Editor’s Note: It’s Been Awhile

I want to thank all of you for sticking around and keeping it civil while discussing Chase Merritt’s impending trial. I have been moderating comments, but it’s painfully obvious I have not posted in months. Unfortunately I had some health issues that prevented me from reading and writing for long amounts of time. Since I write and read for a living, I had to pool my energy into working. It was not fun, and I am very thankful for the ability to strain my eyes and brain for as long as I want again.

In regards to this case, I will say that it did me some good to step away from things. From social media and blogs and old newspaper clippings and posts on Websleuths and all the other things that used to hold my attention when I couldn’t sleep or had a free moment. It has been a little easier for me to see the forest now that I had a chance to step out from underneath the trees.

I am still impressed by the number of people who care about the Mcstays. I hope this case does not lose its place, and that justice is served. Someone did something horrible to an entire American family, and six years later there are more questions about their deaths than answers.

I suspected that this case would drag on, and that is one reason I started this blog. To plot a course for the long haul.

If any readers here are attending the prelims and the actual trial, and you would like to write some guest blog posts, please email me at dulynotededitor@gmail.com.

Please continue to engage in your lively conversations here. I am working on some changes to the blog to make it easier to comment and to read others’ comments. Just consider this an old dive bar, as opposed to a fancy hotel lounge. It’s the company and conversation that counts. Continue to be civil to one another and let’s stick to the case details. Who cares about old bloggers and old commenters and old pots that have been stirred to death.

Thanks again for your participation. My goal is to have a respectful home for this case. Also, I thought you guys might need a new post for your comments.

Rest in peace, Mcstay family.

 

 

 

 

Chase Merritt Trial Readiness Conference Today

Be sure to follow reporter Joe Nelson on Twitter. He covers crime and courts in San Bernardino County for the San Bernardino Sun, the Daily Bulletin and RedlandsDailyFacts.com. Nelson usually posts live updates during court proceedings, and hopefully he will post about today as the TRC for Merritt unfolds.

You can also follow Merritt’s defense attorney Jimmy Mettias on Twitter here. Here are two Tweets he posted in July:

“Much has been made of the checks Chase wrote. If you “follow the money” it definitely does NOT lead to Chase Merritt #McStay #ChaseMerritt”

“Over the next few days and weeks i will be posting facts about the Charles Merritt Defense that will shed light on his innocence #McStay”

What do you think will happen today?

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

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?

Read This Older Story About The Mcstays Again. What Do You Think?

The neighbor’s video is such a controversial aspect of this case. I try not to dwell on it since the search warrants state that it was not the Trooper in the video. But, in this news article, Joseph’s brother Michael says that it was the Trooper in the video that he saw. He goes so far to say that the Trooper was backed into the driveway. Did the police ask him to put this false information out there? Was he simply mistaken?

As the public and onlookers, we are not owed the truth. It is a lesson for all of us interested in cases from afar. The media makes mistakes, memories are unreliable and the police have every right to put out false leads or details to help their investigation. It’s details like this that make me question everything I can’t prove.

It’s also interesting to note that the family did obtain copies of Joseph and Summer’s phone records, according to Michael Mcstay, as quoted in this story. It could lend credence to the supposed phone records floating around the web.

Emails From A Private Detective On The Mcstay Case, Border Crossing Videos

There was so much going on during March, 2010. The collective thought was that the Mcstay family was in Mexico, especially after the San Diego Sheriff’s Department uploaded a video of what they thought was the family crossing the Mexican border at San Ysidro. Local news affiliates also ran video footage of a family of four that resembled the Mcstays walking across the border, as well.

Some have questioned if these two videos are different, or edited versions of the same one. The early border video run by news media is cited as being taken from the rooftop of a business near the border, while the one released by the SDSD is less clear.

Why question the number of videos and what does it have to do with the Mcstay family?

If there are two videos, then there may be more footage from different angles that weren’t released to the public. Or, the video is one long video, showing the family near a van and then walking towards the border crossing. What it does mean is that law enforcement has always had much more information regarding this case than they’ve released to the public. That’s how investigations go.

Did the family actually cross the border? Up until the skeletal remains were found, it was a popular opinion confirmed by law enforcement. The family made public statements saying the family in the videos was not the Mcstays.

But, then things get muddled a bit.

In April of 2010, the extended Mcstay family reached out to a family friend who is a private detective. He sent emails to the family that suggest he, too, thought the family was in Mexico. Here is one message he sent to the family:

These emails help make the case for why so many were convinced the family fled to Mexico for an undisclosed personal reason. It was wishful thinking, spurred on by the SDSD.  Did it harm the initial investigation, or is it true?

The emails from the private detective were not available during the time of the border video release. They were later published in a book and on a blog about the missing family.

This is a clip of the border crossing that was shown on the Jean Velez Mitchell show on at the end of March, 2010:

This is the video released by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department on March 11, 2010:

There is so much evidence to consider in this case, as well as the mindset of the family, investigators and onlookers  in the early days of the investigation. We do not have a complete picture, and with just bits and pieces, it’s easy to speculate about what did or did not actually transpire.

These are small details that need to be remembered as the trial gets underway. It helps to pinpoint some of the controversy surrounding this case.

The Mcstays Could Have Been Found Sooner

Imagine if Mexico had these security measures in place in February 2010.

Having your passport at the border in San Ysidro is now required.

… “the procedure marks a big change at land crossings that weren’t designed to question everyone and fully enforce that nation’s laws.”

At the very least, if a Mexican citizen was paid to dump the car at the border then walk across, that could have been deduced.

All this case needs is one break. One break like this. Who knows? Maybe there is a bombshell awaiting at the trial.

Do I think Chase Merritt perpetrated this crime?

I don’t know.

I believe every person deserves their day in court. I do believe that it’s possible Chase killed the Mcstay family.

If he did, I do not believe he did it alone. Never have.

Why Would Chase’s Defense Team ….

Hire a public relations firm that works (albeit loosely) with the San Bernardino County Government? Seems a little too close to home to me, but we’ll have to wait and see how Desmond and Louis PR position their new client. It is interesting to note that a former San Bernardino County manager joined the PR firm in 2013. You can read about that here.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am always fascinated by ties that bind.