McStay Family of 4 missing in So California-Missing since 2/04/10

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.thevillagenews.com/story/46479/
Debbie Ramsey
Managing Editor

Thursday, March 25th, 2010.
Issue 12, Volume 14.

The investigation into the disappearance of the McStay family of four last seen on Feb. 4 is more focused in Mexico at this time, authorities said, after video surveillance tapes revealed a family generally matching their description was spotted crossing the US/Mexico border at approximately 7 p.m. on Feb. 7.

However, Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Brugos said authorities cannot positively identify that it was the McStay family in the film footage they reviewed.

"Family members looked at the video and the clothing the family was wearing, and were ‘pretty certain’ it was them, but the film was shot from the rear, so there is a little bit of uncertainty about it," said Brugos. "We are saying there is a high probability it was the McStays. Some of the family members were more certain about it than others."

Brugos also said the family depicted on the tape "didn’t appear to be under any kind of duress when they were crossing the border."

Assuming the family crossed into Mexico, Brugos said the focus of the investigation is now centered in Mexico.

"Our international liaisons are working with the Mexican officials," he said. "It is definitely still an ongoing investigation."

Brugos also confirmed that the investigation has not yet revealed any suspected wrongdoing, criminal involvement, or evidence of foul play.

"There is nothing that has jumped out at us that suggests criminal activity," said Brugos. "If [the McStays] voluntarily left the country, there is nothing unlawful about that, but it’s a little unusual."

Brugos said numerous questions have come to his mind, "Was this planned?" "Were they just going out for the evening?" "Did they plan on going out to dinner in Tijuana and something went wrong?" Brugos said if the family had been victims of a kidnapping, a demand would probably have been made.

"Generally if people get in trouble, family or friends hear about it," he said. Brugos said relatives of the family have continually reported they have not heard from them.

"Many we have interviewed have said the family would never, ever go to Mexico," said Brugos. "Now, as the investigation has progressed, some say they ‘might’ have gone there; that the husband may have gone there for a business purpose."
Brugos said the family Advertisement
West Coast Auto Registration
West Coast Auto Registration did use various cell phones in the past, but the corresponding phone they made calls from on Feb. 4 has not been recovered in the investigation.

"Those phones have not been found," he confirmed.

Brugos remains baffled. "I’ve never seen a case like this. Sometimes people will take off for a weekend or slightly more without notifying anyone, but they don’t leave their dogs without food or water, leave food on their kitchen counter, and drop out of sight."

Detectives have examined the Mc Stay family’s 1996 Isuzu Trooper that was discovered in an impound lot about four hours after they were believed to be seen on the video tape crossing into Mexico, as well as their home located in the Lake Rancho Viejo area of the Fallbrook/Bonsall area.

"We have not found any evidence of a struggle or a forced entry anywhere," said Brugos. "If [the family] met with tragedy, I just have a feeling we would have known that by now."

Joseph McStay’s business associates appear to be just as puzzled as law enforcement. "They are just as baffled as we are and concerned about the business that he was a partner in," said Brugos.

Brugos did give significant credit to the Center for Missing or Exploited Children for a role they played in the investigation.

"We are very appreciative of what they have done for us in this investigation; they have worldwide contacts," said Brugos. "They also brought in a team and spent hours going through the border surveillance tapes and narrowed it down to the segment we believe may have been the McStay family." Brugos said the review of the tapes was no small task.

"The number of people that cross that border daily is around 100,000; I can’t say enough good things about that organization; they were very gracious," he said.
The McStay family’s relatives have created a Web site, www.McStayFamily.com, to keep the case before the public and San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 has offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case. Anyone with information on the McStays’ whereabouts has been asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at (858) 974-2321.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.mcstayfamily.com/

Photos of the family, updates and paypal for donations. 

[Wyks]

Joey has 2 partners in his business.  One is Chase Merritt, but the other partner has not been 'named' publically yet.  It feels odd to me that he/she hasn't been named or spoken of by the family or LE. 

[klaasend]

Summer worked for Vernazza Realty in Rancho Santa Margarita at one time:

http://www.socalmls.com/Office/OfficeInfo.aspx?OfficeID=212932

Under the name of Summer Martelli:



A search of the email gives you this:

http://www.spokeo.com/email/search?e=summergrl%40hotmail.com




FWIW - Chase Merritt is a Real Estate Investment company in Newport Beach, CA

[klaasend]

http://www.earthinspiredproducts.com/about-us.htm

[klaasend]

My personal opinion is that the family has disappeared themselves.  They are running away from debt.  They may have been putting money in a Mexican bank account for some time?  IMO they are flakes.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/29/e-mails-link-mcstays-mexico-authorities-say/
E-mails link McStays to Mexico, authorities say

By Leslie Berestein, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Monday, March 29, 2010 at 3:54 p.m.

