All language subtitles for American Greed s14e05 A Family Vanishes

In this episode of American Greed, in a
small American town on a peaceful cul

-de -sac, a five -bedroom, three -bath
home sits empty.

There's the house.

This is the house.

A mom, a dad, and two little boys, here
one day and gone the next.

You guys say goodbye.

Bye. How does a family of four just
vanish from the face of the earth?

It appeared as though...

Somebody had brought out a magic wand
and just made them disappear.

And ultimately, no one knew what's
happened to this family.

Now, new video could show the family
crossing the Mexican border.

American greed goes inside the years
-long search for justice.

Family members have been waiting for
this day to come. From the reporters on

beach. How does something like this
happen without some kind of answer? To a

grandfather in agony.

I didn't want to admit it. I knew I'd
never see him again. To a bone -chilling

discovery in the desert.

It was blow after blow to a child's
skull.

An emotive so petty it will take your
breath away.

Someone who's brought into your business
can turn on you when it comes to greed.

The idyllic town of Fallbrook,
California, lies among the hills of

Diego County and builds itself the
avocado capital of the world.

It is nestled off the 15 freeway, and if
you want to be close to

the beaches, if you want to be close to
downtown San Diego, it's a great

hideaway, and it's a great place to
raise a family.

It's here on Avocado Vista Lane.

that the McStay family decides to settle
into a new home.

40 -year -old Joseph, his 42 -year -old
wife Summer, and their two little boys,

4 -year -old Gianni and just turned 3
-year -old Joey Jr.

He loved being a father and a husband.

Patrick McStay is the father of Joseph
and grandfather to his two little boys.

You could have given him all the
millions in the world in business or

And I don't think you could have ever
got the smile out of him like he had

he was around his wife and his kids. I
mean, that was his life.

What's up, dudes?

Wow, dude!

Joseph takes lots of videos of his kids
to share with family.

Oh, good to get you, boy.

They were just a loving family, had just
moved into this home in Fallbrook.

That's where we come in down our street.

Five -bedroom, three -bath. Now, this is
going to be all white.

In fact, during that time period, they
were still in the process of painting

getting it ready to raise a family.

The house, right here.

Yeah. Summer takes the lead on painting
and house projects and caring for

their boys.

Go on. Take your time.

While Joseph runs and promotes his
growing water feature business called

Inspired Products, or EIP, selling
decorative waterfalls.

The first year he had it, he did like
$900 ,000.

He was smart.

He could sell, and he was trustworthy,
and people liked him.

Joseph McStay is a born entrepreneur.

He gets into the waterfall business
while running his first enterprise, a

gift shop, where he sees an opportunity
to cut out the middleman.

He was buying these fountains that you
sit on your desk that are made of slate

and the water trickles down. And he
said, I can make them for $22 a piece,

selling for $225.

Not a bad markup.

Joseph hires a web developer to create a
website for direct -to -consumer

shipping of his water features and later
expands the business to include custom

projects.

McStay's custom fountains can fetch
anywhere from $10 ,000 to $100 ,000

McStay wants to expand this lucrative
side of the business and begins working

with a fabricator named Charles Chase
Merritt.

Charles Merritt did the welding,
creating some of the metalwork, the

and Joseph was the businessman behind it
all. And from all accounts, he was

flourishing.

Joseph McStay starts landing huge custom
contracts and even fields a buyout

offer that he runs by his dad.

I told Joey, I said, just hang on.

Wait a couple years.

Get those contracts.

Get it going.

Then if you want to sell it, sell it. I
said, because it'll be worth five, ten

times what it's worth right now.

And he had been offered over a million
to sell out at the time. And he said, I

think you're right, Dad. I want to hang
on.

Look who's this.

His business is thriving. His wife and
kids happy.

What's up, Jay?

First bike ride ever.

Joseph McStay's home videos captured the
optimism of a young family who seems to

be making all the right moves.

Here comes the mama.

