The Elusive Craigslist Ad About The Mcstay Trooper In The High Desert

Posted on by Duly Noted Media

This ad was posted to Craigslist in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Inland Empire and Victorville/Apple Valley a year before the family’s bodies were found in the desert.

At the time, I remember those of us discussing the case on Websleuths found the ads to be disturbing, even though most of us still thought the family was alive, possibly living on a beach in Mexico. When the family was found almost a year to the day these ads were placed, we were flabbergasted.

Here is the text of the ad:

“In Feb 2010, the McStay family disappeared from their home in Bonsall. They have not been found. A person was seen in the High Desert area driving a white Isuzu Trooper SUV with two child car seats that resembled the missing family’s vehicle. This person had no children with them. It is possible this person was committing a deliberate hoax. They may or may not be involved in the actual disappearance of the family. 

If you know where the vehicle was rented or borrowed from or saw this person and know who it is, please contact by email.The SUV pictured is not the actual vehicle, but similar. We are looking for confirmation of the sighting.

Reward will be paid to the first person reporting, after confirmation of the information. We may pay a second person reporting, at our discretion, depending on the information. You may be required to give a sworn statement. $500 reward. Additional rewards offered by other parties may be applicable,depending on the discovery. In that case, you, as the reporting party (as above) will collect all the rewards that apply.

We are looking for either a person involved in the disappearance of the family or a person or vehicle involved in a hoax related to the case. Again, we are looking for a specific white Isuzu Trooper rented with two child car seats, during the period of Feb-June of 2010, or information on the person driving.

This vehicle may have been rented from this area. We are not looking for the family’s actual vehicle, which has been impounded.”

Original links (now non-working):

losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/vnn/3408139966

inlandempire.craigslist.org/vnn/3383145474

If anyone has the original links to the ads placed in Victorville/Apple Valley and Long Beach, I would appreciate having them. Even though they are non-working links and the ad is expired, I’d like to save them for posterity (and possibly some sleuthing). If anyone has a screenshot of the original ad, could you please post it in the comments or shoot me an email?

Do you find anything odd about the language, the words used or the context of the ad? Who do you think placed them? Law enforcement? A guilty conscience? A witness? A private investigator?

65 thoughts on “The Elusive Craigslist Ad About The Mcstay Trooper In The High Desert”

  1. Link below has both craigslist ads and she seems to thing Heather and McFadden wrote them . I have know idea why they would place an ad like that because its really out there. What do they mean Rented or borrowed and maybe it was a hoax ? Creepy that the ads came out way before the family was found and it turned out to be the same area, I don’t get it . Like someone would spend the money to rent a 10 year old Trooper and drive around the high desert so someone might see him .. LOL Crazy people

    http://astrologyincrime.com/mcstay-case-study/craigslist-inc/

    1. When do you think whoever placed the ad saw this car or heard about it?
      ‘A person was seen…’ When? Where? Man? woman?
      This ad reads like a fake, like the JonBenet Ramsey note. Good find Dave although that astrology is just mumbo jumbo to me.

        1. Agree on ‘crazy case’ too. Looking at the language of the note, I just think it is a fruitless exercise to try to figure it out. Someone may have been trying to point in the direction of Merritt, but the way it reads it is so vague, it makes no sense as a possible sighting of a Trooper.

  2. The Writer of the Missing Persons of America blog claimed to have known who placed the ad (or was it that they knew someone who knew the person). Another case of telephone in this case, and we all know how reliable that sort of information can be! Here’s a link to at least one of Missing’s posts on the subject:

    http://www.missingpersonsofamerica.com/2014/05/identity-of-person-who-posted.html

    I don’t know enough about the credibility of any of these bloggers to know if their posts give us any true insight into who placed the ad and why. I always thought the person who placed the ad was someone who knew more than your average person and was trying to solve the case, locate the family and/or collect RB’s then recently announced reward for each individual family member. As such, it could have been a p.i., an armchair sleuth or a loved one who placed the ad. I never got the impression the ad was placed by someone with ill intent, but I know some others hypothesized it was the murderer looking for possible witnesses. I suppose it also could have been law enforcement who placed the ad. I think SDSO still had jurisdiction (need to double check) but with everything else they didn’t do, do we really think they placed this ad?