FALLBROOK — Sheriff’s investigators say a missing Fallbrook family’s computer records indicate they had been looking into passport rules for children traveling to Mexico.

Homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said investigators found e-mails sent to unspecified recipients in late January that indicated Joseph and Summer McStay were asking about entry into Mexico.

The couple and their two small children, who lived in Fallbrook, were last seen Feb. 4. Their sport utility vehicle was found parked near the border four days later.

“It appears they went into Mexico of their own volition,” said Brugos, who would not say to whom the e-mails were sent. “There is nothing to suggest any coercion or anything like that, at least that we have uncovered…this still isn’t a criminal investigation.”

Relatives, however, say they are worried and baffled as to their disappearance. They said the family had not given any indication to relatives that they were going anywhere.

Joseph McStay, 40, is a businessman who operated an indoor water fountain business.

“The whole thing does not make any sense to me at all,” said Joseph’s brother, Mike McStay, who lives in Orange County.

Friends and relatives have also said that Summer McStay, 43, had expressed concerns about safety in Mexico in the past. While her husband had traveled there, she wasn’t interested in going with the children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3.

Their home showed no signs of a planned trip: Perishable food had been left out in the kitchen, their two dogs were left uncared for, and Summer McStay’s passport was expired. Investigators confirmed that Joseph McStay had a valid passport, though the children did not. Mike McStay said that a grandmother had their youngest son’s birth certificate, required for re-entry to the United States for minors under 16.

Sherriff’s investigators have been working with Baja California state police, which has followed up on tips and checked hotels, transportation centers, hospitals, the Tijuana morgue and and other sources with no success.

The McStays’ white Isuzu Trooper was found in a parking lot by the border in San Ysidro Feb. 8, the same night a Border Patrol video recorded two adults and two small children walking toward the border turnstile into Mexico. However, investigators have not been able to enhance the video enough to identify its subjects.

Investigators have also viewed a surveillance video taken by a neighbor’s security camera Feb 4. that shows a vehicle backing out of the McStays’ driveway at 7:47 p.m. The tape ended at about midnight, said Mike McStay, who has also seen it, and there is no sign of the car returning before then.

Brugos said that because of its angle, the surveillance tape does not show people getting into the car, and that it is also difficult to identify the vehicle.

Leslie Berestein: (619) 293-1542; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com

[Edward]

volition ...
Latin word, Medevil term.. for desire or will..


check them out is Zacatecas there is a nice hotel made out of an ancient bull ring..
Or Oaxaca, they made a nice hotel out of Montezuma daughters, Isabel Moctezuma home/palace.

I ate red crickets there once thinking it was red peppers.. later I noticed the legs.. 

They are probably hiding out in any number of out of the way places..
It is easy to get lost in deep Mexico.

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/22995212/detail.html

New Clues Uncovered In Disappearance Of McStay Family
McStay Family Missing Nearly Two Months

POSTED: 8:48 pm PDT March 29, 2010
UPDATED: 9:04 pm PDT March 29, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- It's been nearly two months and a Fallbrook family's disappearance remains a mystery but new clues are emerging that suggest the McStays might have gone willingly.

Sheriff's deputies told 10News they just got the forensic results back from the McStay family computer and what they found leads them to believe their disappearance was very well planned.

"They were making inquiries concerning travel in Mexico and passports which would indicate there was some type of planning ahead that we weren't aware of before today," San Diego Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said Monday.

Brugos says the McStays made that computer search on Jan. 28, one week before the family was last seen. The new information falls in line with the theory investigators had when they found video taken at the border of two adults and two small children crossing into Mexico. The video was shot on Feb. 8, the same day Joseph and Summer McStay's SUV was found abandoned just a few blocks from the border.

"We had been somewhat focused on the fact there's a high probablity they had entered Mexico on their own volition and this somewhat reinforces that," Brugos said.

With an entire team of sheriff's deputies, Mexican liasons, and the Center For Missing And Exploited Children devoted just to this case, the question now is: how many resources should they continue to lend?

Brugos said, "Law enforcement has put in a great deal of time and effort trying to locate them and if they could simply contact someone and let us know they're all right that would be a huge relief to a lot of people."

[Edward]

I think that people do have a right "although it is not written" to RUN !!