You could see that they were a very
tight -knit family. They loved the

Joseph was a surfer. And you could see
him instilling that type of life in his

kids. Taking a cruise on the beach.

Surf is pretty good today.

An all -American family with a bright
future ahead.

I'm having so much fun.

And a plan to move to the beach in a few
years so Joseph can surf and the kids

can grow up by the ocean.

Yeah, this is wintertime in Southern
California.

Still surf, plenty of sun, paradise.

But that plan would never come to be.

On February the 10th, 2010,

Patrick McStay, who lives in Texas,
rings up his younger son Michael and

him to check on Joseph.

He's concerned.

And I said, Michael, have you heard from
your brother?

I've been trying to reach him over the
weekend.

This last week, I can't get hold of him.
And I said, I'm worried.

Within a few days, Joseph McStay's close
business associates are growing

concerned as well and contact the
family.

His brother, Michael, climbs in through
an office window.

What he finds inside is disturbing.

What appears to be family life
interrupted.

The house was as if somebody just beamed
them up to the Starship Enterprise.

There was a couple bowls of, I believe,
popcorn that looked like the boys were

eating, possibly watching TV.

There was a carton of eggs on the table
as if maybe...

Summer or Joseph, they were about to
make some food or something, and the

they had two dogs. They were just left
there. It appeared as though somebody

brought out a magic wand and just made
them disappear.

On Monday, February 15th, Michael McStay
reports his brother's family missing to

the San Diego County Sheriff's
Department.

Investigators search the residence.

and find absolutely no evidence of a
struggle or forced entry.

I was working down in San Diego as a
reporter, and one of my sources from San

Diego County Sheriff's Department, he
called me, and he said to me, Tony,

there's a family missing in Fallbrook.
Our detectives are up there at the

This is going to turn into something,
because it's very, very strange.

We think they may have been kidnapped.

We don't know.

Two months ago, the McStays moved into
this quiet neighborhood.

The couple's two young children, a four
and a three -year -old boy, are also

missing.

No one seems to be able to make sense of
the family's disappearance.

You know, there is a lack of a crime
scene at the house when they go in.

not, you know, blood all over the place.
So they're trying to ascertain.

what's happened to this family.

Sheriff investigators don't think the
family left on a planned vacation.

Last night, they went from door to door
asking neighbors if they'd seen or heard

anything. They interviewed family
members. They interviewed friends.

They interviewed business partners. They
interviewed anybody that had done

business with Joseph McStay.

Okay, let's start with your name.
Charles Ray Merritt, M -E -R -R -I -T

Detectives determined that Chase Merritt
is the last known person to see Joseph

McStay. Joseph was one of my best
friends and, you know, obviously, and my

business associate.

Merritt says he last saw Joseph McStay
on the afternoon of February 4th when

two met at Chick -fil -A in Rancho
Cucamonga to discuss their current

As far as I know, well, I know for a
fact the only person who saw at Chick

-A is me. Why did Joseph come up here?

We just had to go over all kinds of
money stuff, and as a matter of fact...

Barron says he has no clue where Joseph
could be.

What do you think happened to these
guys?

I really have... I mean, I haven't been
able to form any real explanation as to

why Joseph would just disappear, because
Joseph has no enemies whatsoever

that I know of.

During the hour -long interview, San
Diego detectives pick up on an oddity in

how Chase Merritt is referring to Joseph
McStay.

Do you think, or have you ever thought,
that some of our kids are dead?

I've tried not to think about that
factually.

Do you have any knowledge or information
which indicates to you that they're

dead? No. The reason that I ask is
because you have used the past tense.

The one thing that did stick out to San
Diego investigators was he repeatedly

used the past tense in referring to Joe
and the family.

And he seemed caught off

guard. Like, oh, I didn't realize I was
doing that. I have no idea.

You know, I'm not sure what I used past
tense in context

with, but I have no idea why. You said
Joe was my best friend.

Oh.

