McStays Episode 6: Life or Death

from 2020 in ABC Audio. What happens to the mixed days? Remember, you can get new episodes

weekly on Tuesdays, if you follow what happens to the mixed days on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or whatever you're listening now. Or you can hear the entire series right now, add free by subscribing to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts. Click the link in the description to start your free trial today. Now, here's the next episode of What Happens To The Mix Days. I want to hire a private investigator. Some focusing in the best.

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In 2019, more than four years after his arrest, Charles Chase Marit was finally

headed to trial. He had been charged with killing the mixed days, Joseph, summer, Gianni, and Joseph Junior. He pleaded not guilty. Marit would be tried at San Bernardino Superior Court, an imposing and sleek building downtown. It's shiny, reflective facade, reminiscent of the waterfall's Marit built for Joseph. It had taken more than five years from one of the mixed days

“remains were discovered to the start of this trial, a long road for the victims loved ones.”

Outside Court, and after a pre-trial hearing, Joseph's brother Michael McStay's spoke to local TV station KBC. Michael says he was confident the audience had the right guy.

Finally, somebody is going to have to take responsibility for what they did to my loving family,

and I want to see him get what he's not comfortable. Joseph's mother Susan Blake was there too. I did want to stand up and I did want Chase to look at me in the eyes. I wanted him to see us in the pain we've been through and that now we're back for justice. With Chase Marit facing four charges of murder in the first degree, the death penalty was on the table. He was fighting for his life.

“With the jury decide Marit was the one who killed the mixed days.”

From ABC audio in 2020, I'm Ocean Singh. And this is what happened to the mixed days. Episode six, life or death. You know, we're not supposed to show our emotions. We're supposed to be professional at all times, and I almost lost it. I actually had to turn around and like catch my breath and take a minute. Great I'm's is a district attorney with the County of San Bernardino. He was one of the

prosecutors who presented the case against Chase Marit in court. And I'm told ABC News in an interview last year, and then the nearly 30 years he's been a prosecutor to make stay family murders was the most personal case he'd worked on as a dad. The emotion really hit him. He said, when he was questioning a crime scene specialist on the stand, put up a picture of the family's asuzu trooper from the jury to see. It was just of Junior's car scene.

It was the same car seat that I put my kids in. It was a personal connection that I don't think I ever had with any other case. For I'ms, the mixed day murder case stood out for another reason too. The most difficult case in 27 years. I'm said there were several reasons the mixed day case was such a difficult one. It was the nearly four-year gap between the murders and the discovery of the bodies. The multiple jurisdictions involved. The enormous amount of public interest

which generated a huge volume of tips for law enforcement to handle. And I'm said the lack of direct evidence against Marit. We would have loved to have had an identifiable murder scene with physical evidence whether it'd be blood or fingerprints or DNA. We would have loved of had an eyewitness. We would have loved to have had a neighbor have heard a scream in the night to at least pinpoint when it happened. I mean, I could probably go on and on.

Instead, I'm said, when he and his fellow prosecutors had was highly circumstantial evidence. The facts that didn't directly link the defendant to the crime. But they argued, taken together,

motive, and opportunity. At trial, Marit's defense team argued that the state's entire case was

“based on confirmation bias. Defense attorneys said authorities decided Marit was their guy,”

twisted facts to build a case against him and ignored other facts that didn't fit. Raj Maleen, who represented Marit in court, was confident the state didn't have what they needed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. This case was all doubt. In fact, there was no evidence linking Chase to the killing of this family. Here were two of the arguments he made in Marit's defense. One, he argued there was no evidence that the murders took place in the McStays' Fallbroke house,

as prosecutors alleged. And two, he argued that the vehicle leaving the home on the day the family won't missing was not Marit's truck, which prosecutors also alleged.

So first, the house. Defense attorneys told the jury, if the McStays had been bludgeoned in the

home, he'd expect to find a gruesome messy scene. So, where was the blood? It was none, they argued. Not a drop, not a trace, not a spec. The state's theory of the case was that Marit had killed the McStays at home. They argued that there was evidence at the grave site to suggest that some were had been home, giving the boys a bath around the time the family was killed. Prosecutor Brett Himes again. There was one very distinct toddler type bath towel with the

hood that's kind of shaped like it has an animal face to it, was found in the grave. There was other bath mats in material consistent with the bath robe found in the grave. And as for the matter of blood, prosecutors argued Chase Marit leaned up the home after killing the family. It told the jury that it had an ample time to do so. Who was in control of that crime scene? Was the defendant? So the fact that there was no evidence located could in part be

attributed to the fact that the defendant had time to clean up whatever mess he had made or hide whatever evidence he needed to. In his interview with ABC News, Himes pointed out. Unfortunately, there's no forensic evidence that says that the murder actually happened at home.

