S20 Ep72: Down To The Bone: Investigating The Murder of The McStay Family w/ Caitlin Rother

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🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 139 minutes

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Summary

True Crime Tuesday presents: Down To The Bone: Investigating The Murder of The McStay Family w/ Caitlin Rother!

On February 15, 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two young sons were reported missing from their new home in San Diego County. They left eggs and fruit rotting on the counter. Their Dodge truck sat in the driveway. Their dogs were abandoned outside without food. But investigators found no blood, signs of a struggle, or clues to their whereabouts. Did the family take an unannounced vacation? Were they running away from personal problems? Or were they victims of foul play? Nearly four years later, a motorcyclist found the McStays’ remains in and around two shallow graves, one hundred miles away in the Mojave Desert. Their skulls showed signs of blunt-force trauma, likely due to the sledgehammer buried with them. Authorities focused on Charles "Chase" Merritt, a close friend and subcontractor for Joseph’s company. Despite a lack of physical evidence, scenarios that defied logic, and numerous unanswered questions, prosecutors convinced a jury of Merritt’s guilt. After an emotional sentencing hearing, the judge imposed the death penalty. But did another possible suspect, who was ignored by investigators and ducked a subpoena to testify, get away with murder?

On today's TCT, Caitlin Rother joins the show to talk about the players surrounding the McStay family, why they had motive to do them harm, why they did and didn't harm them, and what faults the McStays themselves had that lead to their eventual downfall...

Get your copy of "Down To The Bone: A Missing Family's Murder and the Elusive Quest For Justice" here: https://bit.ly/43d3SDA

Check out Caitlin Rother here: https://www.caitlinrother.com/

PLUS AN ALL-NEW DUMB CRIMES/STUPID CRIMINALS WITH JESSICA FREEBURG!

Check out Jessica Freeburg's website and order her new books: https://jessicafreeburg.com/books/

and check out Jess on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicafreeburgwrites

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome into the best in True Crime Podcasting. This is True Crime Tuesday. I'm your host, Tim Dennis.
0:28.0	All right, folks, I know a lot of you think you are true crime sleuths out there, that you can solve almost anything that we throw on this program.
0:34.7	Here's the deal on today's program. I'm going to guarantee you that today we have a case that, let's just say, I don't think you can. I really don't think you can.
0:43.8	We're going to welcome back Caitlin Rother today. In a book that I guarantee you, she has come up with a
0:49.9	case that, let's just say, is darn near impossible for you to solve. The name of the book is an
0:56.3	excellent one. It comes out a week from today. It's called Down to the Bone. It's about the case
1:01.9	of the McStay family in California. And I had the privilege of being able to get a sneak
1:09.2	peek of this book, and it is an excellent one, folks.
1:12.3	It is, my gosh, she has put so much research into this book, so much time into this book,
1:18.7	and I got to tell you, I was blown away, blown away by this book.
1:25.4	Let's bring her in now.
1:26.3	Let's talk about it.
1:27.4	Of course, Caitlin Rother is the New York Times bestselling author of 16 books,
1:30.4	including Down to the Bone,
1:31.5	hooked, body parts, death on ocean, boulevard, naked addiction,
1:34.9	Dead Reckoning, hunting Charles Manson, lost girls, and secrets,
1:39.3	lies, and shoelaces, and more.
1:41.9	Let's bring her in right now. Caitlin, thank you so much for being back with us
1:44.8	here on True Crime Tuesday. And I tip my cap. Kudos to you. Down to the bone is amazing.
1:53.2	Oh, thank you so much. It's so nice to hear. Really? Seriously. And you want to talk about, oh, my, okay,
2:00.4	so normally in most cases, and we'll get down to the different players here in just a moment and talk about a case of, first of all, after reading this book, I've got to tell you, and after getting into this case, I've got to tell you, I don't know.
2:16.1	And being a small business owner and operator myself, and of course you are yourself, who can you trust now
	...

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