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

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/23536548/detail.html

Possible McStay Family Sighting Investigated
Waiter Says He Served McStays, Map Could Show Fingerprints

POSTED: 10:50 pm PDT May 12, 2010
UPDATED: 7:10 am PDT May 13, 2010

SAN YSIDRO -- Investigators in Baja California are knocking on doors on Wednesday in search of the missing McStay family after new clues give family members hope that the McStays are still alive.

New information suggests the McStays may have been spotted in late February in a Mexican town about 230 miles from the parking lot where their car was found abandoned Feb. 8. a few blocks from the San Ysidro border crossing.

A waiter at a restaurant in El Rosario Baja California told a McStay family friend who was distributing missing flyers there in late April that a child who looked just like Joseph McStay, Jr. stepped in for a bite to eat in late February with a family that closely resembled the McStays.

“This brings a ray of hope because you know, it takes the worst out of the equation,” said Michael McStay, the brother of Joseph McStay.

The ray of hope is a map that the family may have left behind. Staff at Mama Espinosa’s restaurant said the family that resembled the McStays left the map after they ate.

Michael McStay said the FBI is now testing fingerprints found on the map and expects the results within a few days.

“If they can get a partial or anything then I’m gonna know they definitely had their hands on it,” said McStay.

Leslie Berestein, from The San Diego Union-Tribune, which is also a media partner with 10News, said the Baja California State Police Department is taking the tip seriously.

“Seven investigators were sent yesterday. They arrived last night and they’re going to spend the next couple of days just combing the area looking for clues, looking for more concrete evidence,” said Berestein.

Baja California state police also told Berestein that they want people to confirm sightings of the family.

“Look, it was late February. We don’t expect them to be there. It’s unlikely they’ll be there, but we’re just hoping to find people who can just tell us, yes, they were here,” said Berestein.

IMO this is going to turn out to be a drug deal either gone BAD or gone exactly as planned.  I still say they have disappeared themselves. 

Rob - I don't get why all the effort for this particular family either especially when there is no sign of foul play.

[Samantha]

http://www.10news.com/news/23536548/detail.html

Possible McStay Family Sighting Investigated
Waiter Says He Served McStays, Map Could Show Fingerprints

POSTED: 10:50 pm PDT May 12, 2010
UPDATED: 7:10 am PDT May 13, 2010

SAN YSIDRO -- Investigators in Baja California are knocking on doors on Wednesday in search of the missing McStay family after new clues give family members hope that the McStays are still alive.

New information suggests the McStays may have been spotted in late February in a Mexican town about 230 miles from the parking lot where their car was found abandoned Feb. 8. a few blocks from the San Ysidro border crossing.

A waiter at a restaurant in El Rosario Baja California told a McStay family friend who was distributing missing flyers there in late April that a child who looked just like Joseph McStay, Jr. stepped in for a bite to eat in late February with a family that closely resembled the McStays.

“This brings a ray of hope because you know, it takes the worst out of the equation,” said Michael McStay, the brother of Joseph McStay.

The ray of hope is a map that the family may have left behind. Staff at Mama Espinosa’s restaurant said the family that resembled the McStays left the map after they ate.

Michael McStay said the FBI is now testing fingerprints found on the map and expects the results within a few days.

“If they can get a partial or anything then I’m gonna know they definitely had their hands on it,” said McStay.

Leslie Berestein, from The San Diego Union-Tribune, which is also a media partner with 10News, said the Baja California State Police Department is taking the tip seriously.

“Seven investigators were sent yesterday. They arrived last night and they’re going to spend the next couple of days just combing the area looking for clues, looking for more concrete evidence,” said Berestein.

Baja California state police also told Berestein that they want people to confirm sightings of the family.

“Look, it was late February. We don’t expect them to be there. It’s unlikely they’ll be there, but we’re just hoping to find people who can just tell us, yes, they were here,” said Berestein.

IMO this is going to turn out to be a drug deal either gone BAD or gone exactly as planned.  I still say they have disappeared themselves. 

Rob - I don't get why all the effort for this particular family either especially when there is no sign of foul play.

Maybe all the effort is because its connected to drugs and not necessarily about the safety of the family. Maybe they are investigating based on a drug connection but under the guise of searching for the family for their own safety?

[Rob]

Rob - I don't get why all the effort for this particular family either especially when there is no sign of foul play.

klaas - yep, I don't get it, and they have left on their own. As far as I have read - they have not committed any crimes. Maybe some of Summer's / Lisa's alternative personalities have committed a few crimes? They want to be gone - let them be gone. Maybe someday they will call their respective families and tell them why they left. (provided they are still alive - which I doubt).

Either way, I don't like these people and feel badly for their kids. Who wants parents like this? 