Zero forensic evidence. And we never contended that we could prove that. To the jury legally,

I don't have to prove the where-win or how. Or even necessarily the why. I just have to prove the who.

“And then, that was the truck. Remember, it was a vehicle scene on the neighbor security camera”

footage leaving the McStays home the night the family went missing. Prosecutors argued this was Marit's boxy white utility truck. And then it placed him at the scene of the crime. It had characteristics consistent with being Marit's truck, including the shadows that are cast by the brake lights, the height with

and placement of the headlights. In court, that grainy black and white nine second clip,

became a key piece of evidence, attorneys played it and dissected it, over and over. Expert witnesses analyzed 3D models of Marit's car doing a virtual drive out of the McStays driveway. Identical to the movements in the surveillance footage. To see if Marit's car matched up. The defense's position? This wasn't Marit's truck. They put on their own witness, an expert who was originally supposed to testify for the state, but who changed his mind wound up

testifying for the defense instead. The expert testified that based on the data he had, he couldn't conclude that the truck in the video matched Marit's. Here's defense attorney Raj Malene. We clearly were able to show that Chase's truck was excluded. Prosecutor Ridine's disagreed. No one could rule out that it wasn't. Marit's truck, but no one could conclusively say in fact it was.

Beyond the house and the truck, prosecutors presented other pieces of evidence against Marit. The centerpiece of their case was the defendant's cell phone records,

“particularly of note to prosecutors. The paining of a tower in the desert on a crucial day.”

The state brought an expert witness to interpret various maps, call records, and diagrams. In the expert testified that on February 6, 2010, Marit's phone

Prosecutors argued that pain placed the defendant near the McStays grave site

“just two days after the family disappeared. But the expert also testified that cell phone data”

can only give you a general location of where someone has been. Not an exact one. Marit's attorney Raj Malene again. The prosecution's expert testified that not only can you not

use cell tower evidence to get location information, to be used accurately. It was never designed

for that in the first place. It just so happens that law enforcement started to use that to kind of generally show where people are. But at the end of the day, he conceded that you can't certainly can't say that somebody is somewhere because they ping off a tower. Prosecutor Britt Times. Our expert never claimed to have been able to what's called geolocate the user of a device based on the technology and data that was available from

2010 records. All we know is that his phone pinged on the sixth on a tower that overlooked the grave site. The reason defense lawyers gave the jury for why Marit was in the general area of the cell tower was what he himself had told investigators. If his phone pinged a tower in the desert, then he must have been visiting his sister who lived in the area. Prosecutors called Marit sister Juanita Marit to the stand to tell the jury when she told authorities just a few years prior.

The Marit hadn't been out to visit her in February 2010 when the mixed days went missing. Here's Juanita from that police interview that you heard in the last episode.

Chase at that time when he was with Joe and never came up here.

“That's why I was going to ask. Can you remember it all the soap?”

You didn't even hardly visit. I can remember one time he visited. About how long before. So I mean five years I hadn't seen him. But when Juanita took the stand to trial, prosecutors were in for a surprise. How often do you think that you would see your brother around that time frame? I saw him quite often. Do you remember telling the detective that you hadn't seen him?

Probably for about five years? No. I wasn't even in one red mile when I talked to you.

Juanita testified that back when the detective came to her house and interviewed her.

She'd recently had surgery and was heavily medicated. She testified that she was "not in her right mind." She said she saw her brother all the time back then. Sometimes, at her house.

“When ABC News asked prosecutors if Juanita marriage reversal was harmful to the state's case,”

he said simply, "No. We had our prior statement. As in, the original statement Juanita had given police. He was detective Ryan Smith." The interview that Juanita and I had was all recorded and that was able to kind of disprove her assertion. The prosecution also pointed out that the marriage DNA was found by police on the steering wheel of the

McStays is Husser Trooper. The state argued that the presence of marriage DNA on the driver side was evidenced that marriage drove the SUV down to the McStays border. Merit's attorneys argued the DNA was transferred DNA. They claimed Joseph had gotten trace amounts of marriage DNA on his hand from something like a hand shake, then transferred it to the steering wheel of the trooper. The state's DNA expert, on across examination, didn't rule out the defense's claim.