As long as they are ok and have not been hurt or hurt anyone..Then..Run !

I have no probelm with this.. There are people that need help.

These people are obviously professionals.

I envy them, there are many times in my life I should have run.. but I am a dummy I just stand there and take on lifes battles, like it is gonna prove something..

 

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.foxnUpdated March 30, 2010
Computer Records Give Clues in Case of U.S. Family Missing in Mexico

FOXNews.com

Investigators find e-mails indicating California couple was asking about entry into Mexico shortly before they disappeared with their children.ews.com/us/2010/03/30/records-clues-case-family-missing-mexico/

San Diego County sheriff's investigators say a missing California family's computer records show they had been looking into passport rules for children traveling to Mexico.

Homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos says investigators found e-mails indicating Joseph and Summer McStay were asking about entry into Mexico shortly before they disappeared.

The couple and their two young sons were last seen on Feb. 4.

"It appears they went into Mexico of their own volition," the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Brugos, who would not say to whom the e-mails were sent. "There is nothing to suggest any coercion or anything like that, at least that we have uncovered … this still isn’t a criminal investigation."

Last month, investigators said surveillance video may have captured images of the missing Fallbrook, Calif., family crossing the border on foot. The McStays' white Isuzu Trooper was found in a nearby parking lot.

Investigators have not been able to enhance the video enough to confirm the identities of the people in it.
However, relatives have called the disappearance out of character, especially since the couple left their dogs at home and food rotting in their kitchen.

Family members said the McStays did not give any indication they were going away, and are skeptical that the family is in Mexico. They added that Summer, 43, had openly expressed concerns about safety in Mexico, the Union-Tribune reported. She did not want to travel there with Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, according to family.

Joseph McStay, 40, runs an indoor water fountain business, and his brother Mike told the Union-Tribune that nothing about the scenario makes sense to him.

Detectives have found no evidence that the McStays had financial problems or were facing threats.

Click here to read more on this story from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

[Wyks]

Thanks Trimm!   

From that article just posted above, this sounds like an actual "bombshell"....

"Investigators find e-mails indicating California couple was asking about entry into Mexico shortly before they disappeared with their children"

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/california.missing.family/
Police: Missing California family may have disappeared intentionally
By Gabriel Falcon, CNN
March 30, 2010 8:17 p.m. EDT
CNN)  -- New evidence strongly suggests a Southern California family that disappeared in early February voluntarily left for Mexico, investigators said Tuesday.

But key questions about the mystery remain, and the apparent inactivity of bank cards, credit cards and cellphones since they vanished continues to baffle police and trouble family members.

"I've been in this business for over 35 years but never seen anything like this," Lt. Dennis Brugos of the San Diego Sheriff's Department told CNN.

"This whole thing doesn't add up," Michael McStay, the brother of Joseph McStay, said in a phone interview. "If they left, I don't need to know why. The bottom line is, I need to make sure they are OK."

Information gathered on the home computer of Joseph and Summer McStay indicates the couple was making travel inquires about Mexico on the Internet a week before they were reported missing, Brugos said.

"It had to do with travel in Mexico with children and whether you needed to have passports for children," Brugos said. "It looks as if there were some planning."
The McStays and their children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3, have not been seen or heard from since February 4.

The McStays' two dogs were found unattended, without food or water, in the San Diego-area home, investigators said.

McStay's brother, who initially feared the family might have been kidnapped, still believes they are in danger.

"They can't fend for themselves," he said. "If something did happen in Mexico, I would not be able to live with myself."
A sport utility vehicle belonging to the McStays was found abandoned on February 8 two blocks from the San Ysidro border checkpoint into Mexico, authorities said.

Surveillance video taken that evening appears to show the family "casually" walking into Mexico, the sheriff's department said.

Brugos believed the four individuals seen on the security footage bear a strong resemblance to the missing family, including the hats the children wore and the woman's boots and coat.

Brugos said the sheriff's office was meeting Tuesday with the department's liaison detectives in Mexico.

"There is nothing to suggest any criminal involvement in their disappearance, but we would like to find the family," Brugos said.
Michael McStay, who said he will be handing out fliers at the San Ysirdo checkpoint and canvassing the stores, is desperate for any information.

"Who knows what happens once you leave U.S. soil?" he said. "We've all seen the news about what goes on down there. Even if they left voluntarily, were they going down for a weekend and never made it back? What would compel someone to go? I have no idea. If they left it would have had to be something heavy.

"It just doesn't make sense."