    The question is how did the person who placed the ad come to have the High Desert location correct when the family had not been found buried there yet. But perhaps there was no inside information at all, just someone suspicious of CM, knew or investigated his connection to the High Desert, and took a stab at getting information via a bizarrely worded Craigslist ad. I don’t know.

    Definitely one of the weirder aspects of the case. Currently the thing that interests me about the ad is if it’s something we will hear more about at trial because the “who” and the “why” of the ad are relevant to the case. Well, okay, I’d love to finally know who placed the ad even if it is irrelevant to the case. Was there really an elaborate hoax in the High Desert involving a look alike trooper driving around in the months after their disappearance? So weird!

    Make some noise, people!

  3. If it were family or friends, why would they have excluded Orange County from the posting? Didn’t the Mcstays have family and friends there, as well as having lived there prior to buying their home in Fallbrook? Very unlikely that law enforcement posted this, since they had possession of the Trooper since February 2010. If it were LE, I think they would have used the dates February 4th through 8th in the craigslist post, since, based on what we know, those are the only days that the Trooper could have been in LA or the inland empire.

    Considering all this, I’m leaning towards the craigslist poster either being Merritt, someone else involved, or someone who had knowledge of the crimes.

  4. Anon226 (nice name btw lol), why would anyone post the ad in the OC Craigslist when witnesses were being sought for something that happened in the High Desert area? The odd thing to me is that it was also posted out of the Long Beach area of the L.A. Craigslist, why there? But I don’t see why the absence of it being posted in the OC would be a clue as to who did or did not place it.

    Also, law enforcement was not the only one privy to the real Trooper being held in impound since being towed on the 8th. Anyone with enough interest to place the ad would have surely read the articles to date and know the McS trooper was in impound since then. Additionally, the ad was specifically not referring to the McS trooper but to a look alike. So I don’t think the months long time period the ad was inquiring about points anymore away from LE placing the ad than anyone else.

    If you think CM placed the ad, for what purpose and why word it that way? If he did place the ad, it would seem most probably becuz he knew a little about what happened to the family and was seeking more information. In that event, I think it could be used in his defense.

    1. Maybe my logical deduction is flawed, but that’s where it’s leading me, right or wrong. I just can’t imagine someone placing the ad as a prank. The story of a missing family doesn’t seem prank-worthy to me. It’s not something people would typically make light of. For reasons already mentioned, I highly doubt it was law enforcement or family/friends who placed the ad. So who would’ve had any reason to place the ad, and would would that reason have been? I can imagine a perpetrator getting nervous if they (or an accomplice) had driven the Trooper in the LA or high desert areas during the days following the murders, and possibly beginning to wonder if anyone had noticed the Trooper in those areas. Maybe a woman admiring the “handsome cowboy” behind the wheel of the Trooper, and then noticing the child seats in the rear seat and thinking to herself “oh darn, he’s got young kids, he’s probably taken”……. or something to that effect.

      Also, Merritt has proven to be crafty at hiding his hand, such as when he did the TV interview and mentioned that he didn’t think it was the Mcstays walking across the border. Good psychology on his part, since many people probably dismissed him as a suspect at that point (a perpetrator could be expected to say “yeah that looks like the Mcstays” in order to support alternate theories such as cartel involvement, etc). The reason I bring this up, is the person who posted the ad claimed the Mcstays were from “Bonsall” instead of “Fallbrook.” Since Merritt had helped the Mcstays move into their new home, and had been there to fix things in the house, we wouldn’t expect him to make that error. Only someone removed from the family could make the mistake of Bonsall vs. Fallbrook, correct? This would lead one to believe that it probably wasn’t Merritt who placed the craigslist ad.

      1. My point being that Merritt, if he was in fact the one who placed the craigslist ad, could have done this intentionally (the “Bonsall” error) in an attempt to mislead those who might be trying to figure out who would’ve placed the ad.

  5. Is there anyone who might have placed this ad who would have been likelier to say the McStays lived in Bonsall as opposed to Fallbrook? What was their mailing address? Because I just noticed that this ad refers to their home as being in Bonsall. Not Fallbrook.