I did. You did.

And, well, I don't know why. Okay. Okay.
Did you guys have a falling out at all?

Never. Never. Okay. Still your best
friend? Oh, yeah. Definitely. Okay.

After agreeing to a swab for DNA,

Chase Merritt is free to go, and the
search for the McStay family continues.

Police track the plates of the family's
missing white Isuzu trooper and quickly

get a lead.

Four days after they were last seen, The
McStay's vehicle had been found

abandoned in a parking lot within
walking distance of the U .S.-Mexico

But the discovery only leaves
investigators with more questions.

Next on American Greed. Now new video
could show the family crossing the

border. New evidence leads detectives to
a theory.

Well, maybe they just decided to leave
their lives behind and start a new life

down in Mexico.

You like the rocks and the dirt, bugs
and everything, huh?

Joseph McStay's home videos reveal a
young family loving life.

We gotta go. You guys say goodbye.

Bye.

Until one day when they all disappear
from their Fallbrook, California home

without a trace.

There is Zuzu Trooper abandoned near the
U .S.-Mexico border in San Diego, and

no one knows why.

Adding to the mystery, the San Diego
Sheriff's detectives scan video

surveillance at the border crossing on
the same day their vehicle is found and

see what appears to be two adults with
two small children walking across the

border. Could it be the mixed days?

Could the family have decided to start a
new life in Mexico or take a vacation?

And something happened there.

A family went missing like this, the way
they went missing, and no evidence of a

struggle. So I could kind of understand
at that time why the detectives were

thinking, well, maybe they just up and
left their lives for whatever reason.

You don't want to think that possibly
they may have been murdered.

San Diego was first confronted with what
truly looked like a missing persons

case. The vehicle was found at the
border. There is this grainy video of

appears to be a family of four, roughly
the same, going across the border.

And so while it wasn't necessarily, I
think, a concrete theory that they had

left and gone to Mexico, it was, well,
we don't have any other evidence to

us in another direction.

But months later, the McStays still
haven't contacted a single person or

accessed a penny of more than $100 ,000
in their personal bank accounts.

Joseph's father, Patrick McStay, says he
is certain his son did not take his

family into Mexico.

You got a video, and all you can see is
the back of someone.

How in the heck can you tell me that's
them?

My son has a distinctive walk, almost
like a duck walk.

And that video was not my son.

McStay is disappointed, to say the
least, in San Diego's investigation and

decides to take matters into his own
hands.

I didn't get much sleep.

I was going over papers, going over
things we found, going over records,

out things, calling people.

I mean, this is what we were doing. San
Diego wasn't, I had no idea what they

were doing.

Still, the missing McStays never
surface, and the case goes cold for more

three years.

The more time that passes, the more
unlikely their family believes they

leave. I didn't want to admit it.

I knew I'd never see him again.

Because Joey just wasn't the type to
just disappear or walk off.

They would not have left like that.

November 13, 2013.

Off the I -15 freeway, north of
Victorville, California, is an

area in the Mojave Desert.

A motorcyclist is out riding the trails.

when he makes a gruesome discovery.

How can I help you?

Hi, I'm out here on a motorcycle, out
behind the dump, and I found what looks

like a human skull.

A small, bleached, white skull bone that
appeared to be that of a child.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's
Department responds.

All we got was that there was a
motorcycle rider in the area who

portion of a skull cap.

From there, they notified our coroner's
detail, and they went out to the scene,

ended up locating two shallow graves.

Two shallow graves.

Inside the first lie what appeared to be
the decomposed remains of a grown man.

He was wrapped in like a cloth woven
blanket.

The woven blanket was wrapped in a tie
-down, and then also there was a white

extension cord wrapped around the neck.

In the same grave, they find a child's
rib bone.

which is later connected to the small
skull found nearby.

Other bones are believed to have been
carried off by animals.

The second grave reveals the decomposed
remains of a smaller adult and another

child. There were two shallow grave
sites with a total of four bodies.

