Sept. 28, 2025
Chapter 116: The Case Against Chase Merritt-The McStay Family Murders Pt. 2
In Part 2 of my coverage on the McStay Family Murders, I cover the trial of Chase Merritt, the man arrested for the murders of Summer and Joseph McStay, and their two little boys, Gianni and Joey Jr. The case against Chase Merritt was built entirely on circumstantial evidence, and three years after my original coverage, I'm still not entirely sure police got the right guy.
From the discourse between the prosecution and defense, cell phone and computer records suggesting Chase Merritt's movements were not as straightforward as the police would have you believe, and PayPal records suggesting another suspect stood to gain from Joseph McStay's death, I went over it all, putting together a picture that suggests that someone, somewhere, may have gotten things wrong.
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Aradillas, E. (2014, November 9). Patrick McStay has a theory about why his family was murdered. People.com. https://people.com/crime/mcstay-family-murders-patrick-mcstays-theory-about-why-they-were-killed/Dziemianowicz, J. (2023, December 30). ‘Monster’ slaughters entire family — mom, dad, 2 young sons — and buries them in the desert. Oxygen. https://www.oxygen.com/killer-motive/crime-news/mcstay-family-murders-who-killed-themFalcon, G. (2013, January 26). Three years later, no sign of missing family. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/26/justice/mcstay-family-disappearance/index.htmlFigueroa, T. (2013, November 15). How the McStay case unfolded. U-T San Diego. https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005025/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Nov/15/timeline-mcstay-disappearance-case/Flynn, S. (2022, May 21). McStay murders: A man is on death row for the brutal killings of a young family found in shallow graves in the desert – but did he really do it? The Independent. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/mcstay-murder-california-documentary-chase-merritt-b2084210.htmlFraga, K. (2025, July 10). The McStay family murders and the “Monster” behind them. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/mcstay-family-murdersGarske, M. (2020, January 17). Charles Merritt’s DNA found in McStay family car: search warrants. NBC 7 San Diego. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/charles-merritt-mcstay-family-murders-search-warrants-unsealed/52907/Gotfredson, D. (2025, July 12). New book details evidence that led to conviction in McStay family murders. cbs8.com. https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/crime/true-crime/new-book-evidence-conviction-mcstay-family-murders/509-8001a9cb-cfeb-42da-b257-c6993f1aa668Gutglueck, M. (2019, April 19). Kavanaugh hacked into McStay’s PayPal account a week after the murders. SBC Sentinel. https://sbcsentinel.com/2019/04/kavanaugh-hacked-mcstay-paypalaccount/Kaye, R. (2015, June 16). Desert Deaths Mystery: Five questions about the McStay case. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/01/justice/mcstay-case-five-questionsProsecutors begin presenting evidence against Charles “Chase” Merritt in McStay murder case. (2015, June 15). CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecutors-begin-presenting-evidence-in-mcstay-murder-case/Richard K. De Atley The Press-Enterprise. (2019, January 25). Jurors in Merritt murder trial hear crucial recording. Victorville Daily Press. https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/courts/2019/01/25/jurors-in-merritt-murder-trial/6204138007/Slifer, S. (2013, November 15). McStay Family Update: Joseph McStay’s father calls probe of Calif. family’s 2010 disappearance “botched, inept.” CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcstay-family-update-joseph-mcstays-father-calls-probe-of-calif-familys-2010-disappearance-botched-inept/Slifer, S. (2015, January 24). Search warrants unsealed in McStay family murder case in California. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-warrants-unsealed-in-mcstay-murder-case/VVNG - Victor Valley News. (2015, June 11). New Evidence Suggest a Sledge Hammer was Used in Murdering McStay Family. Victor Valley News. https://www.vvng.com/new-evidence-suggest-a-sledge-hammer-was-used-in-murdering-mcstay-family/
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If you have a case suggestion, or want attention brought to a loved one's case, email me at bookofthedeadpod@gmail.com with Case Suggestion in the subject line.
Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant.
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Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.
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re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath
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bites Streaming now on all your favorite podcast platforms. Hello, Hello,
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Welcome to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead.