    For local folks, is that an either-or thing, where people use the towns interchangeably? Could this ad be tied in with the alleged Bonsall area pings and the group who supposedly obtained them? . . . But, if Chase Merritt is the perp and acted alone, and someone ELSE placed the ad, how would that person know about the High Desert connection??

  7. I’ve lived in the San Diego County since 1975 and have never heard of the Fallbrook area also called Bonsall. I also worked for a company where we dispatch people throughout San Diego and Riverside Counties and never heard of an area called Bonsall. Maybe the people who live in Fallbrook call it one or the other, I don’t know.

  8. Early in the case there were news articles incorrectly stating the family lived in Bonsall. Where did the reporters get this incorrect information from?

    According to Lt. Dennis Brugos of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office, authorities located the McStay family’s car, a white 1996 Isuzu Trooper, with the kids’ car seats still intact, two blocks from the U.S.-Mexican border, and 80 miles from the family’s Bonsall, Calif., home, prompting questions about any possible ties the family may have had to Mexico.

    http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/missing-calfornia-mcstay-family-san-diego-vanish-trace/story?id=9879254

    Bonsall Couple, 2 Kids Not Seen Since Feb. 4

    Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the whereabouts of Joseph McStay, 40; his wife, Summer, 43; and their two children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3. The family, who moved to Bonsall late last year from Orange County, hasn’t been seen or heard from since Feb. 4.

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2010/feb/16/bonsall-family-missing-sheriffaposs-dept/

  9. Based on this article, Mike might have been the one who made the Bonsall mistake when reporting the family missing.

    First official media report

    FOX 5 San Diego Staff

    3:13 p.m. PST, February 16, 2010
    FALLBROOK, Calif.—
    The Sheriff’s homicide detectives are conducting a preliminary investigation of a missing Bonsall family.

    The family of Joseph and Summer McStay and their two children, Gianni (4 years-old) and Joseph (3 years-old) have not been seen or heard by family members or business contacts since February 4th.

    Joseph’s brother, Mike McStay, notified deputies about the family’s disappearance while at their home at 3400 block of Avocado Vista Lane in Bonsall.

    According to Mike McStay, his brother’s family’s 1996 White Isuzu Trooper was recovered in San Ysidro on February 8th.

    Evidence at the family home suggested that the family had not left on a planned vacation and that the totality of the circumstances surrounding their disappearance was quite out of character for this family.

    Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Sheriffs at (858) 974-2321/after hours at (858) 565-5200 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS(8477).

    https://www.facebook.com/McStay-Timeline-Statements-114685878660280/

  10. Interesting. Given the state of what passes for journalism now, I wouldn’t be surprised if a reporter got the town name wrong. But the person who posted the CL ad obviously had intimate knowledge of (or at least sstrong suspicion of) a High Desert connection to the missing McStays. Yet this person stated their home as Bonsall. Why? Who might that indicate and why? (Thank you Rose for pointing out the MM connection. Hmm.)

  11. Sorry to repeat your point about Bonsall, anon219. Somehow I didn’t see your posts about the Bonsall/Fallbrook issue when I posted mine.

    Edit: Oh. That’s because yours were posted the day after mine. Though mine appear later in this thread for some reason.

      1. I imagine police chiefs and sheriffs across the country have been paying attention to this case, given the media coverage and all the unusual aspects of the case. Remember, we the public have only seen a portion of the evidence against Merritt so far. Just speculation: it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a select few top chiefs/sheriffs around the country have been shown the other evidence that we will see at trial, and if so, they may be in agreement that it will be an open-and-shut case.

        1. Just speculation: it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a select few top chiefs/sheriffs around the country have been shown the other evidence that we will see at trial, and if so, they may be in agreement that it will be an open-and-shut case.
          If this was true then they all need to be in prison. And also just the ones who happen to give out this bogus award ? Prison

    3. SBSO have worked their butts off in solving this horrific case and getting justice for the families. Any and all accolades they get are well deserved and earned.

      Fantastic job SBSO!! I’m proud to call this county my home.