He testified that it was reasonable to conclude the DNA could have been transferred. But the state argued that the quantity of marriage DNA was inconsistent with transferred DNA. Prosecutor Bridhimes again. The problem with that is it would expect it to be in a mere skill amount. The results were actually greater than summer, who was a regular driver of the car. So it would be inconsistent with trace DNA. Prosecutors also argued Merit had a motive.

They said the murders were driven by greed. The state made the argument you've heard earlier in the series. That chase Merit, while claiming to be Joseph's best friend, was writing checks from the waterfall business and taking money from him. That Merit had been overpaid for projects at work and owed Joseph tens of thousands of dollars. That and he had an gambling problem. The state contended that Joseph had discovered the checks and fired Merit on February 4th.

fall break home to confront Joseph and killed the McStay's there. Merit's defense team denied it all.

“The taking money from Joseph, the debt to Joseph, the gambling problem, the firing.”

The confrontation at the McStay's home, the bad blood between the two men, and of course, the murders. Merit's defense attorney Raj Molin told ABC News, Joseph and Merit's success was an extricably linked. They literally adored each other and there was no hint that it was going wrong. These two were going to the moon and neither one of them could have done it without the other. Merit's ex Kathy Jarvis took the standard trial and testified that Merit was home in

Rancho Cucamanga, the night of February 4th. The night the McStay's won't miss it. She said she remembered Merit receiving a call from Joseph that night, but not picking up. On the stand, Kathy testified that back when she'd been interviewed by police,

“she'd conceded that maybe that call happened on an different night.”

The state argued that Kathy couldn't have seen that call come through Merit's phone, because they said his phone record showed his device was off at the time. He didn't register that call. Prosecutors argued Kathy was misremembering. That she did see a call, but it happened on a different night. They questioned her on the stand. We do see an opportunity or you haven't had an opportunity to look at some other call that

first, right? Right. And he makes your testimony today that he would not take him out there at all.

And it was not mistaken about the phone call for breakfast. That's correct. In an ABC News interview last year, Kathy took the issue with prosecutors.

“They're making it seem like because I love him so much. I'm going to lie for him.”

And all I was there to do was tell the truth. I told the truth. And they twisted the truth into something that fit their narrative. When it was their turn to present their case, Merit's defense team had their own theories about what might have happened to the mixed days. Today I want to tell you about an exciting new deal from our friends at Kozi Earth.

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Get yourself the bedding of your dreams. Right now go to abcsecretsavings.com/2020 for 50% off the best bedding you'll ever sleep on. That's abcsecretsavings.com/2020. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside a case that has captivated the nation. To many people, Luigi Mangione is a modern-day Robin Hood. People were cheering the demise of

this person they'd never met. It was a father of two and a husband and had a life and was just doing

a job. From the manhood, ending in a McDonald's in Altuna, Pennsylvania, to what authorities are saying about a possible motive, I'm ABC News Legal Analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to burning a proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Barrett's defense team argued that in their own investigation of the mixed-day's grave site,

that was used to tie up Joseph. The defense claimed none of the DNA profiles matched Chase married.

“That they matched someone else. They challenged the state. Put these three profiles through”

Codas, the FBI's DNA database, and see who they belonged to. Merit's defense attorney, Raj Malene. If they really wanted justice, if they really wanted the truth, they would run those profiles in Codas. Prosecutor Britt Times. There was no DNA of other individuals found at the gravesites. It's just a total misrepresentation of what the science is. Prosecutors claim there wasn't enough DNA for a full scientifically valid profile. That would either allow testing that would exclude

Chase married, or would lead to anyone else. Merit's attorneys claimed authorities had blinders on

when it came to their client, arguing that they should have given more serious consideration to other suspects. Namely, the Han Cavanagh. Joseph's business partner and the web designer for

“their waterfall retail site. Remember, authorities had confirmed Dan's alibi for the time to”

make stays when missing and cleared him of any involvement in their deaths. But still, at trial, defense attorneys argued there was plenty of evidence against Dan, starting with the new allegation that they claimed pointed a finger at him. According to prosecutors, one's trial was underway, a woman by the name of Tracy Rickabene had approached their office. In a recorded interview, Tracy alleged that Dan had confessed to her that he had killed the mixed days.

Detective Ryan Smith from San Bernardino Sheriff's Department told ABC News that investigators

looked into her allegation, but ultimately dismissed it. None of the things she said

caused Cavanagh's alibi to come into question. There was no new investigative leads that we could

“glean from her because at that time, we knew Cavanagh was in Hawaii. The defense did raise Tracy's”

allegation against Dan and their opening argument. But in the end, they decided not to call her to testify, and not introduce her interview inhabitants. The judge also strictly limited what allegations the defense could raise against Dan Cavanagh, who was neither accused nor on trial. In an interview ABC News last year, Dan said he knew Tracy. She was a friend he said. "When asked if he ever confessed anything to her, Dan denied it." "No, that's a joke."

