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?