  13. Nope. Just because we the public haven’t seen all the evidence against Merritt doesn’t mean a select few law enforcement leaders in other states haven’t seen it. Maybe they got a look at the total evidence and all agreed it’s and open-and-shut case, thus agreeing that SB law enforcement receive the award. This scenario isn’t hard to imagine, is it?

    1. For me, it’s hard to imagine. This type of award is usually given after a trial and after a defendant has been found guilty. The case is still in the pre-trial phase. The investigation and its evidence has not been tried yet in a court of law. The defense hasn’t presented their sides. Witness have not yet testified. Is this another publicity stunt to taint public opinion and a jury pool? It makes me wonder. Either they believe they have a very strong case, or they fear they don’t and want to convince the public they do. Innocent until proven guilty, right?

      Why would select law enforcement leaders in other states see the evidence, and why would their opinion matter? The jury’s verdict is what matters.

  14. I don’t think an “open and shut” murder case exists. Anything can happen at trial regardless of the evidence.

  15. I am here to announce that the ” Defense team excellence award ” is to Rancho Cucamonga Defense Attorney Jimmy Mettias and his team. This award is for their hard work and ultimately exonerating Chase Merritt from any involvement in the murder of the McStay Family.

    Well what’s the difference. I don’t see any

  17. I don’t understand how an award can be given out prior to the outcome of a case. The defense will probably be granted a change of venue now.

  18. Rose, thank you for the PDF link.
    It seems that sdpd have received the award for innovation in or enhancement of investigative techniques. Possibly in retrieval of forensic evidence from the house? Or perhaps in forensic analysis of computer or accounting? The award has nothing to do with a conviction.
    The award is also time sensitive.

    From the link
    “Nominees will be evaluated based upon:
    • Innovation in the development or enhancement of investigative techniques
    Signifi cance of the contribution to the advancement of the art or science of criminal investigation
    • Exceptional achievement in managing or conducting a criminal investigation
    This is not an individual’s award or a technology award but honors the work of an agency, department, police unit, or task force.
    The investigation nominated must occur in whole or in part between January 2014 and June 2015. An investigation nominated for this award in a previous year is ineligible”

    1. This is what confuses me. SBSO just re-examined the work of SDSD. Nothing really innovative or outstanding about that.

      In addition, what happened to the 60 warrants mentioned in the excerpt below? Based on court testimony, there are only 35 warrants – 33 made public of the 35. Where are the other 25 warrants?

      There was no “smoking gun” that helped solve the case after so many years, San Bernardino County sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Fisher said.

      Rather, the agency re-examined 4,500 pages of evidence handed over by authorities in San Diego County, where the probe began, served 60 search warrants and did 200 interviews. Evidence found at the gravesite also helped, Fisher said, declining to elaborate.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/08/mcstay-family-killed-home_n_6125826.html

      Judge Michael Smith has unsealed 33 of the 35 warrants. Some of the information was removed for privacy concerns.

      http://fox5sandiego.com/2015/07/01/search-warrants-unsealed-in-mcstay-murder-investigation/

      1. As you and Dave said in so many words, the “evidence” hasn’t stood up to any test. Who knows what they have? At one time, wasn’t the pathetically shoddy work of the SDSD accepted?

        SBSD did have a liitle more than re-examing SDSD’s work didn’t they? They did have the bodies and graves. How they found the crime scene in the house is what confuses me. And how MM saw a home surveillance video which completely contradicts what the SBSD is saying is in that home surveillance video also confuses me. Someone liesd about that.

      2. Rose,

        SB did a heck of a lot more than “just reexamining” SDSD investigation. Yes, they performed follow thru on SD’s work such as getting the DNA samples from the trooper analyzed. They also found the back dated forged checks and that clearly debunked Merritts story about receiving checks from Joey at lunch. They found the QB activity that placed Merritt in the home on the night of the 4th. They found the phone call to QB placed from Merritt’s phone. And the cell phone pings that place Merritt at the gravesite less than 48 hrs after the family went missing. Most importantly they figured out that the family was killed in their own home. You know, lots of people rail on about the lack of blood evidence found in the home. But there was a case a few years ago where a husband bludgeoned his wife to death and staged the home to look like a robbery, then shortly after that he called 911. Because there was minimal blood spatter on the walls and ceiling as well as the husbands clothes etc were free of blood the investigators concluded this was a premeditated murder rather than a spur of the moment rage killing. They believe the husband used something to minimize the spatter…..
        I think the lack of blood evidence at the Fallbrook home points very strongly to this having been a premeditated crime. Carefully planned days or weeks in advance. It’s also very possible that Merritt may have used an oxyclean type product to clean up the blood before he painted. Oxyclean destroys the hemoglobin, which is what reacts to the luminal or other reagent.
        In all fairness the Huffington Post article you quote from is dated Nov 2014, long before the preliminary hearing where we learned many more details about SB investigation. There’s a lot more we still won’t know until trial.