This Mr. McStay seems like a real assh*le and his wife is a certifiable loon. Some people should not have kids. Ever.

[Rob]

I'm starting to think this thread is a bigger waste of bandwidth than Sierra Dick's. I know I shouldn't say that, but good lord - it's not against the law to leave and start over - *if that's what's being alleged and most people are eluding to that very aspect*

Maybe these people hate their families - who knows. Maybe they didn't think it was worth even telling them. I don't know, but some people don't like their families and I remember an old sayin'

you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family.

About 15% of the disappeared cases we follow are people that leave on their own, and in this case their is little doubt that whatever happened initially - they made a choice to leave on their own. What happened next is anyone's guess as it involves Mexico.

without more info from the police regarding that phone call that set this all off - there is little we or anyone else can do.

But the way - how hard would it be to spot four gringos that just moved to town?

[melisb]

I think they should be looked for but only for the children's sake.  Are they school age?  The children don't need to be with them and this is MOO!  I'm sure they'll say they didn't want to part with their kids but that is no kind of life for children.  They didn't run to some beautiful mansion and a better life I'm sure.  Children need stability and this screams "my parents are nut jobs"!  Leave the babies with people who care and can provide a home for them, not uproot them at someone elses whim.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/13/BAQ51DEBS7.DTL

Family missing 3 months - Baja search fails
Associated Press
Friday, May 14, 2010
05-14) 04:00 PDT San Diego - --

Mexican investigators have ended a search in a tiny tourist town for a California family, marking another dead end in an investigation that began three months ago when the family disappeared.

The Baja California state police said Thursday that seven investigators searched over three days for Joseph and Summer McStay and their two young boys after an FBI alert of a possible sighting in El Rosario, 200 miles south of the border.

The McStays were last heard from Feb. 4. They left their dogs hungry and food spoiling in their kitchen in Fallbrook (San Diego County). Their car was found in a parking lot near the border.

[Nut44x4]

Orange County Register (California)
 
June 15, 2010 Tuesday 
 
Missing family to be on 'America's Most Wanted'
 
By BRITTANY LEVINE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

An episode of "America's Most Wanted" about a former San Clemente family who has been missing almost four months is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Saturday on Fox, according to a show representative.

Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and their children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3, disappeared in February soon after moving from San Clemente to Fallbrook.

Michael McStay, the elder Joseph's brother, said he hopes the exposure on "America's Most Wanted" will help law enforcement solve the case.

The family's Isuzu was towed as an abandoned vehicle from a parking lot near the Mexico border a few days after they went missing.

They were last heard from Feb. 4, friends and relatives say.

Police have said their house appeared to have been left in a hurry.

A family member has paid to place full-page missing-persons fliers in three Mexican newspapers, according to a post on Michael McStay's website, mcstayfamily.com.

Several possible sightings of the McStays have been reported in Mexico.

Friends and relatives have said they do not know why the family disappeared.
 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:1205280131&start=6

[piwannaberookie]

just wonder why a family would leave their home especially when they have to pay so much money a month for mortgage and insurance and all that, if they were making or getting easy money i can see why they would leave and not care. if i was a drug dealer, my neighbors would be my buyers, I suspect whereever the mcstays are hiding that's where their business is, fallbrook isn't my kind of place to sell drugs it's too small and probably not too much of a business for drugs there, I mean I don't know anything about selling drugs but fallbrook is a high risk area for cops to catch you, it's right by vista and escondido and well i wonder if police ever found any drugs in their house or any trace, or if summer or joseph mcstay have any history of drug experiementation or growing marijuana or whatever like that. I wonder if joseph owes his brother michael mcstay money if that is why he wants the family found, but i don't know much about what is going on  so I probably should't assume this is all about money.... just have to wonder why the parents didn't leave the kids with somebody, would the mcstay's kids rat on their parents? is it possible that a 4 and 3 year old would know how to tell someone what their parents are doing...does anyone know?

[Nut44x4]

By admin on January 5, 2011
Three Basic Paradigms

I feel that it is important to indulge the three basic paradigms that the media and cynical America tend to thrust to the forefront of our family’s story.

1. NO – Joey & Summer are NOT part of a Cult.
2. NO – There is NOTHING unsavory about Joey’s business dealings like Geraldo implies.
3. NO – 100% they’re NOT in protective custody – per DOJ, SDSheriff, FBI.