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I will admit this is a little overdue. It's been
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a very long week. But last week I told you
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all about the disappearance and murder of the McStay family,
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a case I had originally covered three years ago. If
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you haven't listened to that episode yet, check it out first,
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Otherwise you are going to be critically uninformed going into
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the second part. As a quick overview, on February fourth,
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twenty ten, the McStay family, forty three year old Summer,
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forty year old Joseph, and their small children four and
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three year olds Gianni and Joey Junior, mysteriously disappeared. Food
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was left rotting on the counters, their beloved dogs were
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left in the backyard, and the family car, a white
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Azuzu Trooper, was found abandoned four days later, two blocks
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from the US Mexico border. Two weeks after no contact
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with friends or family, police launched their investigation, but after
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three years and an alarming lack of substantial evidence to
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prove otherwise. Police announced that the McStay family left the
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country voluntarily and there was no foul play involved. In
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April of twenty thirteen, seven months later, their remains would
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be found in two shallow graves in the Mojave Desert
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area of Victorville, California, one hundred miles from their home
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in Fallbrook. When I left off San Bernardino, police, after
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looking into different suspects, had gathered enough circumstantial evidence to
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charge Charles Ray Merritt, a well die who worked with
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Joseph McStay at his company, with four counts of murder
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the following year. The motive for the murders and what
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the prosecution based their case on greed. During the course
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of the investigation, police had learned some interesting information from
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Joseph's business partner, Dan Cavanaugh. According to Dan, when Joseph
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and Charles, who went by Chase, had met for a
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meeting in Rancho Cucamonga on the day the Micstays were
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allegedly killed, it was not to discuss the logistics of
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a very lucrative upcoming deal, but rather Joseph was going
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to fire Chase due to less than satisfactory work, and
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because Chase by this point owed Joseph over thirty thousand
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dollars in loans he had been given to cover his
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gambling debt. Additionally, he owed the irs over twenty thousand
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dollars in unpaid taxes. Prior to the mcstay's murders, Chase
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had been added to Joseph's Quick Books account, and he
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allegedly utilized the account to pay himself thousands of dollars,
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as well as withdrawing various amounts of money from different
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ATMs using Joseph's accounts in the weeks following the disappearances. However,
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while it seems like this motive seems incredibly concrete, the
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actual case against Chase Merit was based entirely off of
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circumstantial evidence. In fact, there is not one piece of
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evidence that proves that Chase Merit had anything to do
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with the murders, regardless of how strong the motive may seem.
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The trial, which was a capital punishment case, began on
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January seventh, twenty nineteen, and the prosecution comprised of Supervising
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Deputy District Attorney Britt Eims. Supervising Deputy District Attorney Sean
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Daherty and Deputy District Attorney Melissa Rodriguez acknowledged that while
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the case against Chase Merrit was highly circumstantial, the pieces
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all fit together to prove with overwhelming clarity that he
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was guilty of murder. As they began to argue their case,
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the prosecution worked to suggest that after confronting Chase about
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money owed to him, Joseph was followed back to his
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home on Avocado Vista Lane in Falbrook on February fourth,
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twenty ten, where Chase then murdered the family, leudgeoning them
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with a sledgehammer. They argued he was furious over the
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prospect of being fired and desperate to hold on to
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the cash flow that had been coming to him from
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the Mixed days in order to cover his critical lack
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of financial responsibility in gambling addictions. There was no definitive
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proof that Chase Merrit was in or around the area
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of Falbrook on the night of the murders, but the
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prosecution believed the evidence they had could see suggests that
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his presence there was more than possible to support this.
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In conjunction with testimony given by AT and T compliance
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analyst and records custodian David Lipnitski. They called FBI agent
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Kevin Bowles to testify, who, according to the San Bernardino
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County Sentinel, was an expert in the use and interpretation
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of cell phone data, which he used to track missing
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persons and wanted fugitives. Based on the interpretation of his
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cell phone records, Agent Bulls testified that from four nine
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PM and nine oh four pm on February fourth, Chase
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Merritt had received six phone calls that were immediately routed
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to voicemail because his phone wasn't connecting to a tower.
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The prosecution suggested that this was due to Chase turning
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his cell phone off to obscure his location while he
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was in Fallbrook to kill the mcstate family. Additionally, Chase's
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phone was determined to be shut off from three fourteen
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pm on February sixth, two days after the murders, until
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ten thirty five am on February seven. The prosecution argued
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that this supported the idea that Chase at this time
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was burying the bodies in the desert between Victorville and
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South Oro Grande. Agent Bolls also testified that on the
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morning of February sixth Chase's phone had pinged off of
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the cell phone tower north of Victorville eight different times,
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as I had discussed in Part one, from eleven thirty
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one am until one thirty pm. The prosecution argued that
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this showed that Chase had traveled to the desert in
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order to dig the grapes he would later place the
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bodies in. To further support this claim, prosecutors used testimony
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from San Bernardino County Sharp's Department Sergeant Ryan's Dad Smith,
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who explained that they had found different sets of tracks
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leading to the location of the graves, and they came
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from vehicles with seventy three and seventy six inch wheelbases.
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Chase Merritt's work truck had its wheelbases measured in twenty
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ten and it equaled seventy six inches. Sergeant Smith explained
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that in order for the tracks to be the depths
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that they were, the vehicles would have had to sit
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there for at least two hours on ground that had
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been softened after receiving one point ten inches of rain
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that day. This was allegedly ample time for someone to
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dig two eighteen inch deep, six foot long graves. The
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theory the prosecution was going with was that Chase drove
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one vehicle into the desert to dig the graves and
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then used a different vehicle to transport the bodies there.
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On cross examination, though Bulls ignored knowledge that Chase's phone
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had pinged off of another tower within a ten mile
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radius more than once. That could suggest that Chase Merrit's
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phone was moving during these phone calls. His phone had
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pined off of the tower closer to Oro Grande, where
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his sister Anita lived, supporting the idea that Chase Merrit's
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statement about visiting his sister around that time was possibly true.
