JC:
While I have some respect for you and I did in fact buy your book, I also think it would be a good idea for you to let us know about your financial situation regarding what your book sales have been and what you have donated to TES like you said you would. I also get tired of your games of " I'm gonna post ALL docs" then " no I'm not now gonna take the high road" now you've done the same deal with these creatures, Erp et al. You post then withdraw and give noble reasons. I for one think its because you may be threatened with legal action so you comply. It gets old though. Another idea that bothers me a that while I think the whole McStay clan is shady, I don't understand why it is so far fetched that maybe, just maybe , Saint Joey and his wife chose to voluntarily disappear and then had his brother siphon his accounts , sell the biz and send him money and maybe Joey even said hey, keep some for yourself. As shady as I think DK is, he could have helped too, no? I think Joey was into something questionable as far as income goes, just something doesn't add up , so the company he kept is a reflection. Why does it have to be the ONLY explanation for " Mikey raiding the accounts and stealing the business" is something nefarious and self serving for Mike and DK. I am NO fan of either but the jury is still out on Joey too no? I read all of Erps emails you posted and some very interesting things came up about you knowing someone who helped Joey withdraw money before disappearance and proof you had of a video Summer made for Blanche ( her mom). Receipt for six pairs of glasses? Where did Erp get these ideas? It sounds like from the tone of the emails, you and she had been communicating at one point. Honestly I too remember yet another post right when you first started the blog a while ago that you had up but took down where you stated you knew where the family was and what happened. I have a feeling this wont get posted but in all fairness if you think Mike should answer questions and not dodge them , shouldn't you hold yourself to the same standard? I spent money for your book and was hoping for more info out of it and felt kinda ripped off that you're withholding real solid info like emails and such. That's what I thought the book would contain but nevertheless it was a good read. I bought the hard copy plus the E book because I couldn't wait to read it. If you don't post this then ill know what your really about and that's cool. To each his own. I'm just a mom who lives in Tustin who has no dog in the fight but I grew up in San Clemente and this case has fascinated me. Thanks for hearing me out Rick. Maybe you'll answer my questions too!
Oh, my name is Jennifer Connor I don't know how to put my name in the box that says " google"
RB:
I don't know the book sale numbers yet. The first statement I received from my publisher for Q1 had only 50 book sales on it because I am only paid after Amazon pays Tate, which sometimes takes 6 months. The Amazon numbers are over 1,000 and I have sold about that many from my website. I don't have the number sold from the Tate site or any of the Ebook numbers yet. If you know the publishing industry, then you know this takes time.
Second, I have never been threatened with legal action. Let me be clear, I have never been threatened with legal action. In fact, I have almost begged MM to sue me and if he had nothing to hide, he would have. The last thing he wants is to get on the stand under oath. I know the libel and slander laws better than most attorneys, have dealt with them for many years. I parked the posts because my blog was getting off point, which is only to find the family. Debbie Erp has a mental illness and will never stop doing what she is doing because she is sick. Anyone who engages her is in danger. I just wanted the sane and caring people who may follow her to understand this. I know that many have now distanced themselves from her and her toxicity.
Third, I don't know what happened to Joey and his family. It makes sense to me now, with what I know, that the night of Feb 4 found Joey confronting Summer about a number of things and maybe it got out of hand? Maybe Summer lunged at Joey, he protected himself, she fell, died. Joey was then left with a decision to make. Call the authorities and maybe never see his kids again or, dispose of the body and go underground. Summer did not have many friends, certainly none who would miss her instantly. Under this theory, did Joey call Mike and tell him what happened, ask him to park the Trooper where it was found and then withdraw money from Joey's acct and get it to him? Makes sense, but again, we don't know. Does MIke know? I think so.
I left the safety deposit withdrawal out of the book because what I was told just didn't sit right with me. I only learned this after I realized I had been duped by someone in the family, (not Patrick). It was during this time that I realized what I had been told was not accurate, about where the family was and why they left.
The video tape (2 of them) is, or was in the possession of Summer's mother. I spent an entire afternoon at her home in Big Bear and we discussed the tape, what was on it and why Joey made the tape.
