Police "Screwed Up" McStay Murder Investigation, Says Victim's Family

Following an arrest yesterday in the McStay family murder case, which vexed San Diego County sheriff's deputies for years, the father of victim Joseph McStay says the sheriff's department didn't do enough to find the killer.

It wasn't until San Bernardino County deputies took over the case that Charles "Chase" Merritt, McStay's business partner, was arrested, McStay's family says.

"I knew they (the San Diego County Sheriff's Department) screwed this thing up," the victim's father, Patrick McStay, told NBC 4. "All the rest was just sugar coating to make it look like they really were interested in solving, doing something. They did virtually nothing."

The McStay family - Joseph, his wife Summer, and their two children - disappeared from their home in Fallbrook in 2010. It wasn't until 2013 that their bodies were found in Victorville, and Merritt's arrest followed yesterday. San Bernardino prosecutors say Merritt is eligible the death penalty.

Early in the investigation, San Diego police told the press they were treating the case as a disappearance and not looking for a murder scene. But San Bernardino investigators now say they believe the family was killed in their San Diego County home by blunt force trauma.