The sheriff's department released that
they found the remains of four people,

two of them children.

As soon as they released that
information,

I immediately thought, oh my God, this
might be the McStays.

Three and a half years after the family
went missing, the worst case scenario is

confirmed. And through the use of dental
records, we're able to identify the

adult victims as Summer and Joseph
McStay. We believe the other two sets of

remains are that of the boys, their
sons.

Police recovered a sledgehammer buried
with the bodies.

It's consistent with the damage evident
in the skull.

Leaving little doubt, this three -pound
sledgehammer is a murder weapon.

I don't know if I can even describe it.

You already really have come to the
realization that they're gone.

But now, it starts with the questions.
Why?

Who?

How could you kill not only two adults,
but how could you kill two little kids?

Next on American Greed, a missing
person's case turns into a homicide

investigation.

We're not going in with any preconceived
notions.

At that point, essentially, everyone's a
suspect.

Never underestimate people who are
desperate for money. They break your

He was a pilot and he claimed to
transport animals in need.

To snare your cash.

She would just blatantly ask, I'm dying,
can you please give me money?

But these do -gooders. The bigger the
lie, the easier it is for people to

believe. Are all bad.

Social media scams. Where's the money?
Where's the money for Johnny Bob?

All new American Greed, next Monday, 10
Eastern. Set your DVR now.

CNBC, get yours.

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It was a motorcyclist off -roading
through a remote California desert who

spotted the remains.

Bones buried in shallow graves now
linked to a family that vanished in

2010.

Three and a half years after the McStay
family went missing.

Their bludgeoned remains reveal an awful
truth.

They were murdered.

We're looking at all options and
investigating this crime from the

trying to identify who the suspects are.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's
Department calls up a team of homicide

detectives to work on nothing else until
the case is solved.

One of the first things that we decided
was we're not going in with any

preconceived notions and everyone's just
going to start reading.

All this information that's there and
taking our own notes. At that point,

essentially, everyone's a suspect until
we can rule them out. When you see an

entire family murdered, obviously it's
different because you have little ones.

You got a two, you know, a four -year
-old killed.

When youngsters are murdered like that,
then you have to try to understand why.

Why the youngsters? That was a big
question that everyone had.

A question that leads to a theory.

Could the killer be someone close to the
family?

Someone the children knew and could
identify?

San Bernardino investigators reviewed
the case file from the San Diego

missing persons investigation.

Thousands of documents, audio tapes,
videos, TV interviews, and records

over more than three years.

From this, they called a master suspect
list.

And so then we just went out and we
started talking to everybody. We had the

benefit of having some sort of statement
from them already because San Diego had

spoken with the majority of these
people.

But we wrote search warrants for phone
records, biological evidence, DNA. We

took DNA samples from everybody just to
include or exclude everyone that we

could, everyone who had ever known that
family.

One person detectives decide to take a
hard look at is a man named Dan

Cavanaugh, who runs Joseph McStay's
Internet sales website.

Cavanaugh raises suspicion when police
find out.

he had taken money from the business
after the McStay disappearance.

Although Kavanaugh did not legally own
any of the business, he claims in a CNN

interview that he and Joseph were
informal partners.

We shared ownership from the beginning
starting the company, 50 -50.

We basically had a little bit of a
gentleman's agreement.

Investigators track Kavanaugh down, and
he tells them the same thing he told the

news media.

that he'd used the money to try to keep
things going in Joseph McStay's

unexplained absence.

I actually corresponded with his family
about that, and I was like, we need a

couple Gs out of the PayPal account to
keep this business online or we'll lose

everything. And they're like, okay,
well, do what you got to do. Dan was

to keep the business afloat, but he
definitely had interest in the business

didn't want it to fail.

Kavanaugh explained, yeah, I took this
money, this is why I took it.

So you did have a period where everyone
was trying to figure out what's going to

happen to the business and keep this
business running when there was this

where no one knew where Joseph was, no
one knew what happened to him.