He said pointing the finger at him was marriage attorneys grasping at straws. "I mean, he had nothing else to defend the guy with because the guy had so much mounting evidence. He did it. So then the defense was like, "Well, uh, this other guy did it, though." I try. Prosecutors dismissed the defense's attempt to point a finger at Dan, because he had an alibi. Prosecutor Bridaimes. "The problem with

attempting to say that Dan Cavanagh was the killer was that we had very concrete proof that Dan Cavanagh was nowhere near San Diego, let alone the continental United States at the time of the disappearance." But the defense challenged Dan's Hawaii alibi. Merit's attorney Raj Malene. The best they were able to do is present a plane ticket that he purchased. Doesn't mean he flew. It means he purchased. Show me that he got on a plane.

Prosecutor Bridaimes said investigators did check with the airline and TSA. They didn't get documentation, he said. But they got a verbal confirmation that the ticket was used. At trial, to further shoot down the defense's claim, they called Dan's ex-girlfriend to the stand. The woman who'd taken the trip with him to Hawaii when the mixed days went missing. Her testimony backed up Dan's alibi. "His girlfriend was with him in posting pictures of

all of them from Hawaii on her Facebook page simultaneously with them being there." Dan said the experience of having Merit's defense team point of finger at him was unsettling. "Not very pleasant, and then they're running your name through the dirt online. I could potentially affect your relationships, your business, and all that. So that was troubling." In their closing argument, prosecutors told the jury,

Because they argued. If you look at all the circumstances together, there's only one reasonable conclusion.

“Chase Merit killed the mixed-day family. And prosecutors argued, Joey Jr., and Gianni,”

just three and four years old at the time, had been collateral damage. Killed because, if it came to it, Boyz would have been able to identify Merit as the person who killed their parents. In front of the jury, Brit Himes emphasized the cruelty of the murder of the youngest mixed-days, saying quote, "It was blow after blow, after blow to a child's skull. As he banged the sledgehammer, the alleged murder weapon on a courtroom podium."

Prosecutors reiterated Merit had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit this quadruple homicide.

In the defense's closing, Chase Merit's attorneys reiterated there was a total lack of physical

evidence tying the defendant to the crime. They alleged the state, Nordfax, and witnesses that

“didn't fit their version of events, and accused them of conquering a false story based on who”

merit is as a person and businessman, and not whether he had anything to do with these four deaths. Prosecutor Brit Himes told ABC News that the jury arrived at a verdict on a Friday, but agonizingly for the attorney. The verdict wasn't read that day. Instead, the judge sent the jury home and told them to come back the following Monday. As season prosecutors, you still get worried. That was the longest weekend of my career.

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No one brings you closer to the wild than ESPN. College football and ESPN all sees along. Witness the wild in ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN app. Welcome to the greatest show on Earth. The fix is a YHS 13. What do you sense? Our return from our duty. The star studied cast, return us. Something wicked this way comes. You all got to unite. I'll drink to that.

If you're going to rise up and rule the world, you better get yourself a damn sense of humor. FX is a YHS 13, premier September 24th on FX and Hulu. It took six days for the jury to arrive at a verdict in Chase Merit's murder trial. Local stations KGTV and KBC covered the news. The end of a near decade-old murder case is Saul Charles Merit was found guilty. The jury determined that Charles Chase Merit

lodged in the mixed state family, and the jury's work not over the penalty phase of this trial starts tomorrow. The prosecution plans to pursue the death penalty.

Reporting in San Bernard. The final was found guilty of all four counts of first-degree murder.

The first count was the murder of Joseph. The second count was the murder of summer. The third count was the murder of Gianni and the fourth count was of Joseph Junior. In the courtroom, the day the verdict came down. Chase Merit sat at the defense table. Staring ahead with his hands clasped in front of him. As the verdict was read, he closed his eyes and inhaled slightly. Someone from a few rows behind him cried "Oh God!"