I have pasted here for you my final unpublished chapter from the original book in 2011. It will give you some insight into a number of areas not yet published, but also show you what I was thinking back then, much of it wrong, having not seen the emails. Much of this chapter came from my talking to "friends and family members" that I thought were being straight with me. I only learned later (when I read all the emails) that they had not been. Is any part of it true? Yes, much is, but some is not.
Thanks for your comments and for following this case. It is my hope and prayer that resolution is brought about for the sake of the two innocent children.
20.
What Happened To The McStays?
The Author’s Scenario
In doing research for this book, I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of Patrick McStay’s thousands of documents detailing almost every aspect of this mystery. This man has spent literally every waking hour in search of his family for the past 20 months, to the detriment of his health and finances. The invaluable result of this information, coupled with visiting four South American countries and conducting numerous interviews of my own, has led me to believe that this following account is the most likely scenario for what happened to Joey, Summer, Gianni and little Joey:
Joey loves his family very much. He adores Summer and takes very seriously his role as father to his three children, Gianni, little Joey and his son, now 15 from his first marriage.
It is from this son that I believe this entire mystery originates and ends.
Joey and Summer had spoken often about the hope of having him come live with them. Joey had always been and remained close even after the divorce and his son had often mentioned how much he wanted to live with Joey and Summer and his two half-brothers.
We have come to know the stepfather as an ex-convict who spent time in prison for taking a knife to his then-girlfriend and her lover. He may have also been arrested for domestic violence against his present wife, the boy’s biological mother some years back.
Joey and Summer were afraid of this man. They were afraid of what he might do if he learned they wanted custody of his son Joey talked to his father often about his desires to have his son live with them.
I should note that one of the main reasons Joey and Summer wanted his son to live with them was their belief that his son was being abused by his stepfather. They had told a few family members that they had proof, but weren’t sure how to proceed because of their fear of the stepfather.
For months Joey had been seeking legal help and had been trying to devise a plan that could force the courts to place his son with he and his wife but with little success.
Until, something unimaginable happened one August afternoon in 2009.
His son was at the home with Joey and Summer’s in San Clemente enjoying a Saturday afternoon with his dad and half-brothers. He was surfing on Joey’s computer, as he often did when at dad’s house. When he left the computer, he neglected to delete one of the websites he had been visiting. When Joey went back to his computer later that afternoon, he found the site, which was certainly nothing he wanted Gianni or little Joey to see.
Joey alerted Summer of what he had found and wondered if his son had spoken to Gianni or little Joey about this subject of the website. Both said they had talked to the boy about that subject.
Joey and Summer were furious. Should they call his mother? Should they talk to him? Was his Internet browsing just the innocent curiosity of a 13-year-old boy?
Then, suddenly, Joey realized that he could use these two incidents to further his goal of getting custody of his son. This was the perfect opportunity.
So, Joey and Summer devised their plan and carefully mapped out their strategy.
A strategy that would ultimately backfire.
Summer would file a complaint with the California Child Protection Services over Joey’s son’s behavior. Joey would not file the complaint so as to keep the peace and his lines of communication open with his ex-wife.
This official complaint would then trigger a thorough investigation of both families. It would include a detailed investigation and interview process by the agency for his son’s mom and stepdad and his living arrangements in their home, as well as Joey and Summer’s household.
Joey and Summer had high hopes that the CPS agents would find, just as they suspected, that his son’s stepfather had been abusing him.
Would the boy’s mother (and Joey’s ex-wife) tell the investigators what she knew about the alleged abuse if any? Joey and Summer had hoped so. The last thing they wanted to do was cause his son any more harm than what he might have already endured.
The investigation would last about six months.
Not a day, no, not an hour, would pass in those six months without both Summer and Joey anxious to hear the outcome. If they win, and the stepfather is proven to have abused Joey’s son, the man may be sent back to prison for life as a “Strike Three” offender. In California, as in many states, three felonies means up to life in prison.
But, what if the investigation didn’t prove the alleged abuse? What would they do? They believed they and there families would be in danger.
This was confirmed very early in the investigation when, according to Joey’s dad, his son’s stepfather called Joey and threatened both he and his wife.
According to an email Patrick discovered during his investigation, the stepfather had said to Joey, “Either you muzzle your wife, or I will come over there and kick you’re a*# and muzzle her for you.”
I believe that it was just after this threat that Joey started working on Plan B. He believed that if the CPS investigation did not rule in their favor, he and his family would be in danger.