Kavanaugh says he was 2 ,600 miles
across the ocean during the time frame

McStay murders.

Dan had an alibi.

At the time, he said he was with his
girlfriend in Hawaii, and she flat out

me that...

She broke up with Dan. She's not friends
with him anymore.

She doesn't like him.

They're obviously not boyfriend and
girlfriend anymore.

But I was definitely with Dan. I was
definitely with him in Hawaii.

Detectives tracked down Kavanaugh's
plane tickets as well as other evidence

supporting his alibi.

Dan definitely had credit card activity
in Hawaii.

He had computer activity in Hawaii.

Kavanaugh's information all verified.

You know, not only were we able to prove
it through phone records and purchases,

you know, we were able to talk to people
who were there with him and who

verified it.

Dan Kavanaugh has not responded to
American Greed's request for comment.

He has not been accused of any
wrongdoing.

Next, there is one person investigators
have not yet been able to eliminate.

You were the last person he saw.

I'm definitely the last person he saw.

There are three questions on the minds
of a team of San Bernardino Sheriff's

homicide detectives.

Who killed the McStay family?

Why? And can we prove it?

They've eliminated dozens of possible
suspects and begin homing in on the last

person known to have seen Joseph McStay,
his business associate and friend,

Charles Chase Merritt.

Charles Merritt was one of many, many
people that we looked into. Initially,

there was a business connection there
with Joseph.

He was definitely a good friend of mine.

Investigators review a CNN interview
that Chase Merritt did six months after

family's bodies were recovered.

We got pretty close. Chase went on TV
and talked about his relationship with

Joseph, and one of the key statements
that he made was something to the effect

of that he was definitely the last
person who saw Joseph alive.

You were the last person he saw.

I'm definitely the last person he saw.
That kind of cued into us as a red flag

there because I don't know how any one
person could be certain and say that he

was the last person that saw his best
friend alive if he...

wasn't in fact the last person that saw
him alive.

They listened to the interviews San
Diego detectives did with Merritt less

two weeks after the family went missing.

I knew a lot of Joseph's, a lot of his
finances and stuff because we were

working so damn close together.

I mean, you know, we were just kind of
co -mingling with the businesses.

They too were curious about Merritt's
use of the past tense when referring to

his recently missing friend.

At the time, you're talking within days
after his business partner, his best

friend, goes missing. He's referencing
him in the past tense, already

that he believes that he's no longer
around.

Did you guys have a fall down at all?
Never, never.

Okay.

Merritt says he last saw Joseph on
February 4th at a Chick -fil -A in

Cucamonga, where Merritt lives, about an
hour north of McStay's Fallbrook home.

Why did Joseph come up here?

We just had to go over all kinds of
money stuff.

He claimed that Joseph gave him some
checks at that point to pay some of the

projects. Then they went their separate
ways from there.

Why did he need the peace of face with
you? Was it physically checks?

Yeah, they were physical checks.

Charles Merritt told San Diego
investigators that these checks were all

They were all signed by Joseph and given
to Charles on the 4th.

Detective Dan Hanke follows the money.

He digs into Merritt's story about the
checks.

and discovers something suspicious.

The evidence comes from Joseph McStay's
QuickBooks account.

Records there show that the checks
Merritt claimed to receive from Joseph

February 4th were not actually created
until after McStay and his family

disappeared.

Checks were written to Charles Merritt.
There were a couple other checks written

to a vendor that Charles Merritt owed
money to. And all the checks that were

written after February 4th were
backdated.

On its face, a check like this one might
appear to be written on February 4th,

2010.

But down in the QuickBooks metadata,
Detective Hanke discovers a posting date

February 9th, 2010, meaning it was
created five days after the McStay's

disappearance.

And the date was set for the last day
that Joseph was seen alive.

So that's when Charles Merritt's story
started falling apart and really gave us

the motive.