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Bowles also acknowledged, when given records from Chase's phone from
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the month before the murders, that his phone had pined
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off of towers farther from his actual location due to
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elevation and not necessarily proximity to the tower. It is
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worth mentioning that during Chase's twenty fourteen interrogation, police repeatedly
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tried to claim Chase's phone placed him at the exact
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location where the bodies were found, though that was impossible
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to determine. Admittedly, though this is a po least interrogation tactic,
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they can lie to witnesses in order to get a confession.
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Chase was insistent that this wasn't true, and that if
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he was in the area at all, he was either
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visiting his sister in Oro Grande or his brother in Hesperia.
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Speaking of Chase's sister, as I said in the first part,
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during her interview in twenty fourteen, she had claimed that
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she had not seen or really even spoken to her
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brother in the years, especially not during the time the
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murders were committed. However, when she took the stand, her
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testimony changed. According to Anita's testimony, she had suffered a
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series of complex medical emergencies from two thousand and one onward,
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including strokes and embolisms. She testified that Chase had visited
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her multiple times and had even come to stay with
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her during her recovery. She also acknowledged that when she
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had been originally interviewed by police, she had just come
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home from surgery and was under the influence of pain pills.
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Admitting that her original testimony was unreliable, she said, according
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to the SBC Sentinel quote, I wasn't in my right
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mind when I talked to your detective. I could hardly
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talk when he was at my house. I had surgery
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in twenty thirteen and an embolism in my lungs. I
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had just recently come home. Another point of contention in
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the trial was accusations from both the prosecution and the
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defense regarding recorded conversations Chase had with visitors while in
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prison awaiting trial. Because police believed Chase was trying to
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circumvent the prison's ability to record and made conversations by
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speaking through the partition instead of using the phone, police
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hid their own recording device to monitor the conversations and
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gave those to the prosecution. The defense did attempt to
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have this dismissed, but because they were informed well within
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thirty days about the recordings and there is no expectation
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of privacy in prison, the judge ruled the audio could
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be presented. The prosecution wanted to use this audio to
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support their narrative that Chase was witnessed hampering by allegedly
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coaching his common law wife Kathy Jarvis what to say
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in regard to the phone call he received from Joseph
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on February fourth that he never answered. Chase could be
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heard in the recording telling Kathy to remember what she
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had told police and reiterating that cel phone reception in
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their apartment was spotty, especially well in the basement. The
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phone call had registered on Joseph's phone, but allegedly did
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not appear in Chase's phone records, and the prosecution argued
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that this proved his phone was turned off to conceal
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his location. However, Kathy Jarvis had been very clear since
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her original interview in twenty ten that she remembered Chase
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receiving the phone call and seeing Joseph's name on the
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caller ID. Therefore, the defense argued Chase Merritt was not
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coaching Kathy on what to say, just merely urging her
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to remember what she had been saying since the beginning
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of the investigation. One of the bigger points that the
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prosecution attempted to make was the argument that Chase Merrit
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was confronted during the meeting at Rancho Cucamonga about the
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money owed to pay off his debts and for alleged theft,
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and he followed Joseph back to Falbrook to commit the
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murders after the meeting. As I had previously mentioned, Chase
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Merrit had allegedly paid himself with forged checks from Joseph's
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quick Books accounts, and at least a couple of the
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checks had been backdated till February fourth. They argued this
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by showing inconsistencies between checks known to have been written
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by Joseph McStay and checks written around the time of
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the murders. The email associated with the Quickbook's account was
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slightly different, and on the newer checks the first letters
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and names were not capitalized. The defense brought in Brian Larrock,
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who is a forensic computer analyst, and he broke down
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his findings from images from over thirty electronics, including one
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of the computers in the mixed day home, and Joseph's
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phone records. Joseph on the fourth had made three calls
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to Chase Merritt that pinged off of cell phone towers
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that were on the way back to his home, one
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in Ontario at three thirty PM, one in Norco at
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three thirty two, and one in Fulbrook at four eighteen.
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This final call was made eight minutes after a sketch
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program was started up on the home computer to work
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on a design, indicating that Joseph was at home at
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the time this call was made and he was working
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on a project he and Chase were collaborating on. These
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calls reinforced the idea that the two did not have
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a confrontation, but rather a business meeting as Chase it suggested.
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LaRock also showed that this was a pattern for Joseph
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to communicate with Chase during the design process, as he
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had five days earlier communicated with Chase during a forty
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minute period using the same program in which the client
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name associated with the project was in all lowercase letters.
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Regarding the alleged forged checks, Larroc found that Joseph had
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accessed his QuickBooks account at just before eight pm on
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February four, twenty ten, and had issued a check to
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Chase Merit in all lowercase, which coincided with his final
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phone call that Chase never answered. According to Laroc, the
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checks issued on the first, second, and fourth all had
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