He designed Plan B much like he would his exotic water features, leaving out no detail, addressing every possible flaw. If he ever had to execute this plan, it would be to save his family and it must leave nothing to chance.
Joey and Summer began to amass large amounts of cash so they could be ready at a moment’s notice to flee.
Joey bought a number of disposable cell phones from a Walmart in Temecula, California. Ten dollar phones that can be tossed when the 100 minutes is used up, or reloaded with more minutes inexpensively.
He bought new identities for his family, where in the San Diego area less than $1,000 will get you a new passport and International Driver’s License.
He opened another bank account in the name of his new identity and stored tens of thousands of dollars in a safety deposit box there.
He and Summer bought clothing and other essentials and mailed the items to destinations outside the United States. Some of these packages sent to Zaire, Haiti, a very small village in the mountains high above the chaos that still engulfs Port-a-Prince.
Finally, Joey knew he had to document the facts of the CPS investigation in the event something happened to him. He and Summer made two videotapes with their children, detailing their conversations with his son and his alleged abuse. The existence of these tapes was referred to in the CPS file, but they were not viewed by the agency or any other family member.
I know this because I have viewed both videotapes.
Patrick also has in his possession a set of written notes from conversations that Joey and Summer had with Joey’s son, that describe in detail the problems his son was experiencing. Patrick discovered these documents while investigating his family’s disappearance.
I am certain that neither Joey nor Summer had ever wanted to enact Plan B, for if they did, the hard choices that would follow would break their hearts.
Joey would not be able to tell his father of their planned disappearance for fear of what he, as an ex-Vietnam Vet, might do to the stepfather.
Summer would not be able to tell her sister, brother or her mother, knowing the pain and heartache this would cause all three.
The hardest choice for Summer would most likely be not telling her family, especially her mother, about her recently confirmed pregnancy. Would her mom have another grandson, or a granddaughter?
Summer would also be forced to leave behind her Guardian Angel. Bear had been with Summer for eight years. She never went anywhere without him. Plan B would mean leaving him and saying goodbye.
Childhood friends of Joey and Summer would be left behind to wonder what happened.
Joey’s business, now thriving, would disintegrate. He had worked so hard to build this business and was about to skyrocket it to a level of success he had never known before.
Their new Fallbrook home would eventually go back to the bank. They would not be able to finish the remodel or enjoy the profits from their efforts.
These were some of the hard choices of Plan B. Choices that they both agreed to execute if the CPS investigators ruled against them. The stage was now set and they would be ready to pull the trigger if they believed their lives depended on it.
That trigger would be pulled on February 4, 2010.
Chapter three examined what Joey and Summer’s day was like on that Thursday, February 4, 2010. Summer planned little Joey’s birthday party that was two days away. She called her sister and spent about an hour trying to finish the interior painting that MyGyver wasn’t able to finish the day before. At about 1:00pm, she puts the kids in their car seats in the Dodge pickup, ready to head out to the Ross Department Store in Vista to buy a few presents for her infant nephew.
She then backs out of the driveway, and stops momentarily to get the mail. The mail includes the usual coupons and throwaway fliers. She sees a letter. The return address on the envelope is: “California Department of Social Services, Child Protective Services Investigations.”
Her heart stops. For a moment she can’t breathe. She had heard that the investigation was almost complete and had been expecting the results. She wonders if she should open it now or wait for Joey. She decides to read it. Is it a short and to the point letter that states the investigation was “Inconclusive and no charges will be filed. Case closed.”
Summer is frozen in her seat. She replays the past six months in her mind. What did they do wrong? What could they have done differently? How could the CPS not have seen the abuse?
Their strategy had backfired.
Summer then drives to Ross to buy the presents for her nephew. She wonders if she should call Joey now or wait for him to get home.
Joey was on his way back from lunch with Chase Merritt, when he stopped along the way to deposit a $16,000 check he had just received for a past job, probably not yet knowing about the CPS letter.
At exactly 5:00pm, Summer texted Joey and told him that their strategy had backfired and that their worst fears had come to pass.
When Joey learns the news, he becomes dizzy and needs to pull over to get his bearings. He sits just off the Freeway for 30 minutes or so, trying to stop his head from spinning.
Summer texts Joey again at 5:35pm, making sure he is okay and wondering when he’ll be home. He responds that he’s almost there.