The evidence shows that someone had
control of Joseph McStay's checking

right before and after his
disappearance.

Someone who wrote a total of nine checks
to Chase Merritt and a vendor Merritt

owed, totaling nearly $15 ,000, and then
took steps to make it look like all

those checks had been written by Joseph
McStay before he suddenly left.

So who would do that, and why?

The answer comes from a suspicious phone
call to QuickBooks customer service on

February 9, 2010, five days after Joseph
McStay vanished.

Detective Hanke tracks down the service
rep who took the call.

When I called him and he reviewed the
call notes, he was shocked and

the call and said it was one of two
calls that he's remembered in his entire

career and he takes hundreds of calls a
day.

The rep says the call was memorable
because the customer was adamant in

demanding that all traces of his account
be erased.

The caller told the representative that
his name was Joseph McStay.

He said that this caller was insisting
on deleting his account, deleting all

information off the account, canceling
the subscription, and then deleting all

the information on the account.

There was a phone number attached to the
caller, and that automatically

populated.

That phone number was Charles Merritt's
cell phone number.

Five days after the disappearance,
Charles Merritt is pretending to be

McStay and trying to delete McStay's
QuickBooks account.

But lacking the master passcode, he
fails.

And the damning digital evidence of his
forgery is preserved.

Investigators access cell phone records
to track some of Merritt's whereabouts

during the week the McStay family
vanished.

What they find puts Merritt at the scene
of a crime.

And after we looked at that, we saw two
days after they went missing, his cell

phone pinged in the area of the
gravesite.

The area of the gravesite is known as
the High Desert.

He grew up in the High Desert.

He had ties to the High Desert. He knew
the roads.

He knew the area very well.

Is there any reason that anyone would
have seen you or your vehicle up in the

High Desert area?

Four years after he was first
interviewed by San Diego, San Bernardino

detectives decide it's their turn to
confront their prime suspect.

Why would people put you up in the high
desert on February 6th?

No idea.

Merritt adamantly denies being at the
desert gravesite location.

He sticks to his guns. If he was in the
desert, he was visiting family.

The only reason I'd ever go to the high
desert is for my brother, my sister.

Problem is, his family has already told
police that Merritt had not been

visiting them.

Why would your phone show you at the
gravesite on February 6th?

Not possible. I wasn't there.

Why would your phone records show you
there?

Couldn't have.

Oh, they do?

They couldn't.

He didn't have any good excuse. He
didn't have a good alibi. Everything

said, it was either a lie or he was
trying to minimize his involvement.

Chase, you need to be able to explain
some of these things and you're not able

to explain them.

Detectives believe Merritt also lied
about how great he and Joseph's business

and personal relationship was going.

They locate an email sent from Joseph
McStay to Chase Merritt three days

their last meeting that shows Merritt
owes McStay nearly $43 ,000.

Could Joseph McStay have had enough of
Charles Merritt? Could he have found out

that Merritt had accessed his QuickBooks
account?

The theory is Joseph was going to fire
him or report him to the Sheriff's

Department, and Chase has a criminal
record.

Detectives learn that Merritt has two
felony convictions for burglary and an

outstanding warrant at the time of
Joseph's disappearance.

A third strike would mean automatic
lockup for at least 25 years.

He's in big trouble.

If he gets another one, he's going to go
to jail.

That right there to me is a big motive.

Jail.

Next on American Greed, detectives
believe they've made their case, but

DA agree?

They put together a really solid
investigation, but it was very clear to

It was highly circumstantial, a very
tough case.

Let's make no mistake about it. Mr.
Merritt is innocent.

Using hand tools to dig up this hard
desert dirt, these Victorville residents

are putting up crosses where Joseph, his
wife Summer, and two sons, Johnny and

Joey Jr., were buried in shallow graves.

We were here to pay our respects.

To the family, we know this pain. We
know how it feels.

