Former business partner to face trial in slayings of family
Source: Associated Press
Former business partner to face trial in slayings of family
By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press | June 15, 2015 | Updated: June 15, 2015 8:17pm
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A California man was ordered to stand trial Monday for murder in the killing of his business partner, his partner's wife and the couple's two young sons, whose remains were found in shallow desert graves more than three years after they disappeared.
A judge made the ruling in the case against Charles "Chase" Merritt after witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing that Merritt had cashed checks written from victim Joseph McStay's online business account after he and his family vanished in 2010 that were backdated to the last day they were seen.
Authorities found the victims' fractured skulls and other remains in 2013 in two shallow graves about 100 miles from the family's San Diego County home. They also found a rusty, three-pound sledgehammer and a child's pants and diaper. The elder McStay had an electric cord tied around his neck and was wrapped in a woven blanket.
Detectives questioned Merritt two days after a missing persons report was filed for the family when he used the past tense to describe McStay, who he called one of his best friends.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Prosecutors-to-make-case-in-death-of-family-6327087.php
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