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

[KALI]

I do not believe Dugal. I believe Mike McStay. Dugal is trying to cover his butt for doing such shoddy police work. Imo

Cathy Russon on Twitter
Cathy Russon‏ @cathyrusson 1m1 minute ago
#McStay - DuGal now under cross examination. He said he did not give Michael McStay permission to go in the house and take the computers. He said he didn't want anything disturbed.

 

[mrjitty]

Re the assaults

I wonder if the prosecution will analyse the signs of overkill and savagery?

Interesting now sexual assault is also added

One sick puppy

 

[Funky funky]

And also saying regarding DK, “if I was ever to commit murder” - who says that!?!
Does anyone recall if he said this after the bodies were found or before? If before it’s a massive red flag!

 

[missy1974]

Detectives asked him about Joseph’s relationship with Summer;

You say about his wife did he love her?​

oh yeah yeah, he definitely loved her, um, he, she’s a pain in the butt, um, he was pussy-whipped.​

Any domestic violence did you ever observe?​

Never, Joseph was [answer cut]​

RSBM


BBM - Interesting to note that the officer also asked the question in past tense. She should have asked "does he love her"

Not saying it's an excuse, but depending on how the question is asked, it may influence the response to the question IMO

I wish we could have heard those tapes more clearly.

 

[Tortoise]

Re the assaults

I wonder if the prosecution will analyse the signs of overkill and savagery?

Interesting now sexual assault is also added

One sick puppy

I get the feeling that throwing sexual assault into the mix is misdirection by the defense.

 

[Mica]

And also saying regarding DK, “if I was ever to commit murder” - who says that!?!
Does anyone recall if he said this after the bodies were found or before? If before it’s a massive red flag!

After the remains were found it was revealed in a search warrant. CM made this statement to Dugal.

 

[Tortoise]

And also saying regarding DK, “if I was ever to commit murder” - who says that!?!
Does anyone recall if he said this after the bodies were found or before? If before it’s a massive red flag!

They said he said it before the bodies were discovered which was why it raised alarm, because no one knew yet that they had been murdered.

Quoted from the affidavit with the search warrant request

In subsequent interviews with Merritt, he told San Diego County Sheriffs investigators he did not like Summer. Merritt also told investigators he did not like Kavanaugh and stated, "If I were ever going to commit murder it would be with him," referring to harming Kavanaugh. At the time of Merritt's statement, no evidence of foul play was found in the Mcstay family disappearance which would warrant a statement from Merritt.

 

[asyousay]

Edited my post.

I guess this depends on how you read his comment but it’s a really backhanded way to say he would kill Dan.

In the warrant somebody posted on the last post it actually states.

If I were to ever commit murder it would be with him

 

[InspectorGadget]

I kinda think that's a bluff...they're waiting for DNA results in the 11th hour? I think it's throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks when the jury goes back to deliberate.

The prosecution actually needs only to prove the identity of the killer in this case, as it is not seriously contested that the family of 4 were murdered

Given no one knew they had been murdered on the 4th and weeks and months that followed, circumstantial evidence that

1. Suggests CM had foreknowledge that J. McStay had disappeared
2. Places him at their house on the day of their disappearance

= strong evidence of guilt

The thing about QuickBooks is that it is a cloud service

So it pretty much proves the exact time of creation and my guess is it logged the machine ID which accessed it.

It is now. But was the McStay's account a Cloud service in 2010? I'm interested to see what the computer experts say.

 

[Texas Red]

After taking into consideration the opinions I’ve read here, forming a consensus and then extrapolating that to the jury’s mindset, I would say unless something sensational occurs this is headed for a hung jury mistrial.

 

[missy1974]

They said he said it before the bodies were discovered which was why it raised alarm, because no one knew yet that they had been murdered.

Quoted from the affidavit with the search warrant request

okay, gonna play the devil's advocate on this one...

Pretty early on in this case there were accusations being thrown out... if you go back to the very first thread on this case, you can see by the dates that accusations were being thrown out there by posters, and it wasn't just here, it was on other crime forums as well. The family was definitely on the forums, I know this because I recall Mike posting with us on another one (unfortunately all those posts are lost ). We had posters that met with the family and even helped search and hand out flyers. They were, and IMO all the players in this case, were well aware of the accusations and thoughts surrounding this case, and this was very early. Those of you that posted very early, know this is true lol

The statement that CM makes about Dan... when was that? Was this before or after he was being accused publicly? Did the officer make any mention of murder or something bad happening to them prompting him to say that? Looking at that statement in a bubble, it looks bad, but look at the bigger picture.

All JMO and I don't want my "defense" of this statement to be mistaken as a "defense" on CM's behalf. I am truly trying to look at this unbiased, and I will admit, the prosecution needs to prove to me that CM did this, because early on it did seem like there were many possibilities, CM being high on the list.

 

[missy1974]

It is now. But was the McStay's account a Cloud service in 2010? I'm interested to see what the computer experts say.

Didn't the prosecution say in their OS that the call that CM made was to change it to a desktop version, to delete the Cloud service?