After the bodies of the McStay family
are found in the Mojave Desert, the head

of the team of investigators working the
case makes a promise to Joseph McStay's

father, Patrick.

He told me that they will solve this
case, and he gave me his word.

I believed him.

Charles Chase Merritt was identified as
the suspect responsible for the death of

Joseph Summer.

Gianni and Joseph McStay.

Almost a year to the day since the
McStay's family remains were located,

Chase Merritt is charged with four
counts of first -degree murder.

I remember when I first saw the video
from the news where they were walking

from the car into the sheriff's office
there and he's in handcuffs.

Honestly, God, people may hate me for
it. I don't care.

I was glad to see him in cuffs.

When the capital murder trial of Chase
Merritt opens, the San Bernardino County

Superior Courtroom is packed.

How does this family of four disappear
off the face of the earth?

Just up and gone.

Cameras are in the court, and the trial
is being live -streamed for the public.

The prosecution lays out a theory of
greed, murder, and cover -up at the

of Charles Merritt.

Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence in
this case will show you not only the

how...

but the why, and especially the who.

And the who is sitting here in court
today, Charles Merritt.

They put together a really solid
investigation, covered every base that

available to them, but it was very clear
to us that it was a very difficult

case, that it was clearly
circumstantial. You did not have an

confession. You didn't have an
outright... eyewitness.

It wasn't on video, so it was going to
be a difficult case.

It was blow after blow after blow to a
child's skull.

Evidence from the graves clearly shows
how the family died, but prosecutors

struggle to show where the murders
occurred.

Let's make no mistake about it.

Mr. Merritt is innocent.

Merritt's defense team goes straight to
this glaring flaw in the state's case.

There is absolutely no physical evidence
leaking Charles Merritt to a murder

scene. In fact, they can't even prove
where the murder took place.

No blood was found in the residence.

The prosecution's theory was that Chase
would have had to have driven to

Fallbrook, killed the family, load them
up right into the truck and then drive

them out in order to kill the family and
clean the house to a T, by the way.

With all that blood, remember, they were
killed with a sledgehammer. We're

talking violent impacts that shattered
skulls.

Blood would be everywhere.

But he manages to clean it all up
spotless where there's not even a trace,

trace of blood in the residence.

The defense maintains that not only
could the family not have been killed in

their home, that more than one person
was involved.

They discovered a trove of aerial
photographs routinely taken by county

surveyors.

Upon closer examination, they find one
taken shortly after the disappearance

that appears to show two sets of tire
tracks leading directly to the graves.

You can see the two graves. You can kind
of see the tracks driving into them.

Just the two graves alone tell you it's
two teams.

We've never ruled that possibility out.

You can have a murder case without
answering those questions.

Prosecutors sidestep the possibility of
an accomplice and say that's not the

question at hand. They focus instead on
the circumstantial evidence connecting

Chase Merritt to the crime.

Given the fact that you have to
transport four individuals, either dead

alive, away from a residence and clean
up a mess if it occurred in the house,

dig two graves.

bury them.

That's a lot.

Is Mr. Merritt capable of doing it by
himself?

Sure. Is it likely or possible he had
help? Sure.

Next on American Greed, prosecutors are
caught off guard by the defense's

biggest play, DNA evidence from the
graves.

But the evidence in the grave says it's
not him.

I don't have to take my client's word.

The evidence says he didn't do it, so
let's do these tests. Let's find out

happened.

Halfway through a six -month quadruple
murder trial, the defense representing

Charles Merritt in the murders of the
McStay family drops a bomb, claiming to

have developed three unknown DNA
profiles from items recovered inside the

graves. And guess what? It doesn't match
Chase. Those three profiles don't match

Chase. The question is, who do these
three profiles match?

in the grave says it's not him.

If that's not reasonable doubt, I don't
know what is.

They wanted to create this idea in the
juror's mind.

First of all, one man couldn't do this.
Second of all, hey, there's a

possibility there was DNA from multiple
people up at the burial site. Because

remember, they just need to find at
least one juror who's going to say, I'm

sorry, this is a hung jury.

