A verdict is expected to be read Monday in the trial of a Southern California man charged with killing a family of four and burying their bodies in the desert.
It’s a case that puzzled investigators for years after the family members disappeared in 2010. A verdict in the case brought by San Bernardino County prosecutors against 62-year-old Charles “Chase” Merritt was reached Friday after jury deliberations.
Merritt’s business associate Joseph McStay, McStay’s wife Summer and the couple’s 3- and 4-year-old sons vanished from their San Diego County home in 2010. Three years later, their bodies were found in shallow graves more than 100 miles away in the high desert north of Los Angeles.
Merritt was arrested in 2014. Authorities said they traced his cellphone to the gravesite area and to a call seeking to close McStay’s online bookkeeping account.
If Merritt is convicted, prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Merritt allegedly killed the McStays because he was embezzling thousands of dollars from Joseph McStay’s custom fountain business, prosecutors said.
The trial included emotional testimony from the mother of Joseph McStay. Susan Blake told jurors about the moment she learned from another son that her family members had been killed.
“Obviously, the hardest thing, my son had to tell me that they found them in the desert,” Blake said in court.
Blake also said that Merritt was the first to tell her that no one could contact Joseph McStay following the family’s disappearance. She said during the months following the disappearance, Merritt often tried to get money from Joseph McStay’s business account to complete jobs.
Photo Credit: NBC 7
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Source: NBC Los Angeles
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