Joseph McStay is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Summer McStay, also known as Lisa Aranda-Martelli, is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 115 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the McStay family is urged to contact Sgt. Dave Martinez of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at 858-565-5200. Anonymous calls can be made to 888-580-8477.

A Web site, http://www.mcstayfamily.com/, has been set up in an effort to help locate the family.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.knx1070.com/New-Info-About-Missing-San-Diego-Family/6690383
New Info About Missing San Diego Family
03/31/10

LOS ANGELES (KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO)  -- New information is coming out about a San Diego County family that's been missing for nearly two months.

Joseph and Summer McStay and their two young sons haven't been heard from since leaving their Fallbrook home in early February. And their car was later found abandoned near the Mexican border.

Now, investigators say the family's computer shows that the parents had been looking-up information about the rules for taking kids into Mexico. Police say as far as they can tell, the family crossed the border deliberately. But what happened after that is still a mystery.

[Tamikosmom]

It may be a first but ... this wannabe detective is one with Jane Velez-Mitchell on this issue.  The quick trip may have been anticipated but ... something went terribly wrong immediately upon crossing the border.  Was a potential business client waiting to pick the family up?

I get a hinky feeling about Joseph McStay's business associate ... the last person that McStay spoke to prior to disappearing with his family.  Why did the red flags not start waving when McStay did not show up for work for eleven days?

Janet

+++++++

ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Aired March 31, 2010 - 19:00:00   ET

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: That was Joseph McStay`s mom. Brand new details tonight. Police say the McStays searched for information about traveling to Mexico and passport rules for kids in the days before they vanished. Did they stage their own disappearance? Dunnie Texas (ph), your question or thought, ma`am.

CALLER: Yes. My question is why did they wait 11 days to call them in missing when they`d seen the house?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Let`s go over the timeline. Leslie Berestein, they disappeared February 4th, a Thursday, and they called a business associate that night at 8:37 p.m. It was just about an hour after they left their home. The leaving of the home was caught on surveillance video by a neighbor. And they made a call to the business associate of the dad that lasted one minute.

That was the last activity either of the families, two cell phones, had. And four days later their car shows up near the Mexican border at around the same time as the surveillance video of what some believe are them crossing the Mexican border. That`s correct, right?

LESLIE BERESTEIN, REPORTER, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: That night, yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: My theory is OK, they get a phone call or they make a phone call to a business associate. Something is said to them that triggers this desire to suddenly go to Mexico. They go to Mexico. They think they`re going to have a rendezvous or some business transaction, they`re going to come right back. But something untoward happens down there.

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/31/ijvm.02.html

[klaasend]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/01/fbi-join-search-missing-family/

FBI to join search for missing family

By Leslie Berestein, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 5:25 p.m.

FALLBROOK — The FBI is joining the search for a Fallbrook family that has been missing for almost two months and is believed to be in Mexico.

Homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said the federal agents will be briefed on the case Friday. “They have more resources in Mexico,” Brugos said.

FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth in San Diego acknowledged the briefing and provided no other details about the agency’s involvement.

Businessman Joseph McStay, his wife Summer and their two young sons were last heard from Feb. 4. Their white Isuzu Trooper was found in a San Ysidro parking lot near the border four days later.

Brugos said that while the investigation continues in both countries, the primary focus is on Mexico. Earlier this week, investigators said the couple’s computer records revealed that the week before they disappeared, inquiries were made about passport requirements for traveling to Mexico with children. The McStays have two children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3.

Sheriff’s homicide investigators have been working with the state Department of Justice and with law enforcement agencies in Mexico, including Tijuana police, Baja California state police and the Baja California attorney general’s office.

Investigators there have checked transportation centers, hotels, hospitals and other sources within Baja California and followed leads beyond the border region, including in the Los Cabos area.

Jesus Quinones, an international liaison for the Baja California state attorney general’s office, said information about the missing family has been shared with state agencies throughout Mexico and with the national immigration service, which checks foreign travelers’ documents at airports and highway checkpoints.

While it’s presumed that they crossed the border, he said, to date, nothing has turned up.

“We are searching, but so far, there has been no indication that they are in Mexico,” Quinones said.

Joseph McStay’s brother, Mike McStay, said the computer inquiries were made to About.com, a site to which users can send in questions. The inquiries were made Jan. 27 and 28, he said.

McStay said he is glad the FBI will be joining the search. But the recent news that the family might have planned to go to Mexico has not put relatives any more at ease.

Relatives of both Joseph, 40, and Summer, 43, say it would be uncharacteristic of them to simply pick up and leave the country without telling family members.

