Business associate found guilty in McStay Family murders 6 years after bodies were found in desert

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KTLA) -- A Southern California man was convicted Monday of bludgeoning a couple and their two little boys to death, then burying their bodies in a remote desert area where the crime remained hidden until an off-roader stumbled across skeletal remains.

After a trial that spanned more than four months and depended largely on circumstantial evidence, jurors in San Bernardino found 62-year-old Charles "Chase" Merritt guilty of the first-degree murders of business associate Joseph McStay, McStay's wife, Summer, and the couple's 3- and 4-year-old sons.

Prosecutors said Merritt killed the family with a sledgehammer at a time when he owed McStay money and was being cut out of the victim's business making and selling custom water fountains.

The jury also found the special circumstance of multiple murders.

The judge scheduled the penalty phase to begin Tuesday. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

The McStay family vanished in 2010.

Authorities found bowls of uneaten popcorn at their San Diego County home, which had no signs of forced entry, and their car parked at a strip mall near the Mexico border.

For years, officials couldn't determine what happened to the McStays. At one point, investigators said they believed the family had gone to Mexico voluntarily, though they couldn't say why.

In 2013, their bodies were found in shallow graves in the desert after an off-road motorcyclist discovered skeletal remains in the area. Authorities also unearthed a rusty sledgehammer that they said was used to kill the family.

Merritt, who worked with McStay in his water features business, was arrested in 2014.

Authorities said they traced Merritt's cellphone to the area of the desert gravesites in the days after the family disappeared and to a call seeking to close McStay's online bookkeeping account.

Prosecutors say financial records show Merritt tried to loot the business bank accounts just before and after the family disappeared and backdated checks to Feb. 4, knowing it was the last day anyone had contact with McStay.