Man found guilty of killing 4 missing California family members

Jurors on Monday found Charles “Chase” Merritt guilty in the February 2010 bludgeoning deaths of the four-member McStay family of Fallbrook, whose bodies were found nearly four years later in two shallow graves near Victorville.

Merritt now faces a possible death penalty, with the same jury to hear evidence in the penalty phase that will begin Tuesday. After hearing evidence in the penalty phase, jurors will deliberate and decide whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

The panel, in the downtown San Bernardino Justice Center courtroom of Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith, found him guilty of four first-degree murders.

Members of the Merritt family were among those in the crowded courtroom. They had their arms around one another as the verdicts were read. Some gasped and said, “No,” and bowed their heads when they heard the first guilty verdict.

Some left the courtroom as the verdicts were ticked off.

A  member of the McStay family said, “Oh, thank God,” when the first guilty verdict was read. The family declined to speak with the media outside of court.

Asked outside court if Merritt defense attorneys would have any comment, attorney Rajan Maline said, “Not for now.”

The jurors are being polled individually. They all affirmed that these were each of their verdicts.

— Brian Rokos (@Brian_Rokos) June 10, 2019

Testimony in front of the Superior Court jury began on Jan. 7, with deliberations beginning late in the morning of May 30. The jurors announced on Friday, they had come to a verdict, but the reading of them was delayed until Monday morning.

They had considered both first- and second-degree murder in the case.

Merritt, 62, had pleaded not guilty to killing his former business associate Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and their two children: Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, in their San Diego County home. The family had recently moved from San Clemente.

Merritt was arrested and charged in November 2014 – a year after the McStay family’s skeletal remains were discovered in two shallow graves west of the 15 Freeway near Victorville. A three-pound sledge hammer investigators said was used to kill the family was buried along with their remains.

Merritt is a former Apple Valley resident.

McStay and Merritt had worked together in the sale, design and building of large-scale custom waterworks for clients in Saudi Arabia and businesses such as Paul Mitchell salons. McStay found customers, and Merritt, whose business was separate from McStay’s, built the pieces.

Prosecutors said Merritt was being cut out of the relationship by McStay for poor performance, and on Feb. 1, 2010, McStay sent an email to Merritt stating Merritt owed him $42,845. The McStay family was last heard three days later.

Defense attorneys said the men were best friends and future prospects for their business relationship were too lucrative for Merritt to kill McStay and his family. They said another business associate of McStay’s, web designer, had disputes with McStay and was overlooked by investigators.

The web designer has denied having anything to do the the McStay family’s death, and prosecutors have said he was not a suspect.

After the verdicts were read, prosecutor Britt Imes brought up the issue of possible jury tampering from last week, when two alternates were apparently approached by a defense team member after deliberations started. Imes was concerned there had been no check with the 12 deliberating jurors throughout the course of the five-month-plus case.

Judge Smith said he was convinced that no attempt was made on the day the alternates were approached. But we will talk to the jurors out of an abundance of caution on Tuesday.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.