Then why didn't Chase drain Joey's accounts? Why didn't he write more checks if that was his purpose? The defense has promised they are bringing in a forensic accountant, and according to the opening statement from the defense, all amounts are in keeping with what Chase was owed. Why would a person kill for money they would be paid anyway?
The purpose of accessing Joey's Contacts account, if one were intent on stealing, is that there would be much more information there, including bank balance totals. And Chase might have been able to perform withdrawls, bypassing the check writing process. If you are going to kill a family of four, wouldn't you want a little more in return? He could have stolen 100k and fled to Mexico with his family. Why didn't he.
If he had immediately drained the account, he would have been arrested on day one, before the family was even found, in my opinion. Even Chase was smart enough to know that. He actually put some effort into trying to disguise his thefts as just regular routine work transactions.
I don't think the defense's forensic account will know what was really owed or not owed. Joey supposedly lent or gave Chase a lot of money, outside of what owed him for jobs done. I am not sure the accountant would be able to tell the difference if Joey had set it up to avoid the tax issues with those 'gifts'.
I am not sure how he could have secretly withdrawn 100 k using the QBooks account. It would still need to go through the bank. And without a check, or a written transfer of funds, how would he get it into his own possession?
I don't believe the stolen checks were the sole purpose. I think it was a trigger, for sure. I think he began stealing checks, and Joey was already having issues with Chase, concerning complaints about shoddy and delinquent work.... so Joey confronted Chase, telling him he was going to use other workers, if he didn't get his act together. He may have also threatened to dock him some of his pay because of the money that Joey had to cover, for supplies that he already paid Chase for.
I think those killings were also rage based. Not just greed, although there was some of that too. Chase considered himself Joey's best friend and business partner. Joey had some very big money making projects coming up.
MSMetal did not want to continue working with Chase. And Joey had been relying upon them to do the major portion of the recent projects. Did Joey tell Chase that at lunch?