Remains of the mysteriously vanished McStay Family have been identified

Meanwhile, the couple's two young sons are still unaccounted for as authorities work to identify the remains of two others found in the shallow graves, according to the station.

However, police have not officially confirmed that the remains belong to the McStay family. In fact, medical examiners said Wednesday the process of identifying who the bones belong to may take months.

The McStay family vanished in February 2010, abandoning their dogs and leaving food on the counter. In 2012, the San Diego Sheriff's Department ruled that the family voluntarily went to Mexico, reports KFMB.

Source: CBS News

I think I first heard about this mysterious disappearance of this family on one of those Investigation Discovery type shows a couple years back. The article doesn't say what led to the discovery of the graves or what the investigators' working hypothesis may be at this point, but foul play is a certainty since they were found in shallow graves.

Link to an awareness page set up by family

There's a thread about the McStays from August here.

reply to post by theantediluvian


how old were the sons?

DocHolidaze
reply to post by theantediluvian

 

how old were the sons?

Yeah it's either Mexican drug lords or the sons that did it.

reply to post by ldyserenity


i was thinking the sons did it, or the sons were targeted for kidnapping and the death of the parents was part of the job. I have a hard time believing this was random. The question is why this family, why did they get chosen?

reply to post by DocHolidaze


The sons were only 3 and 4 years old.

Here's some more information I just read about the discovery--sounds like they weren't discovered as part of the investigation but rather somebody stumbled upon the graves.

The remains were discovered Monday, when a off-road motorcyclist riding through the area came across a smattering of bones. The location was about 50 yards from a dirt road.

source

DocHolidaze
reply to post by theantediluvian

 

how old were the sons?

I doubt the sons did it...they were age 3 and 4 when they went missing...

Des

reply to post by Destinyone


so they were kidnaped and put into slavery and the parents were discarded I think that is the most logical reason. What happend before all that to cause there sons to be targeted. Sound like a plot for a made for tv movie.

reply to post by DocHolidaze


They lived in an upscale home in an upper middle class neighborhood in San Diego area. It could have been a home invasion by illegals, who stole their car, kidnapped and killed them. Who knows what happened to the little boys. Maybe sold.

It's all so sad actually. I remember the case, the family vanished into thin air from their home, no money removed from the bank, and plenty there too. Father had good paying job and no debt problems.

Des

The bodies of the two boys, ages 3 and 4, were most likely among the remains. The article says the two adults were identified by their dental records and the two children have not been identified yet (most likely do not have dental records as they were so young). There were four bodies in shallow graves and scattered nearby.

I remember this case, sad ending...I hoped that this family had gone off to mexico with a lump of cash to avoid something and was just living their life somewhere.

I think it's pretty evident that Joseph was involved in something illegal or at least trying to be. He had a ton of money in the bank (100k?) and was a independent contractor who installed water fountains. Those fountains I think are the ones that are made in mexico that you see when you drive south of Tijuana at the stands on the side of the road (down to Rosarito Beach if any of you have been that way).

I'd imagine that these fountains were ways to smuggle drugs into the US. Maybe joseph got into some serious debt with his suppliers or maybe even some of his connections here in the US. He probably had oodles of cash laying around since the 100K in his bank account was fine. Probably figured he'd make his way down to mexico with some cash and his family and either settle up with his suppliers or pay his suppliers off to hide him from whoever he was hiding from. More then likely, his suppliers saw a desperate dude with a car full of cash and killed him and that was it.

That would be my fiction as to what happened, but I'm certain based on the facts I've heard that there's something that stinks in this story and it has to do with mexico, drugs and money.

Granted it's a year old thread, but they finally made an arrest on Wednesday in the case of this missing family.

They arrested a business associate/sub contractor that worked for the McStay's and considered the elder McStay his "best friend"....

www.pe.com...

I don't buy they where beaten to death in the home - remember seeing this case on "Missing" - the house was essentially clean...how did this guy beat 2 adults & 2 kids to death & leave the house with no blood in the residence?

They had surveillance video of the family crossing the border walking into Mexico - something seems sketchy about this whole case.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
reply to post by DocHolidaze

 

The sons were only 3 and 4 years old.

Here's some more information I just read about the discovery--sounds like they weren't discovered as part of the investigation but rather somebody stumbled upon the graves.

The remains were discovered Monday, when a off-road motorcyclist riding through the area came across a smattering of bones. The location was about 50 yards from a dirt road.

source

That's a hit. Definately sounds to me like they had a professional on the job.

originally posted by: BABYBULL24
I don't buy they where beaten to death in the home - remember seeing this case on "Missing" - the house was essentially clean...how did this guy beat 2 adults & 2 kids to death & leave the house with no blood in the residence?

They had surveillance video of the family crossing the border walking into Mexico - something seems sketchy about this whole case.

i agree, i can't see them being killed in the house...look forward to more info coming out. Though they never positively ID'd the McStay's as being on the video.

a reply to: bg_socalif

Crap! I missed this on the regular news. SO GLAD to hear there was an arrest made! It was disappointing the bodies had been found - I was hoping they ran to Mexico somewhere and were fine, just hiding. Thanks for posting.

originally posted by: bg_socalif

originally posted by: BABYBULL24
I don't buy they where beaten to death in the home - remember seeing this case on "Missing" - the house was essentially clean...how did this guy beat 2 adults & 2 kids to death & leave the house with no blood in the residence?

They had surveillance video of the family crossing the border walking into Mexico - something seems sketchy about this whole case.

i agree, i can't see them being killed in the house...look forward to more info coming out. Though they never positively ID'd the McStay's as being on the video.

The guy's mother or brother or both said that it was him on the video. The only reason i brought it up - i think the wife's sister said it wasn't them.