Between both OS's, I was left thinking that it was ONLY a cloud service.... CM called to change it to the desktop version, wanting to transfer all the info... didn't want to delete the info... CM saying JM wanted him to do this... pro's saying that CM (acting as Joey) NEEDED to delete it...

It was definitely confusing lol This will be the info that we will all be listening to and trying to make some sense of it.

 

[Jewels53]

Day 5 Part 3

 

[asyousay]

After taking into consideration the opinions I’ve read here, forming a consensus and then extrapolating that to the jury’s mindset, I would say unless something sensational occurs this is headed for a hung jury mistrial.

I am hoping the prosecution has a ton of stuff up their sleeve.

Coz at the moment I can see a conspiracy to frame Chase and I hate to say that and I can see where the defense is coming from..

I thought Mike and Susan were poor on the stand and now it turns out she cleaned up the crime scene and Mike took a computer out of the house when told not to. So Big questions marks there for me on why they did what they did. I hope they can be called back to the stand to explain their thinking coz it doesn’t sit right with me and I am not even on the jury. I am not saying they killed the family but it just raises more questions for me.


I still think Chase did it but I’m now nowhere near as confident in his guilt as other people were acting shady including DK.

 

[Funky funky]

okay, gonna play the devil's advocate on this one...

Pretty early on in this case there were accusations being thrown out... if you go back to the very first thread on this case, you can see by the dates that accusations were being thrown out there by posters, and it wasn't just here, it was on other crime forums as well. The family was definitely on the forums, I know this because I recall Mike posting with us on another one (unfortunately all those posts are lost ). We had posters that met with the family and even helped search and hand out flyers. They were, and IMO all the players in this case, were well aware of the accusations and thoughts surrounding this case, and this was very early. Those of you that posted very early, know this is true lol

The statement that CM makes about Dan... when was that? Was this before or after he was being accused publicly? Did the officer make any mention of murder or something bad happening to them prompting him to say that? Looking at that statement in a bubble, it looks bad, but look at the bigger picture.

All JMO and I don't want my "defense" of this statement to be mistaken as a "defense" on CM's behalf. I am truly trying to look at this unbiased, and I will admit, the prosecution needs to prove to me that CM did this, because early on it did seem like there were many possibilities, CM being high on the list.

I agree, it can be taken out of context however I think a statement analysis expert could have a field day with that comment! We all know people that we dislike but to use the word ‘murder’ in the same sentence is a bit extreme.

 

[katydid23]

So why did neither phone work?

They had kids so what if one of them had gotten sick.

Also yes Joey worked online but I’m sure it was DK who said something was wrong as emails were not being read and he hadn’t checked in. So enough signs to know something was wrong.


Also the dogs being abandoned outside anybody who knew the family knew Summer would NEVER of done that.


Are dogs not allowed to go to Mexico on vacation?

But the family couldn't know if they had a working phone or not at that time.

And the dogs, that was ultimately a big clue. But there was confusion at first, I believe. Because one of the neighbors saw they were not given food and water so they put some out. So when the first check of the family happened, they thought Joey may have asked someone to feed the dogs.

At some point it was noticed that emails weren't being answered. They should have known that was a big red flag. I agree. But by then, the family was concerned.

 

[SuziQ]

More search warrant links

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/mcstay-court-documents-and-warrants.284417/

 

[katydid23]

I am hoping the prosecution has a ton of stuff up their sleeve.

Coz at the moment I can see a conspiracy to frame Chase and I hate to say that. I thought Mike and Susan were poor on the stand and now it turns out she cleaned up the crime scene and Mike took a computer out of the house when told not to. So Big questions marks there for me on why they did what they did. I hope they can be called back to the stand to explain their thinking coz it doesn’t sit right with me and I am not even on the jury.


I still think Chase did it but I’m now nowhere near as confident in his guilt as other people were acting shady.

So, in saying that there was a conspiracy to frame Chase, are you saying Joey's Mom and brother killed him and his wife and babies?

 

[thelmadawg]

No I don't dispute the 8:05 QB. Just that the family was killed and possibly loaded into the vehicle caught on camera between 7:15-7:47. One of two things happened next, Merritt parks the vehicle and goes back in to make the check, or it is an an accomplice leaving with the vehicle on camera and Merritt is still in the home creating the check at 7:59.

I don't know why we can't entertain the idea that CM used the service road behind the back fence to load the bodies and have additional access to the house from the back. He had scaled that fence before and had run up the mountain, so he knew the area.

I suggest that he murders the family in a surprise visit, leaves at the 7:47 mark and parks the truck behind the fence. He then knocks out a couple of slats, returns to the house through the back, accesses QB on Joey's computer. loads the bodies, replaces the slats and continues his mission.

I would also pose the question: If CM's truck was in the driveway and the Trooper wasn't in the driveway, where was it? Neighbors say the family always parked in the driveway to the garage.

 

[Texas Red]

RSBM


BBM - Interesting to note that the officer also asked the question in past tense. She should have asked "does he love her"

Not saying it's an excuse, but depending on how the question is asked, it may influence the response to the question IMO

I wish we could have heard those tapes more clearly.

Good catch, I wonder if this is a subliminal, power of suggestion, technique used by investigators in an attempt to manipulate the suspect into answering in the past tenths.