Remains Of McStay Family Found, Sheriff Calls It Homicide
Human remains buried in the desert near Victorville, Calif. have been identified as those of the McStay family, who had been missing from their Fallbrook, Calif. home since February 2010.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said two shallow grave sites were discovered with a total of four bodies. The adult bodies were identified as Summer and Joseph McStay. The other bodies are believed to be those of young McStay children, pending DNA identification.
McMahon added autopsies are expected to be complete by end of the day. He said the manner of death had determined to be homicide, but authorities not releasing a cause of death.
The family was last seen on Feb. 8, 2010, and it appeared they had left their home in North San Diego County very abruptly. For three years there were clues and speculation that pointed to the family being in Mexico.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance video was released in March 2010 that appeared to be relevant. From CNN:
The family's locked and abandoned Isuzu Trooper was located February 8, 2010, in San Ysidro, just two blocks from the border. Surveillance video taken that night shows a family fitting the description of the McStays walking into Mexico.
In April 2013, investigators announced they believed the family went to Mexico voluntarily, and the San Diego Sheriff's Department turned the investigation over to the FBI.
Victorville is about 100 miles north of Fallbrook and about 160 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Law enforcement officers were unable to provide a timeline of possible events or comment on the border surveillance video on Friday.
Reporters asked during the press conference about the possibility that drug cartel violence was involved, but McMahon was quick to say there was no indication of that.
