a client's installation or at the Sequeida workshop. So possibly Joe will be recalled to testify if it's relevant, if it's not Joe's truck, if he knows it's Merritt's, or if no one else was allocated that space to park etc.

Joe Sequeida testified that he drove Merritt with a trailer to pick up his stuff from was it Aragon? Something that sounded like Aragon anyway. Merritt's truck wasn't big enough to move it himself. Anyway, it's in the hands of the prosecutors and I'm sure we'll hear going forward in the trial if it means anything.

 

[MsFacetious]

Thank you. This is separate from the family pods, I think. Nothing was ever recovered from the family pods. They ended up being sold without ever knowing the contents.

That has always bothered me. They were able to sell the house, so why couldn't they get the pods? There seriously wasn't a way a judge could issue a POA effective until Joey or Summer was found? I hope there weren't family heirlooms or anything in them.

No proof at all, yet. The San Bernardino investigators seem to believe that he was in Hawaii, but as far as I know, they haven’t said why they believe it. (I believe that the investigator in charge of that hasn’t testified? I’m not sure if he would testify, in the State’s main case. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate as rebuttal?)

Really it could be for both. There may be things that detective needs to testify about during the prosecutions case. They can always reserve the right to recall a witness.