“I know I should feel a little bit better, but I don’t,” said Summer McStay’s sister, Tracy Russell, 40. She last spoke to her sister on the phone Feb. 4.

“My mother is distraught. I don’t think my sister would torture my mom like that.”

Russell, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga, said her sister had told her during that last conversation that she was planning to visit her next week.

She said that her sister had visited Baja California many years ago, but that given the violence there in recent years, she had no interest in returning and would not take her sons. Furthermore, she said, her sister is a stickler for proper use of car seats; the family Trooper was found with the childrens’ car seats inside.

Mike McStay, 37, who lives in Orange County, said the news this week has prompted more tips about possible sightings to a Web site he has set up, which he has forwarded to authorities. So far, he has heard no word from investigators as to any possible destination, if there was one.

Neither of the McStays is fluent in Spanish, according to relatives. And only Joseph McStay has a valid passport; his wife’s is expired. Their youngest son’s birth certificate, required for re-entry to the United States by minors under 16, is with a grandmother.

Mike McStay said he has applied for a passport so that he can travel to Mexico if necessary. He still has a hard time with the idea that the family would pick up and leave, but at least there is more direction to the investigation, he said.

“I don’t know that they are safe,” McStay said. “All I know is that I have a direction to go in with the case. If I have to go there myself, I am going there myself.”

[trimmonthelake]

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/02/possible-sighting-of-missing-california-family/
April 2, 2010
Possible sighting of missing California family?
Posted: 10:00 AM ET
Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

Possible sightings in Mexico of a missing California family have been reported to a relative's web site.

According to an update on www.mcstayfamily.com, the potential sightings were received on Thursday and the information was forwarded to authorities.

In related news, the FBI has now reportedly joined in the search for Joseph and Summer McStay, and their children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3. They have not been seen or heard from since February 4.

Police said the family's two dogs were left in the McStay's San Diego area home unattended and without food and water.

Their abandoned SUV was found blocks from the San Ysidro checkpoint on February 8, the San Diego Sheriff's Department said.

They also believe four individuals who appeared on security tape walking across the border on that same day are the Mcstays.

In addition, officials this week revealed that travel inquiries to Mexico, including questions about passports for children, were made from a computer in the Mcstay home days before the family vanished.

"I've been in this business for over 35 years but never seen anything like this," Lt. Dennis Brugos of the San Diego Sheriff's Department told CNN.
This whole thing doesn't add up," Michael McStay, the brother of Joseph McStay, said in a phone interview. "If they left, I don't need to know why. The bottom line is, I need to make sure they are OK."

Michael McStay, who created the Mcstay Family web site, plans on conducting his own search in San Ysidro this weekend.

"In light of the new information from the SD Sheriff's Dept, I am coordinating another flyer distribution down at the border crossing this Saturday April 3rd 10  a.m., he said."

He is asking volunteers to meet him in the parking lot near the Sunrise Buffet and Bancomer Bank where the Isuzu Trooper was towed. The address is 4498 Camino de la Plaza.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the McStay family is urged to contact Sgt. Dave Martinez of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at 858-565-5200. Anonymous calls can be made to 888-580-8477.

For more crime coverage go to cnn.com/crime.

[klaasend]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/02/mcstay-brother-distribute-fliers-saturday/

Missing McStays: Kin to gather at the border

By Angela Lau, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Originally published April 2, 2010 at 3:56 p.m., updated April 2, 2010 at 5:28 p.m.

FALLBROOK — Family and friends of a missing Fallbrook family will hand out fliers Saturday at the San Ysidro shopping center where the McStays’ white Isuzu Trooper was found four days after they disappeared.

The fliers will ask in English and Spanish, “Have you seen us?” and will print the photographs of businessman Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and children Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3.

“This is a starting point,” said McStay’s brother Mike, who is driving down from San Clemente to distribute 3,000 to 5,000 fliers.

He said he has obtained a passport and is prepared to go to Mexico to search for his relatives if clues lead him in that direction.

[klaasend]

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12251603

Multiple sightings of missing family in Mexico
Posted: Apr 03, 2010 8:31 AM PDT Updated: Apr 03, 2010 8:31 AM PDT

SAN DIEGO, Calif (CBS - A family friend of the Mcstay's has told News 8 that the family has been sighted several times in a small village in Mexico, providing some hope.

The FBI was briefed today on this baffling case, and will now use their resources south of the border to re-energize the search.


Like I said before, my personal opinion is that this family disappeared themselves.  There's a reason why Summer has had multiple alias's 

[Edward]

I tink Yer Right