CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #6

[Edmo]

You should check out the forum here on WS's sometime ;-) It's closed right now... But a ton of valuable info is still there!

I don't need WS forum, I actually read the entire file last year, with all due respect.

 

[JMarsh]

But wasn't he also clear that that info came from Cathy? That was Cathy's memory, not his? the watching a movie and not answering? or standing at the bar and didn't answer, something like that.

Yes. There were some different versions. Chase spoke with Joey a lot. Who really recalls where you are when you don't pick up a call from someone you constantly talk to? Memory can be fallible. Just the way it is. There needs to be more to prove it was a deliberate lie.

 

[missy1974]

From the CNN interview:

KAYE: Chase does remember the handful of calls he said he had with Joseph after that lunch. The last call came at 8:28 p.m. according to Joseph cellphone records.

MERRITT: I don't personally remember that phone call. The fact is I actually have to ask my girlfriend. And she said "Yeah and you pick it up and look at it and decide not to answer it."

CNN.com - Transcripts

 

[travelbug]

This is my opinion: The MS family *believed* the police were NOT doing enough to find the family. Their actions, in the following days/weeks after they missing seems normal to me. MM was doing everything he thought possible, IMO, to find his brother and family. The mother, HOPING they went somewhere was simply trying to clean the house of the terrible smell she experienced?

I'm sure that was part of it, but no one knows what evidence may have come to light, let alone DNA and fingerprints, had that not been done. SDSO was incompetent in their investigation, but there was also a compromised crime scene. My heart breaks for this family, as it has since day one. Since I've followed this case from the beginning I'm also aware that many of the posters are family members and friends of the McStays. I understand your sorrow. My son-in-law (age 34) and father of 3 of my sweet grandchildren was killed while being robbed and we're still waiting for justice. I am an impartial participant as we watch this trial unfold. I want justice for this family, but I'm glad we aren't the jury. The trial has barely commenced and 95% of the participants of this thread have sentenced CM to death. It's "we want him locked up for life and possibly facing death even if he's not the only guilty party and he wasn't the one who struck the death blows to this beautiful family". Personally, I want to hear the statements and evidence from the prosecution AND defense before reaching a verdict. moo

 

[Plumeria5]

From the CNN interview:

KAYE: Chase does remember the handful of calls he said he had with Joseph after that lunch. The last call came at 8:28 p.m. according to Joseph cellphone records.

MERRITT: I don't personally remember that phone call. The fact is I actually have to ask my girlfriend. And she said "Yeah and you pick it up and look at it and decide not to answer it."

CNN.com - Transcripts

Well then if he was home at 8:28 pm with his gf/wife because she said he was then I guess he didn't murder the McStays after all.

 

[asyousay]

From the CNN interview:

KAYE: Chase does remember the handful of calls he said he had with Joseph after that lunch. The last call came at 8:28 p.m. according to Joseph cellphone records.

MERRITT: I don't personally remember that phone call. The fact is I actually have to ask my girlfriend. And she said "Yeah and you pick it up and look at it and decide not to answer it."

CNN.com - Transcripts

How sweet to throw his “wife” under the bus when he was lying.

 

[Plumeria5]

How sweet to throw his “wife” under the bus when he was lying.

"Wife" suddenly became gf during this particular interview.

 

[missy1974]

Well then if he was home at 8:28 pm with his gf/wife because she said he was then I guess he didn't murder the McStays after all.

BUT... that call never came through on his phone. I *think* it was probably a different night, and Cathy had no reason to remember the day.

I was only trying to show that he has never said he even had a memory of that call, he has said he asked her. It actually makes sense that he had no memory of that call... since in fact, that call didn't happen.

Even in his SD interview that we heard, he called her to see what they did on President's Day. After some confusion, it was determined it wasn't president's day but the 8th, the previous Monday, he called and asked her what they did.

 

[missy1974]

How sweet to throw his “wife” under the bus when he was lying.

hey you!!!! You must be busy, you haven't been posting much

ok... but was he lying? He says he didn't remember the call.. and since we now know that the call actually didn't connect... there was nothing to remember. How does him saying "I don't remember that call" make him a liar now?

I hate defending Chase sometimes! LOL

ETA: at some point in all these years... didn't we think that the 8:28pm call actually did connect?

 

[asyousay]

BUT... that call never came through on his phone. I *think* it was probably a different night, and Cathy had no reason to remember the day.

I was only trying to show that he has never said he even had a memory of that call, he has said he asked her. It actually makes sense that he had no memory of that call... since in fact, that call didn't happen.

Even in his SD interview that we heard, he called her to see what they did on President's Day. After some confusion, it was determined it wasn't president's day but the 8th, the previous Monday, he called and asked her what they did.

He was creating a alibi and I’m sure Cathy knew something was fishy considering she tried to call him and his phone was off. Then he would of been missing for odd hours and sporadic phone contact over the coming days.


Then when the McStays go missing it’s not hard to put two and two together with his weird behavior over that period. I am sure they broke up as well not long afterwards.

IMO

 

[katydid23]

He never gave a time. He said he and Joey parted ways around 3.

That's true. So why would he say he was the last person that Joey saw, if they parted ways at 3:00?

Someone was at Joey's that same night, on the 4th, creating a check that was made out to chase merrit for about 4000.00 bucks.With Jon Mitchell in the memo. It was deleted, and not cashed.

