S02.E03: Shallow Grave

[Drogo]

When a young family suddenly vanishes from their Southern California dream home, friends and family are left with dozens of unanswered questions. Authorities suspect they fled the country, until an unlikely source uncovers the truth.

[walnutqueen]

The trial of Charles Merrit, which was supposed to start this month, has been delayed again, and is now scheduled for January.

I remember this case as it unfolded, and all the speculation in the press about what happened to the McStay family.   There were some wild theories out there.  The case was also presented on an episode of Disappeared.

[Fable]

This one was very strange.  So many things don’t make sense.  Unless there are a lot of things that were left out, I don’t see how there can possibly be a conviction for the man they arrested.  There is no forensic evidence at the house and very little in the SUV.  Also weird how their vehicle ended up near the Mexico border and a very similar looking family was seen crossing over, and why was the mother looking up passport information?  Clearly their remains were found, so we know they are deceased, but again, too much remains a mystery. 

[Yokosmom]

Quote

 Unless there are a lot of things that were left out, I don’t see how there can possibly be a conviction for the man they arrested.  There is no forensic evidence at the house and very little in the SUV.

 I'm not sure why the show said that there were no forensics at the house, as I read (somewhere) that there was blood spatter under the paint on the walls.  The house was being painted when the family disappeared.  The friend who was painting the house that week said that the painting materials had been moved from where he left them. As to Merritt, it was his dna on the gearshift on the car left at the Mexican border, (a car he claimed that he had never been in), the bodies were found very near where he used to live (and quite far from where the McStay's lived), he has an extremely lengthy criminal record, he's the last person known to have seen Joseph McStay, and within a day or so after the disappearance, he was embezzling from McStay's business account (which, how would he dare to do, unless he knew that they weren't around and not coming back?) He also claimed to have gotten a phone call on the night that the McStays disappeared, with only his long term girlfriend backing him up.  Prosecutors may have gotten her to flip on him, though there is no way to know yet.  He certainly knows how to game the court system--he's done everything legally in his power to delay the trial.