McStay family mystery

A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy escorts defendant Charles Merritt into court for his arraignment in the alleged murder of Joseph McStay and McStay’s wife and two boys in Victorville, Calif.   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Susan Blake, center, mother of Joseph McStay, with family and friends as she addresses the media outside the courthouse where defendant Charles Merritt was arraigned.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Photographs of the McStay family displayed at a November 2013 news conference, where San Bernardino County authorities announced that remains found in desert graves had been identified as the McStays’.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Kyla Cummins, daughter of a McStay family friend, plays with a stuffed toy left at a memorial for the McStays, whose bodies were found buried in shallow desert graves.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Family members and friends gather at the site where four crosses were installed in memory of the McStay family, found buried in shallow graves in Victorville.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Workers from Victor Valley News Group install four crosses at a memorial for Joseph and Summer McStay and their two children, whose remains were found in shallow graves near Victorville.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s not really the outcome we were looking for,” Michael McStay said during a news conference in November 2013 after the remains of his brother, sister-in-law and nephews were identified. “But it gives us courage to know they’re together and they’re in a better place.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Erin McStay, left, and Susan Blake at a news conference in November 2013 at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department headquarters, where authorities announced the remains of Blake’s son, Joseph McStay, and his family had been identified. Erin McStay is Joseph McStay’s sister-in-law.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigators excavate a grave on the outskirts of Victorville in November 2013. Human remains found in two graves at the site were determined to be those of the McStay family, who went missing in 2010.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

The McStays’ former house on Avocado Vista Lane in Fallbrook.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)