There's reasonable doubt.

The DNA evidence could be game
-changing, but the prosecution has

the same items tested and did not find
usable DNA profiles.

Our lab in San Bernardino had tested
certain items, and they indicated that

because of the level of decomposition,
that you weren't going to be able to get

something that was going to be
trustworthy.

It wouldn't meet the standards of what
was necessary for a lab.

So Marriott's defense team searches out
the newest technology and finds a lab

working in the field of cyber genetics.

The company essentially uses algorithms
to create statistically probable DNA

profiles from fragments of DNA, known as
probabilistic genotyping.

And there's three separate profiles,
which means three individuals, because

they're different profiles.

And they don't match Chase, and they
don't match any of the family members.

That flies in the face of reliable
science.

The prosecution counters, pointing out
that the defense exhibits are not valid

scientific DNA profiles.

They are mathematical predictions of
profiles extrapolated from degraded,

insufficient samples.

So it's not really a genetic profile.

It's an assumption and an inference.

Not supported by actual genetic
activity.

What the defense came out with was there
was a partial profile on, let's say,

for example, one of the cups of a bra.

What wasn't found on there was any of
the victim's DNA. So it makes absolutely

no sense at all that her DNA would not
be on that at all, but yet some unknown

touch DNA source would survive.

It just makes no sense.

Finally, the trial goes to the jurors.

Weighing the facts of a circumstantial
case with no murder scene, a vote to

convict is anything but certain.

But the evidence pointing at the
defendant stacks high and heavy on the

Prosecutors allege that Charles Merritt
took control of Joseph McStay's checking

account after McStay vanished.

He wrote checks to himself and to
vendors he owed.

He took steps to make it look like the
checks were written by Joseph before he

disappeared.

He then tried to delete the checking
account and cover all traces of the

activity. And he lied about all of it to
San Diego investigators when they were

desperately searching for the missing
McStay family.

Who else would do all of that besides
the killer?

When you look at the totality of the
picture, you just came right back to,

Charles Merritt.

We, the jury, in the above entitled
action, find the defendant, Charles Ray

Merritt, guilty of the offense of murder
in the first degree. On June 10th,

2019, the jury finds Chase Merritt
guilty on four counts of first degree

three counts with special circumstances.

There was a huge sigh of relief.

There was finally some closure for the
family.

They wanted justice.

And I know that as they sat through and
saw the evidence,

they believed that he was responsible
for it as well. That evidence was too

overwhelming. And the jury saw that
because they convicted.

That says a lot when you get a jury
looking at all this circumstantial

and saying he's guilty.

My son, Jerry, did nothing but help you
and your family.

Patrick McStay has no doubts that the
jury made the right call.

and lets Charles Merritt know it.

You and no one else can be blamed.

I hope you burn in hell.

He's a scumbag.

He's a creep.

He doesn't deserve to walk the earth or
take a breath.

He killed somebody that trusted in him
and gave him a chance when a lot of

people knew he was a crook.

And then he kills my grandsons?

Brutally?

How do you do that?

What happened here is wrong.

After the family members give their
victims impact statements, it's Chase

Merritt's turn to address the court.

There was a deep sadness in his face,
but I think it was for himself.

I don't deserve this.

I did not do this.

I will give him one thing.

He stuck to his story.

It is therefore the judgment sent to
this court that the defendant, Charles

Merritt, be sentenced to death.

The man convicted in the murders of the
McStay family has now been sentenced to

death. Merritt is 62 years old. He will
eventually be sent to San Quentin State

Prison, where he will spend the rest of
his life.

One way or the other, he's going to pay,
whether he sits in there for the rest

of his life or whether he...

You know, whether it's executed, he's
going to pay.

The governor of California has issued a
moratorium on executions.

Merritt will remain on death row at San
Quentin.

He is appealing his case.