The overwhelming response from most people following our story has been very compassionate. People can see that the missing family is a loving, everyday American couple with two young kids. The media is always looking to sensationalize and extract a scoop that may or may not even exist. Joey is a great brother, friend, business partner

I would like nothing greater than to resolve this case, prove the safety of my family, and dissolve this website and move on. Unfortunately, at this time, it is impossible to do so until our family is convinced that this case is a voluntary missing. If you were in our shoes, I’m sure you would do the same thing;

Thank You for all the love and support.

http://www.mcstayfamily.com/three-basic-paradigms

[klaasend]

http://www.ocregister.com/news/family-287069-mcstay-joseph.html

Published: Feb. 4, 2011
Updated: 1:16 p.m.
One year later, vigil planned for missing family
By BRITTANY LEVINE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Michael McStay can't wait for the day that he gets to call up friends and family and exclaim: "They're back!"

But a year after four members of his family disappeared, that moment still seems far away.

"It's taking its toll on family members. I'm not the same you know," said the San Clemente man. "This has affected me pretty deeply. It's like there's a perpetual emptiness in a section of my heart. This is my brother, my family, my only brother, two out of three of my nephews, my sister in law."

Joseph McStay, 41; his wife, Summer, 44; and their two children, Gianni, 5, and Joseph, 4, were last seen Feb. 4, 2010.

Since then birthdays have passed, their home has gone into foreclosure, and tips constantly flow to police, with few promising outcomes.

To commemorate their disappearance, friends and family plan to gather at 6:30 p.m. Friday at a Laguna Niguel park, where Joseph McStay used to pay soccer every week.

The missing family moved from a San Clemente bungalow near the beach to a house on a cul-de-sac in Fallbrook two months before disappearing. Summer McStay, a realtor, had called friends about choosing paint colors and picking out new real estate stationary. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then Feb. 4, 2010 family members reported the McStays missing to the San Diego Sherriff's Department. The McStays had left their two dogs outside with no food and wet paint and food was left on the kitchen counter. One dog is being taken care of by Joseph McStay's mother, the other by a family friend.

((snipped))

[Wyks]

If they were in protective custody, for whatever reason, I doubt that anyone (including family members) would be told that by LE.  IMO

[MuffyBee]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015208517_missing02.html
California family's 2010 disappearance still a mystery
June 1, 2011

(Long informative article)
 ::snipping2::
Weeds grow knee-high in the front yard of the McStays' home on Avocado Vista Lane.

On the welcome mat by the front door recently was a letter: a foreclosure specialist offering his services. When the bank learned the couple were missing, it froze their accounts, pushing the house into foreclosure.

It's due to be auctioned off this month.

[klaasend]

http://www.ocregister.com/news/book-408887-family-mcstay.html


Published: Jan. 23, 2013 Updated: 11:09 a.m.
What happened to McStay family? New book revisits disappearance

By JOSH FRANCIS / FOR THE REGISTER

The story of the McStays, a former San Clemente family who vanished from their home in Fallbrook in 2010, is the focus of a new true-crime mystery book set to be released Feb. 4, the third anniversary of their disappearance.

The case of Joseph McStay, his wife, Summer, and their two children, Gianni, 4 at the time of the disappearance, and Joseph, 3 at the time, has been featured on several TV shows and is the topic of quite a few theories about what might have happened to the family.

Some of those scenarios are laid out in the new book "No Good-byes" by North Carolina resident Rick Baker, who said he happened on the story while living in Fallbrook soon after the family disappeared.

The McStays' home had food on the counter when police investigated, and their two dogs were unattended with no food, causing authorities to believe they left in a hurry. The family car had been towed as an abandoned vehicle in San Ysidro, near the Mexico border.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/26/justice/mcstay-family-disappearance/index.html?iref=obnetwork
Three years later, no sign of missing family
January 26, 2013

 ::snipping2::
Next week marks the third anniversary of the disappearance of Joseph McStay, 43; his wife, Summer, 46; and their two young children, Gianni, 7, and Joseph Mateo, who would be 6 this month.
February 4, 2010 was the last day anyone saw the family or heard from them. When police entered their Southern California house more than 10 days later, they found eggs on the kitchen counter and bowls of popcorn in the living room. Their two dogs were also in the home. But not a single trace of the McStays.
Did they voluntarily leave? Are they in Mexico? Are they in danger? Are they dead?
Despite hundreds of tips and several high-profile television reports and interviews, no one has a clue.
"This is definitely an unusual case," says Lt. Glenn Giannantonio of the San Diego Sheriff's Department's homicide division "At this point we are no closer to finding them than on the day they disappeared. I know that sounds horrible, but we just don't know what happened to them."
The sentiment is shared by Dennis Brugos, who led the sheriff's department investigation into the McStays' disappearance before retiring last year. "Nothing makes any kind of rational sense that you can put together," Brugos says.
More...

Photo slideshow & videos at link.

[Rob]

This doesn't change my thought that they are all deceased.

'I will turn on you': Revealed, the shocking emails sent by wife to husband before they vanished without a trace with their two children three years ago.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270316/I-turn-Revealed-shocking-emails-sent-wife-husband-vanished-trace-years-ago.html

The mother of the McStay family who vanished without trace in 2010 sent abusive emails to her husband in which she vowed: ‘I will turn on you’, it emerged today.

