Mysterious Disappearance of Family in Texas
COSTELLO: A young family of four disappears from their San Diego home without a trace, no signs of struggle, no apparent plans to flee, then nearly four years later, they are found dead. So, what happened to the McStay family? The story is part of a special CNN report tonight. And as Randi Kaye found out. It took days for other family members to alert police that these four were even missing.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Monday, February 15th, 11 days after the family went missing. Michael called the sheriff's department who came to the house to investigate. They immediately alerted homicide. Then investigators did something Patrick McStay finds unbelievable.</s>PATRICK MCSTAY JOSEPH MCSTAY'S FATHER: They don't put any tape on it, crime scene tape, any notices on the door. Nothing. They just lock the house back up and they leave to get warrants.</s>STEPH WATTS: It doesn't make any sense to me. I think you've got a family that's missing for a week and they are still not going to call it a crime scene?</s>KAYE: It took San Diego investigators three days to obtain the warrants they needed to complete a full search of the home. But during those three days, the McStay's home remained unsealed, which allowed Joseph's brother, mother, and friend access in and out of the house.</s>SUSAN BLAKE, JOSEPH MCSTAY'S MOTHER: I wouldn't go in there unless I called, you know, the sheriff's department and they said I could, so I had permission. I cleaned up the kitchen because it was disgusting and the trash can from diapers sitting there all that time, you know, it was terrible, terrible smells.</s>MCGYVER MCCARGAR, JOSEPH MCSTAY'S FRIEND: She was cleaning. We were looking for bank statements. I mean, I think she was just reaching for evidence.</s>KAYE (on camera): It was a crime scene?</s>MICHAEL MSSTAY, JOSEPH MCSTAY'S BROTHER: No, it was not deemed a crime scene because there was no sign of forced entry, there was no signs of foul play at the house.</s>KAYE (voice over): Michael says investigators gave them the OK to remove some items from the home.</s>MICHAEL MSSTAY: With their permission, I grabbed his computer, what would be Joey's computer and the S.D. card. I got the pictures off of it. I got that downloaded and then I had to put that back prior to them issuing the warrant.</s>KAYE: Back in Texas, Patrick could hardly believe what was going on.</s>PATRICK MCSTAY: The first thing I'm thinking is like you are going to destroy evidence? I was just stunned.</s>WATTS: Certain items that might have been really key to the big mystery of why they left that house are gone, touched, moved, cleaned up. It's ridiculous.</s>COSTELLO: Randi Kaye joins me now. Good morning, Randi. So the remains of the McStay family were found four years after the night they disappeared in the California desert. Did that surprise detectives?</s>KAYE: Oh, absolutely, Carol. I mean the San Diego sheriff's department. They had been investigating the case initially and they thought that the family disappeared into Mexico and they thought it was voluntary. I mean they had found the McStay's Isuzu Trooper parked near the Mexico border. They found computer searches on their home computer looking for paperwork that was required into Mexico. The was still unclear who did those searches or even when, Carol. And then there's this. Security camera video from the border of a family of four. Now some say it matched the McCray's description and it looked like they were walking into Mexico, but still Patrick McStay, Joseph's father, he's the husband in the case, I mean we talked to Patrick for this documentary. And he said they would never go to Mexico. He never believed this story. He said that his daughter-in-law Summer (ph) did not even like Mexico. But investigators still early on remained focused on the border, focused on Mexico. And that they went there never imagining that their bodies would be found more than 100 miles north of their home, which is far north of the border.</s>COSTELLO: So, why do investigators think they left their house so suddenly?</s>KAYE: Well, It's hard to say. I mean they have a new detective who's working on the case, but there's no question that they left in a hurry. I mean there were eggs on the counter, there were popcorn bowls in front of the television on this futon. Their beloved dogs, which they really treated like part of the family, they were left tied up in the backyard. And this is the main problem, Carol. San Diego sheriff's department, the deputies there, they didn't even enter the home with a search warrant until 15 days, 15 days after that family disappeared. So in that time, as you heard there, Joseph McStay's mother, she entered the home with her son Michael, she cleaned up the counter, she threw out dirty diapers, they threw out the eggs that were rotting on the counter. But who knows what clues may have been lost in the time that it took authorities to get in there with that warrant?</s>COSTELLO: Well, I can't wait to watch your documentary tonight. Randi Kaye, thanks so much. And you can watch the CNN "Special Report: Buried Secrets: Who Murdered the McStay Family." That's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break