The McStay Family - 2010

[LadyBlue]

The McStay family went missing from their home in Falbrook, CA, in February of 2010. Joseph McStay, 40, and his wife Summer, 43, apparently left home in their Isuzu Trooper on the night of February 4 with their two children–Gianni, 4, and Joseph, Jr., 3. Aside from a call Joseph made to one of his co-workers that night, the family has never been heard from again.

There was no sign of forced entry or struggle at the home, which the family had only recently moved into. On February 8, the Trooper was towed from a strip mall parking lot within walking distance of a pedestrian crossing into Mexico. The police scoured video footage from the crossing that night, and concluded that one group of people walking across the border–a man holding the hand of a small boy, followed by a woman holding the hand of another small boy–could very well have been the McStay family. The woman is wearing boots and jackets similar to ones owned by Summer, but family members say the man is too tall and thin to be Jospeh McStay.

While detectives believe the family may have willingly traveled to Mexico–based in part upon an internet search conducted at the home about children visiting Mexico–the fact that they did not return seems to indicate foul play. The family left $40,000 in their personal checking and savings accounts, money which has not been accessed since their disappearance. Joseph also had $65,000 in a business account, and the small withdrawals that have been made from that account are business expense withdrawals conducted by employees. The McStays maintained close relationships with Joseph’s parents, his brother, and Summer’s sister, and Joseph was also very close to his 14-year-old son by a previous marriage. Family members insist they would never abandon their loved ones intentionally. They also left behind two dogs, beloved family pets.
michellerichmond.com/sanserif/2012/01/26/what-happened-to-the-mcstay-family/

[LadyBlue]

New cell tower info indicates that the missing McStay family was in Bonsall.

The strange and vexing case of the missing McStay family has been widely documented. National newspapers and television programs have distributed hundreds of stories, seen by millions of viewers. The net result of all this press? Zero valid leads. But today there is renewed interest in the case as cell tower records reveal that the two mobile phones of Joseph and Summer McStay last pinged a pair of T-Mobile towers along Highway 76 in Bonsall, at a point seven miles west of the family’s home in Fallbrook.

San Diego County Sheriffs, the agency in charge of the investigation, have withheld this information from the public and from the relatives of the missing McStay family for nearly eighteen months. The cell tower records surfaced during a recent investigation by iR3, a rescue and recovery organization working on behalf of the mother and the brother of Joseph McStay. iR3 specializes in searches for people missing in the U.S. and Mexico.

At 7:47 p.m. on Thursday, February 4th of last year, a neighbor’s security camera was triggered when the McStays’ white 1996 Isuzu Trooper left the family home on Avocado Vista in Fallbrook.

The camera did not capture the occupants of the vehicle. From the beginning it appeared to investigators and to friends and family that Joseph and Summer McStay left the home voluntarily with their two toddlers, Gianni and Joseph, Jr. Food items, including eggs and vegetables, had been left sitting on the counters and furniture. A disposable diaper had been left in a sink. The house, which the McStays had purchased out of foreclosure just two months earlier, was undergoing significant renovations. For weeks, Summer McStay had been actively using Craigslist and other web sites to find deals on second-hand appliances and discounted home items. When investigators first entered the home they found the downstairs walls half-painted, with the blue masking tape still in place. A roller pan was full of paint. A pallet of new wood flooring sat in the foyer, still wrapped in plastic. The flooring was scheduled to be installed after the weekend. The family’s two beloved dogs had been left in the back yard without food or water.

After the 7:47 p.m. departure that Thursday night, Joseph McStay’s mobile phone – a T-Mobile G1 Android – received no further incoming calls. It made only one outbound call.

At 8:28 p.m., Joseph McStay’s phone dialed his business partner Chase Merritt. Records indicate a call duration of one minute. No further calls or text were ever made or received.

It is now being reported that the call to Merritt was made from within a one-and-a-half mile radius of a cell tower that sits beside the old Bonsall bridge that spans the wide and densely overgrown bed of the San Luis Rey River.

The mobile phone belonging to Summer McStay registered its final call at 4:42 that same Thursday afternoon. Disconcertingly, though, her phone continued to receive text messages after the disappearance – eight, in total. Three texts sent by family friend McGyver McCargar arrived on Friday. The last four texts, including two messages from Dan Kavanaugh, an associate of Joseph McStay, arrived on Saturday. The final text message registered at 10:59 a.m., presumably just before the mobile phone’s battery was exhausted.

Some of these text messages to Summer McStay pinged the same T-Mobile tower as Joseph McStay’s phone call on the night of the disappearance. The other text messages pinged a companion tower on the opposite side of the river.

This data is important to search and recovery efforts, states an iR3 investigator who, by policy of the organization, must remain unnamed during the course of an active investigation.
ir3.org/new-cell-tower-info-shows-the-missing-mcstay-family-was-in-bonsall/

[LadyBlue]

Search Continues for Missing Fallbrook Family

It's been two years since a Fallbrook family of four went missing and one of their relatives is still looking for clues in their disappearance.

In February 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife Summer and two sons suddenly vanished from their home in Fallbrook, leaving virtually no clues as to what happened to them.

In an exclusive interview with NBC 7, Joseph’s brother, Mike McStay, said he has been desperately searching from day one and that it has become an obsession.

Sitting at the computer for hours on end, Mike McStay checks the website he created for his brother Joseph and his family which features pictures of Joseph's wife and two small sons Gianni and Joseph Junior.

People from nearly everywhere have been sending Mike McStay information on possible sightings.
"You think you're on a trail and the door just gets shut in your face," McStay said.

The frustration over the case also weighs heavily on homicide detectives.

Detective Sergeant Dave Martinez says all investigators found at the McStays home in Fallbrook were eggs on the counter and the family dogs, who were left unfed.

"There was no evidence of a struggle and there was no evidence of a forced entry," Martinez said.

Investigators did get one clue from Joseph's cellphone. At about 8:30, an hour after the family left the home, a call went through a cell tower in the Bonsall area. According the show "E! Investigates," the call appears to have been made near the old Bonsall Bridge.

"I've always wanted to search that area," said McStay, "now there were a lot of rains that year, wash outs and stuff, and I'm not sure what we'll find, but to me personally that's something that is plausible."

However, investigators say it appears the McStays went willingly to Mexico.

In a grainy video taken at the border, a family who resembles the McStays can be seen walking across the border.

"It's compelling. It tells you that it could be them," McStay said. But he has his doubts.

Mctsay says the man in the video appears to be carrying an infant on his chest possibly in a baby byorn. Furthermore, he said his brother has a teenage son from a previous marriage and would never willingly cut off their relationship.

"They're not cruel people they wouldn't put their families through this," McStay said. "I know them. I don't think they would behave that way."
www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Search-Continues-for-Missing-Fallbrook-Family-mcstay-138709269.html

[LadyBlue]

Disappeared - 03x01 - Mystery at the border - McStay family

[LadyBlue]

Border Surveillance Video - Possibly the McStay Family