The bodies of four people found buried in the desert north of Victorville may be linked to the 2010 disappearance of the McStay family from Fallbrook, according to a report Thursday in the San Diego Union Tribune.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore confirmed to the Union Tribune that he had spoken with the sheriff in San Bernardino County.
Gore would not tell the newspaper what he and his counterpart discussed, and would also not confirm reports that the remains could be those of the McStays.
San Diego’s 10News was the first to report a possible connection between the Victorville remains and the McStay family.
Authorities have scheduled a new conference to discuss the case at 11 a.m. Friday in San Bernardino.
Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two young sons Gianni and Joseph were last heard from on Feb. 4, 2010.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department turned the investigation over to the FBI in April due to the belief that the family went to Mexico voluntarily, according to a news release from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.
In the days before they disappeared, investigators said someone used the McStay’s computer to find information about travel to Mexico and passports for children.
The McStay’s white 1996 Izuzu Trooper was found abandoned Feb. 8th in San Ysidro.
Detectives also uncovered video from a border crossing showing a group of people similar to the McStay family going into Mexico through the pedestrian gate, according to the release.
The video is dated around 7 p.m. Feb. 8, the same day the Trooper was found.
Since their disappearance, investigators said, the McStays haven’t used their credit cards, cell phones or the $100,000 in their checking account.
Family members maintain the McStays would never have left on vacation or for any other reason without telling someone.
“Evidence at the family home suggested that the family had not left on a planned vacation and that the totality of the circumstances surrounding their disappearance was quite out of character for this family,” sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Brugos said.
The family dogs had been left without food or water.
Food was found on the kitchen counter and two cereal bowls full of popcorn were in the living room.
“Certainly it’s not against the law to be missing voluntarily but we are checking some things preliminarily such as their banking, cell phone use, to try to make a determination on what happened,” said Lt. Dennis Brugos.
McStay worked from home and ran an online business selling indoor fountain waterfalls called Earth Inspired Products since 1996.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Anyone with any information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS(8477) or 580-TIPS(8477).