        1. Fran, I just posted what was stated in the article. SBSO did what any other LE would do when remains and evidence are found.

          I’d like to know what specifically the SBSO did that made this investigation stand out among all the other investigations across the country. What about the investigation won them this award or was it more about the amount of nominations they received?

          As far as blood in the home, Sheriff Gore had this to say.

          As detectives combed through the McStay’s Fallbrook home, they found no evidence that the family was killed inside, according to Gore.

          “Trust me, our homicide detectives are very thorough and very experienced,” said Gore. “Had there been any signs of blood stain or blood spatter or dents in walls, those would have been discovered.”

          Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/-SD-County-Sheriff-Bill-Gore-Defends-His-Investigators-on-McStay-Case-282236811.html#ixzz3qBFbSh3e

          I really hope the trial will answer all of our questions.

        2. Fran,
          The QB’s activitity put Merritt in the McStay home on the 4th? “They found the QB activity that placed Merritt in the home on the night of the 4th.”
          Am I mistaken in thinking whoever wrote that check at McStay’s house deleted it? I believe Merritt did get into QB’s (how?) and did write the checks he cashed (and I give SBSD all the credit for that). I did not know there was any definitive proof, that the public has been made aware of, which proves that Merritt wrote that check or was in the McStay house. Isn’t that what the prosecution will have to show and then prove?

        3. Cynic, are you suggesting that someone else created then deleted that check on the McStay computer? The all lower case check to chase merritt on the custom side of the account? The side of QB where no other checks were ever written except for the ones to Merritt and the one to Metro Sheet Metal? Why would anyone else but Merritt do that?

        4. Fran,
          My understanding of the pings is that Merriit’s phone pinged off a tower either six or nine miles from the gravesite. There is no ping that placed Merriit “at the gravesite.” A ping can’t do that. They have yet to prove all of this.

  19. “This is not an individual’s award or a technology award but honors the work of an agency, department, police unit, or task force.”

    This award has nothing to do with how the prosecution uses the evidence in court to obtain a conviction.

    1. Exactly. Nothing they’ve done has been held up to scrutuny, yet. Very premature
      I found this comment from the article particulaty appropriate assuming this is true:

      Irving Lipshitz
      The Pusok investigation won an award, too…..in fact, it won 2! Most inept, and most politic driven. Congratulations, McMahon.
      Like · Reply · 1 · Oct 28, 2015 11:30am

  21. Why don’t they go into some deets about this new fangled way of doing things. Oh is it because the trial hasn’t even had its first day yet . Is this why they can give an award for something but its super secret for now and only the people giving the award are allowed to know what this new thing is. Come on this is crazy

  22. Unless Michael McStay is charged with a crime certain people won’t be satisfied with any aspect of the investigation or law enforcement.

    SBSO has done a fabulous job investigating this case and to minimize their contribution because it didn’t result in certain charges/arrests is really quite petty.

  23. Fran,
    I can’t reply (there is no reply) so I’m replying here. I’m not suggesting anything. I’m stating that it’s not a fact.
    It has not been established CM wrote that check. Do I think it’s likely he did? Yes.
    Remember there were two others taking money from the McStays and one did it only a few days later. CM wasn’t the known hacker either.
    If, as you hypothesize, Merritt used some blood neutralizer to clean the walls and then paint after battering those four souls to death, would he first have gotten on their home computer and written and deleted a check? I don’t see it that way.

