Last Member Drive of 2025!

Your year-end tax-deductible gift powers our local newsroom. Help raise $1 million in essential funding for LAist by December 31.
$560,760 of $1,000,000 goal
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Joseph McStay's Father Has Theories About Who Murdered Then Buried Family In The Desert

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

The father of Joseph McStay is speaking out—in vague terms—about the three people he suspects might have been responsible for the murders of his son, his daughter-in-law and their two children.Joseph's father Patrick McStay told CBS, "I have exhausted and have so much information on three possible persons of interest. All have a motive."

The three individuals are not connected to each other, but all of them seem like likely candidates. Patrick says one of them seems to be a particularly likely suspect: he's a wealthy man with a long rap sheet that includes charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary. McStay says he, too, has a motive for killing his son.

The McStay family had been missing since 2010, and authorities had few clues about what happened to them until their bodies were found in the desert on the outskirts of Victorville earlier this month. San Diego sheriff's investigators said it was their most extensive missing persons search ever, but the McStay family has been critical of the investigation, calling it "botched" and "inept."

The last trace of the McStays was the family car found just near the border of Mexico. But the family says they were always particularly skeptical of investigators' theory that the family crossed over into Mexico without telling any family members.

McStay says he suspects that whoever killed Joseph, his wife Summer and their two boys Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3, was likely hired to do the job or the children recognized the killer. McStay told CBS, "To kill a child is something totally different. You have to be a cold-blooded killer."

McStay says that while he hoped he would see his son and family again, his worst fears came true: "I knew there was more to this. I knew they didn't walk away."

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right