But the next night, on the 5th, that same check was recreated, and printed up by Chase and cashed, in RC.

So it is very hard for me to believe that it was any one but Chase that was there on the 4th, creating that check.

 

[katydid23]

I thought it was mentioned in opening statements?

Yes, but I am not sure what evidence supports that yet.

 

[asyousay]

hey you!!!! You must be busy, you haven't been posting much

ok... but was he lying? He says he didn't remember the call.. and since we now know that the call actually didn't connect... there was nothing to remember. How does him saying "I don't remember that call" make him a liar now?

I hate defending Chase sometimes! LOL

ETA: at some point in all these years... didn't we think that the 8:28pm call actually did connect?

I have been busier and also getting bored of all the stopping and starting as it makes it harder to keep track.


He is lying as he knows full well he wasn’t at home that evening. He is just trying cover his arse by using his girlfriend as a alibi. It’s very convenient how he passes the buck to his girlfriend and lays the alibi on to her to make it seem stronger.

If he didn’t remember the phone call then he should of said I’m afraid I don’t remember the phone call. The phone call never technically happened as it didn’t connect so why make up a story?

It’s dishonest and makes him look guilty as hell as he knew his phone was off.

 

[thelmadawg]

Did you know that the judge is allowing an ex gf or ex friend of DK's to testify that he confessed to her? He has allowed some things... disallowed others in regards to DK.

I did, Missy. I believe he called the witness unreliable in a hearing. He has constrained defense inference regarding DK as a suspect.

 

[katydid23]

hey you!!!! You must be busy, you haven't been posting much

ok... but was he lying? He says he didn't remember the call.. and since we now know that the call actually didn't connect... there was nothing to remember. How does him saying "I don't remember that call" make him a liar now?

I hate defending Chase sometimes! LOL

ETA: at some point in all these years... didn't we think that the 8:28pm call actually did connect?

He did lie. Here is a detailed interview from 2014:


The last day: 'He was excited about life and how I regret not taking that last call'

As one of his closest friends and confidents, it was fitting that Mr Merritt was the last known person to see Joseph alive and the one who first discovered he was missing.

He said: ‘I was the last person Joseph saw. He came to Rancho Cucamonga on February 4 to talk to me about a huge business deal we had going on in Saudi Arabia.

‘We met for an hour-and-a-half for lunch. He was so excited. We had the Saudi Arabian project and a few other things going on. The business had never been so good and we were looking forward to the future. He did nothing to suggest there was anything wrong or untoward.

‘We both left and went home and I spoke to him on the phone about two or three times on his drive back to Fallbrook, all standard business stuff. The last time I spoke to him was around 6 o’clock.

‘It has been reported that I spoke to him in the evening, but that isn’t true. He did call me at 8.28pm, but I was watching a movie with my girlfriend, looked at the phone and decided not to answer.

'When you talk to Joseph it takes about half an hour, so I thought I’d catch up with him in the morning.

‘I didn’t answer that call and I regret it to this day.’ That was the last call made from Joseph’s phone. Around 40 minutes earlier a neighbor’s security camera caught what looked like the bottom of the family’s Isuzu Trooper pulling away from their home.

But then there was nothing until the car was found, empty on the border.

'Prime suspect' in McStay murder mystery breaks his silence | Daily Mail Online


so he lied in this interview, and said he was watching a movie with CJ. But later on we find out that was a lie, and they were not watching a film, he just asked her to say that because he was actually in the restroom when the call came in.

And now, he says he doesn't remember it at all. Which he has to say because cell logs say it didnt go through.

 

[thelmadawg]

Yes. Thank you. You understand.

I think that this is a real possibility. And depending on what we find out, this will be a determining factor for me in whether I believe Chase is complicit in these murders.

The state's theory is on its head. I don't buy the narrative at all. It seems implausible. But if Joey didn't set up the accounts the way I'm assuming-then I would be inclined to think Merritt guilty of something. BUT if Joey did set up the accounts as you have laid out, then I believe he was just accessing the records and check writing as Joey instructed him to.

Did you note the testimony and exhibits that showed several checks CM had written to MSM -- all were in lower case as in metro sheet metal. I believe there was also at least one other exhibit where he used lower case in the same way.

 

[missy1974]

I did, Missy. I believe he called the witness unreliable in a hearing. He has constrained defense inference regarding DK as a suspect.

The prosecutor called the witness (the ex gf of DK's) unreliable, not the judge.

 

[katydid23]

It also came at a time that Joey was possibly signing a big contract, wasn't it? If that really was the case, making some changes would not seem that out of the ordinary in a small business.

Yes, true. But would those changes include giving greater access to ones banking info, to an employee with a long criminal history, a well known reputation for conning and cheating clients and co-workers, a sketchy financial situation, having trouble paying rent, etc, and a gambling problem---is that the kind of changes one makes when they are about to come into a lot more cash flow into the business?

 

[katydid23]

I didn't hear any lies. Or anything that has been proven to be a lie. Most of what he said has been proven correct. He forgot his home address. He forgot the address to Metro. His memory was off a little. But I don't recall anything being said that has been shown to be a lie, as opposed to failure to recall.

He lied about the last call that came in from Joey. First he said that he was watching a movie with CJ and so he didnt pick up the call. LIE

He changed that story a few times, ended up with 'I can't recall.'