The father of Joseph McStay has claimed his son’s alleged killer would still be free if another sheriff’s department had not taken over the case.
Patrick McStay has criticized the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDCSD), claiming they did not do enough in the three years they investigated the disappearance of his son and his family from their home in Fallbrook in 2010.
It follows Joseph’s brother Michael publically thanking the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBCSD) after detectives arrested 57-year-old Charles "Chase" Merritt, who was charged Friday with killing his former business partner and his family
"I knew they (SDCSD) screwed this thing up," Patrick McStay said, "All the rest was just sugar coating to make it look like they really were interested in solving, doing something. They did virtually nothing."
Patrick McStay said Merritt, who did contracting work with his son, was always someone who he believed could have had something to do with the incident.
"Chase was always somebody, you know, chasing the dollar," Patrick McStay said. "And I think that's what it was it was all about the money."
And while he is happy that a breakthrough appears to have been made in the case, he said he will continue to work to make sure justice is served.
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"There’s still things that we're looking into," Patrick McStay said, "It's not over like they say until the fat lady sings, and I don't hear her singing yet."
Joseph McStay, his wife Summer McStay and their two young children went missing in 2010 and their remains were discovered in a shallow desert grave north of Victorville last year.
At one point the SDCSD investigators suggested the missing family had gone to Mexico voluntarily.
SBCSD detectives now believe the McStays were killed in their Fallbrook home, with the cause being blunt force trauma.
The San Diego authorities told NBC4 when they went to the house they did not find any blood, and that at the time they were not looking for a murder scene, but were treating the incident as a missing persons case.