Summer McStay told Joseph to ‘mind your own ****** business’ and if he didn’t she said: ‘I will not forgive you and I mean it.’

It's claimed that Summer also repeatedly threatened to leave Joseph in the years before they disappeared because she didn’t want to look after his son from a previous marriage.

 ::snipping2::

Even if what this story and the person who has written the new book claims are true - there has been no evidence they are alive - none whatsoever.

Lastly, even if Summer was a member of a drug cartel, which I think is likely, she is dead - and anyone thinking otherwise doesn't understand what's happening in Mexico.

I suggest going to borderlandbeatdotcom and seeing for yourselves what is truly happening.

You will never see those folks returned, sad to say.

[melisb]

Rob, I could see one of the parents killing off all the family members and disappearing but I can also see that it's very likely there was drug involvement and they were whisked away right in the middle of life and done away with just as many, many other have and continue to do! No, they are not alive, my theory too. Sad but true. The only other thing I can think of involves drugs again! Marital probs or not if one parent was involved in the drug business then to save the family it would have to appear that they were kidnapped (or worse) just to try to escape the killer cartel. You do not ever have the pleasure of "quitting" them so you would have to make it look like you were kidnapped and try to hide for the rest of your lives with absolutely no contact with family or friends!

[klaasend]

Just heard on the radio the case has been turned over to the FBI. 

[cw618]

hopefully the FBI can fig out where they are after 3 yr


New Developments in Search for Missing McStay Family
3 hours ago
by Kennedy Ryan
Web Producer
 ::snipping2::
FALLBROOK, Calif. — The FBI is taking over the search for a Southern California family that has been missing for 3 years, officials say.
 ::snipping2::
In a statement Tuesday, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said it pursued hundreds of leads to find Joseph and Summer McStay and their sons.
 
The investigation is being turned over to the FBI due to the agency’s experience working outside the United States.
 
Its believed the family likely went to Mexico voluntarily, but relatives aren’t convinced.
 
Investigators say that on Jan. 28, days before they disappeared, someone used the McStay’s computer to find information about travel to Mexico and passports for children.
more
http://ktla.com/2013/04/09/new-developments-in-search-for-missing-mcstay-family/#axzz2Q1hRpJ00

[SuzieQ]

Desert remains may be McStay family

The Fallbrook family of four disappeared in February 2010

 By Susan Shroder7:13 p.m.Nov. 14, 2013Updated7:38 p.m.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/14/remains-missing-mcstay-fallbrook-victorville/

The remains of four people found Monday in the San Bernardino County desert might be those of the McStay family — a father, wife and two young sons who went missing from their Fallbrook home in 2010.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore told U-T San Diego on Thursday night that he would not confirm if the remains could be the McStays, but he said he has spoken to the sheriff in San Bernardino County.

Gore would not say what he and Sheriff John McMahon discussed. Any details about Monday’s discovery on the outskirts of Victorville would have to come from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, he said.
 

The family — Joseph and his wife, Summer, and their sons, Gianni and Joey Jr. — haven’t been heard from or seen since Feb. 4, 2010. At the time, Gianni was 4 and Joey was 3.

The family apparently left in a hurry, leaving eggs out on the kitchen counter and their two beloved dogs in the backyard with no food or water.

Four days later — before anyone realized they were missing — the family’s Isuzu Trooper was towed as an abandoned vehicle from a San Ysidro shopping center parking lot near the U.S.-Mexico border crossing. Two car seats and a child’s asthma medicine were inside.

On the family’s computer, investigators found Internet searches for passport requirements to bring children into Mexico.

San Diego County sheriff’s investigators looked into the disappearance for three years. This past April, investigators said evidence indicated the foursome traveled into Mexico of their own free will, so they transferred the case to the FBI in San Diego. 

[grace-land]

Video at the link

http://www.10news.com/news/sources-investigators-looking-into-possibility-remains-of-mcstay-family-found-near-victorville

Sources: Investigators looking into possibility remains of McStay family found near Victorville
Posted: 11/14/2013
Last Updated: 2 hours ago

SAN DIEGO - Sources say investigators are looking into the possibility that the remains of four people found in San Bernardino County are those of the McStay family -- a family from Fallbrook missing since 2010.

10News learned a San Bernardino County sheriff's detective met with a relative of the missing family Thursday afternoon, but the details of that meeting were not disclosed.

San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators are continuing their probe and have not confirmed any identities, 10News learned.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon will discuss the human remains discovery at a news conference Friday at 11 a.m. You can watch the news conference live on 10News.com or the 10News mobile app.

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