      1. It’s more than a rumor. What has been substantiated, really? You have stated as facts things that are not. If you are doubting Mr. McStay’s version of what happened in his son’s accounts, I can’t argue with that. Do you really think no money was funneled out of JM’s accounts? One perp even admitted to it but lied about the reasons and the “authority” to do so. It’s on a video in his own words. You must have seen it.

        1. The vendor account for “chase merritt” was set up Feb 1. Checks made out to “chase merritt” back dated go the 4th with a forged signature of Joseph McStay were cashed by Chase Merritt. If not Merritt then who else would be in the home using the McStay computer to create a check?
          Merritt told LE one of the checks he received from JM at RC lunch meeting was for Metro Sheet Metal. That check was also created on the vendor account for “chase merritt” with a forged signature.
          If it wasn’t Merritt on the MxStay computer at 8pm on the 4th then it must have been someone else who knew of Merritt’s embezzlement and framed him. Ridiculous!

  24. That’s right, Just me. Some people won’t be satisfied and think that MM has a lot to account for. Just because he and others have not been charged doesn’t mean they didn’t do anything or know things they did not reveal. How did and why did MM manage to run off one of the most renowned search and rescue organizations in the country? How many people benefitted almost immediately when the McStays went missing?

    1. Respectfully cynic, no one benefited from these murders, although Merritt sure did try to steal from EIP, allegedly. Mike McStay has not been accused of anything and neither Mike or the State of California or LE owes you a “satisfied” explanation for anything, especially involving rumors started and exploited on a blog.

    2. Cynic.. I know you don’t need me to tell you how absurd Redgrave’s comment to you was.
      Constitution : The people, the press, and the public’s right to know
      .elected by the people . Ramos. Never question corruption or someone profiteering from a family’s death. I think not.

      1. I just saw and and you are right! Absolutely 100% with you Dave IJ. It’s absurd to suggest we don’t have a right to know what really happened. As for no one benefitting?

        Respectfully, Red Agave, how do you know no one benefittted? It looks to me like more than a few did.

  25. Cynic, it is possible that the person who murdered this family left the bodies in the home that night and came back to move the bodies and clean the home during the five day period that no one knew the McStays were missing.

    I saw a true crime story the other night about the murder of a woman who was bludgeoned to death in her home. The home had been cleaned so thoroughly that all LE found were two tiny blood spots. Because the amount was so small they ruled out the victim being murdered in her home. It was only when the accused confessed to murdering her in the home and described how carefully he cleaned the scene that LE conceded the home was the crime scene. By the way, the accused left her body in the home overnight and moved it and cleaned the home the next day.

    1. Interesting Voir Dire. How long ago was your case? The fact that SDSD was so lazy and sloppy may account for a lot of missed evidence, but if the bodies were left at the Avocado Lane house over night, the cadaver dogs, if they really brought any, should have been going nuts. Even if they did not bring them into the house, which many have said they didn’t. What do you think?

  27. Since the majority of individuals who kill people in their homes leave the bodies behind, the answer is clear: a great number of murderers would take that chance. I think he took even a bigger chance when he loaded up four bodies, buried them in the desert not far from the freeway, and staged the Trooper at the border.

    You also must ask yourself what murderer would take a chance and get into his victim’s QB on that terrible night?

    Not the sharpest night in the drawer. That’s who.

    1. Violet, I can understand that happening to one victim, but multiple head wounds on four individuals? From the description of Summer’s and Gianni’s head wounds, I would be surprised if there was no blood spatter.

      1. I agree Rose. It sounds like a frenzied attack. I think there had to be blood, and the fact that we don’t even know what the SDSD did not do to find blood just shows how deep LE’s cover up is. At least how deep SDSD’s is.

  30. Just Me,
    Nothing is absurd in this case exceot the way it was mishandled, and if you don’t think the San Diego SD engaged in a cover up, think again. You don’t even know some basic facts. So you must be really bored to come over to make that pointless remark.

    1. Bored? No. Realistic? Absolutely! If there are some basic facts that I’m unaware of then why don’t you enlighten me? I think SDSO could have handled this case differently, however, I don’t think they would engage in any cover up. Why would they? The facts are the facts and no amount of cover up is going to change them.

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