As the clerk continued, Merit's head dropped, and the attorney sitting next to him reached over. In four a moment, said his hand on the convicted killer's arm. About six months after Merit's conviction, the court handed down its sentence. Or would it be death or life in prison? Relatives of the mixed days gave victim-maimpact statements.

directly in the eyes. This despicable evil monster that there really be my family. How could you be

“to precious little babies? Michael McStay, Joseph's brother, came up to the podium,”

periodically wiping tears away as he spoke. There's nothing more valuable on this earth than time. And that was stolen from them. They were stolen from us. This world was robbed for four beautiful souls. Before the judge imposed dissentance, Chase Merit had one last chance to persuade the court, not to give him the death penalty. One last chance to plead for his life. "I made several

lot of things. I took the soaps. I did not do this. And his God is my witness. I will be back here and I will prove to everyone that that is true."

“Merit spoke tearfully. He said he loved Joseph. "I would never have heard of the meaning”

right. I would never raise my hand to a woman or child." He said that prosecutors manipulated

evidence just to pin the murders on someone and get a win. He said it killed him that the mixed day's relatives didn't believe in his innocence. When Merit finished his statement, it was time for the judge to impose dissentance. The judge would have to decide. What was a fair sentence for a man convicted of killing a family of four? What was justice for the mixed day's grieving relatives who had lived for years with the knowledge that their loved ones

were brutally murdered? "There is no further judgment since this court. Mr. Mark ordered you to create an judge. Let the defendant Charles Miran be sentenced to death." As Merit listened to the judge given the death penalty, he looked straight ahead and his clasped in front of him. His solemn expression on changing. Throughout the trial and since, Merit has maintained his innocence. Just before sentencing, he requested a new trial.

He claimed a certain witness should have been called. His testimony he said, "What have exonerated him?" His request for a new trial was denied. When ABC News spoke to him last year, he said he was planning to file a habeas petition to try and prove he did not commit these murders. A petition has not yet been filed.

Merit's ex Kathy Jarvis says she's always believed Chase didn't kill the mixed days.

"I've never wavered in my belief in Chase. It's past time that people, I don't want them to forget about this case and I don't want them to forget about him being in there. I hope people will re-evaluate. I hope something will happen to exonerate him." Defense Attorney Rajmalin said justice hasn't been served for Merit or the mixed days. Malin said we're no closer to knowing the truth of what really happened to the mixed day family.

But Michael mixed days said the verdict has provided some closure.

“"I personally am happy with the verdict. I think it was correct and fair. He got a fair trial.”

And a jury spoke." Today Chase Merit is behind bars at a California State Prison in San Diego. He is 69 years old. Though he sits on death row, there's no date for his execution. While Merit was on trial in 2019, California's governor instituted a moratorium on the death penalty in the state. There hasn't been an execution in California since 2006.

After the mixed days remains were discovered, it were laid to rest in a cemetery in Orange County. There's a permanent memorial to the family out by the same many waves. On a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean sits a terracotta bench. On one side is a plaque with the names, Joseph Summer, Gianni, Joey Jr. mixed day.

Over 15 years after the mixed days were killed. Friends of theirs, like Gina Watson and Jessie

Sovaria, still hold vivid memories of what the family was like. I would like Joseph to be remembered as a really great friend that he was, a generous person, a great father, a great husband, a great son, a great brother. I don't think I would have spent so many hours of my life

researching with his father if Joseph wasn't the kind of person that he was.

“The way that I want to remember Summer is, I want to remember her, experiencing that love,”

and experiencing being a mother. Hi, little child, Vichelle.

I want to remember them. At the beach, playing in the sand.

Hi, sir, today. The sun is out. They have their bicycles. You want to get on a bike with daddy? Yeah, yeah, let's go.

“That's what I think of when I remember them.”

What happens to the mixed days is a production of ABC audio in 2020. hosted by me, Ashen Singh, produced by Madeleine Wood, Vichelle Arancin, Audrey Mastek, and Kiara Powell, with help from Sabrina Fang and Camille Peterson, edited by Gianna Palmer, or supervising producer as Susie Luke, music by Havana Viola,

“scoring by Kiara Powell, mixing by Havana Viola and Bob Mallory, special thanks to Katie Dendos,”

Janis Johnson, Chris Donovan, Joseph Reed, Sonny Andrew, Alyssa Stolar, Xander Samaras, Tom Burmin, Indra Delisachum, and Blue Browning. Gosh Cohen is our director of podcast programming. And when McNath is our executive producer, can't wait for more. Listen to the next episode ahead of everyone else, add free. Subscribe now to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts. Click the link in the description to start your free trial today.

In 1986, a man named Scott Maclin was killed in broad daylight. Police quickly found their suspect. Prosecutors convicted him. But now, almost 40 years later, I'm re-examining this case. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Has the wrong man been in prison this whole time? Listen to examined, the backfire effect wherever you get your podcasts.