#015 The Tale of the McStay Family Murders [Part 1]

The Killafornia Dreaming Podcast

Roseanne

True Crime, Killers, Non-fiction, Mystery, Justice System, News, Podcast, Criminal, Murder, California, Law Enforcement, Discussion, Crime

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2017

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 2010 Disappearance And Murders Of The McStay Family Committed By Charles 'Chase' Merritt [Part 1]

**The sound quality of the first couple dozen episodes of this show isn't good; I was still learning!! Skip ahead about a year! Also, KD is no longer a part of the Orbital Jigsaw Network or Blubrry**

How does a family of four suddenly go missing? In today’s episode of Killafornia Dreaming, which is the first of two parts, that’s exactly what seemingly happened to the McStay Family - Joseph, Summer, and their two sons 4 year old Gianni and 3 year old Joseph Jr - when they vanished from their California home in February of 2010. We discuss the flawed investigation and how law enforcement were misled for far too long, and how the Investigation Discovery show disappeared played a role in the wrong conclusions being jumped to.

UPDATE: On June 10, 2019, a San Bernardino County jury found Merritt guilty of murdering the McStay family. On June 24, the jury recommended that Merritt be sentenced to death. The court upheld the jury's recommendation, and Merritt was sentenced to death on January 21, 2020.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Tani from the Dirty Bits podcast, and you're listening to
0:04.9	California Dreaming on the orbital jigsaw network.
0:11.0	Warning, this episode contains details of multiple violent murders, including the killing of young children, and is not suitable for all listeners.
0:22.0	Listener discretion is advised. and is not suitable for all listeners.
0:22.8	Listener discretion is advised.
0:26.2	Also, the story I will eventually get to today
0:29.8	was a listener suggestion by Stephanie,
0:32.4	a fellow Californian and true crime
0:34.6	enthusiast. Many thanks for reminding me of this case. Do you, listening out
0:41.0	there, do you guys like a good mystery? I do to an extent. I don't
0:47.2	cover many stories that end without a conclusion. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've covered any at all. I like a good story, but when I'm done with an episode, it's not likely that I'm going to come to a happy ending, simply based on the subject matter of the show, but I do tell stories that usually end with a measure of justice being served.
1:11.0	Not always, as in the case of the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley, but even when a case grows cold or the investigation takes a long time.
1:21.0	Eventually most of my stories can be wrapped up with a conviction and a good prison sentence.
1:27.0	I haven't told a story that's truly unsolved.
1:31.0	A story that's shrouded in mystery, intrigue, and endless theories as to what
1:37.0	actually happened. Sometimes those frustrate me. Unsalt murders frustrate me. Missing persons do too. But I find them
1:49.9	absolutely intriguing nonetheless. I can get caught down a rabbit hole or two if I let myself, but I try not to.
2:00.0	Some podcast shows have brought up the concept of Occam's Razor.
2:04.8	I'd never heard of this until I began listening to podcast several years ago.
2:09.6	It's basically a philosophy, a line of reasoning that states the simplest explanation is usually the right one.
2:18.0	It's used throughout the world as a means to slice through problems or situations in order to eliminate unnecessary elements.
2:26.7	That's where I like to be, looking at the simple explanation as being likely the right explanation.
	...

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