When he gets to the house, he backs the Trooper into the driveway and both he and Summer know that Plan B is now in affect.
The home surveillance video camera from across the street captures the Trooper leaving their driveway at 7:47pm.
As their SUV pulls out of the driveway and as it makes the left turn onto Avocado Vista Lane, it appears to slow just in front of their home, as if to say one final “Goodbye.”
Because of Summer’s fear of bridges, they exit their development via Panky Avenue and then turn west on Highway 76. After they have driven seven miles toward Oceanside and as they near the Old Bonsall Bridge, they both toss their cell phones out the SUV and into the San Luis Rey Riverbed, where they will stay until they are washed into the Pacific Ocean from the floods of March, 2010.
The new life begins for a family of five.
Epilogue
Bob, Tessa and their three children have served as missionaries in Mexico for over ten years. Living in a large Mexican city, their passion has always been share the Love of God with as many locals as possible. Following is their account of meeting Joey, Summer, Gianni and little Joey in April of 2010, more than two months after they had disappeared.
Tessa and her oldest daughter, Allison, have just arrived at WalMart to pick up fish and vegetables for that night’s dinner. As they enter the store, they pass an American family of four. The two young boys stand out to Allison. “The older boy had this wavy hair and was so cute,” she said, “and the younger one had a birthmark on his forehead. I said ‘hi’ to the boys and they smiled and looked real happy.” Allison’s mom tried to strike a conversation with the mother. “She was cordial, but I could tell didn’t really want to talk,” said Tessa. “The father never really looked us in the eyes, he always turned away and didn’t say much.”
As Allison and her mom walked the aisles of the store, they would pass this family twice more, each time with Allison saying “hello” to the two small boys. “They were so cute,” she would remember.
Again they would see this family as they enter the checkout line to pay for their groceries. “They were right next to us in the next line,” recalls Tessa.
When Allison and Tessa leave the store, the American family exits at the same time. Allison tells the small boys goodbye as their parents are putting them in their car seats in their minvan.
As Allison and Tessa drive away, they both comment on how cute the boys were. “I wonder though why their dad never looked at us,” said Allison.
Later that night, Allison was on the family computer looking at her favorite American website, yahoo.com, when up pops an alert for a missing family of four.
She leaps from her chair, runs to find her mother and says, “Mom, the family we just saw at the store, the one with the cute boys, they are on the computer!” Tessa looks at the alert and agrees. “Without a doubt, that is the McStay family,” she tells her husband.
Convinced that both his wife and daughter had seen the McStays, he sends the tip to the www.mcstayfamily.com, the family website. Mike McStay shows no interest in the sighting and emails the lead to his dad, Patrick.
Patrick immediately contacts the husband and asks if there were video cameras at the grocery store. “I am not sure,” he told Patrick, “I’ll drive to the store now and see.”
He contacted Patrick later that evening with the good news that there were cameras in the store and that they should have recorded Joey and his family. He told Patrick that the store would release the video, but only to the police.
Patrick would then contact the San Diego Sheriff’s Department about the sighting and Detective Troy Dugal said he would begin the process of acquiring the video.
The FBI was brought in and along with the Federal Mexican Police, requested the video from the store.
Patrick was told by the detective Dugal that he would be called once the video had arrived.
Weeks passed and no call.
When Patrick phoned the detective, he was told that the first video sent was the wrong one. Once they located the right one, it was sent to a specific agent at the El Centro, CA office of the FBI. When the video arrived in El Centro, this agent had been transferred to Washington DC just days earlier.
The video was then forwarded to the agent’s new office there. He apparently viewed it and sent the video to the FBI Special Agent in San Diego. Who then forwarded it to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department Detective Dugal.
The detective called Patrick and said the video was “grainy and no faces could be identified.” He told Patrick he would send the video to Allison and Tessa to confirm this was indeed the tape of the correct time and WalMart.
Both Tessa and Allison confirmed that the video was grainy and that they couldn’t even tell if it was the same WalMart.
“We know the family we met was the McStays,” said Tessa. “Their young son had the birthmark of little Joey, the older son had the curly locks of Gianni and Summer was wearing the same glasses as she is in all the pictures. The only difference was that Joey had a buzz hair cut.”
“The lack of any video doesn’t change who we saw,” said Allison.
