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

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."