Down to the Bone: A Missing Family’s Murder and the Elusive Quest for Justice
Book by Caitlin Rother
Review by Paul Levikow
December 2, 2025 (San Diego) – San Diego-based New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rother takes on the mysterious disappearance of the McStay family of four, who were last seen in their Fallbrook home in February, 2010.
Joseph, Summer, and their two sons, Gianni and Joseph Jr. were killed and their bodies were found in 2013 in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert. The family's business associate, Charles "Chase" Merritt, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murders, which were believed to have been committed with a sledgehammer.
Down to the Bone: A Missing Family’s Murder and the Elusive Quest for Justice follows the 10-year path of the case from the missing person’s report, to the discovery of the family’s remains almost four years later San Bernardino County in November, 2013; to the arrest of a suspect about a year after that in November, 2024; through to trial that began in January 2019; to the defendant’s death sentence in January, 2020; and everything in between.
The 376-page book was released earlier this year by Kensington Publishing and adds to Rother’s extensive list of bestselling true crime novels which includes several notorious crimes in San Diego County.
The story made international and national headlines and got extensive gavel-to-gavel coverage by Southern California news media. But despite the attention the case got, we haven’t heard it all. Until now. This is the story behind the story. This is a detailed account of the law enforcement investigation and trial, taking the reader to the inner workings of the case from beginning to end.
Rother read more than 300 pages of search warrant affidavits, covered the preliminary hearing, scoured public records and media reports about possible suspects and key witnesses in the case, then followed the trial that was streamed live. After that, Rother reviewed trial transcripts, tracked news and reactions on social media, read through the 1,200 trial exhibits, four-volume court file, and thousands of pages of discovery. She also reviewed investigative reports and witness interviews from both the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, most of which have never been made public.
All without taking a position on anyone’s guilt or innocence.
Rother’s previous career as a daily newspaper reporter including the San Diego Union-Tribune and education at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University really shine through. Her attention to detail, commitment to getting the facts straight and ability to tell a compelling story, keep the reader engaged.
In Chapter 35, Rother describes the preliminary hearing. “The rest of the hearing was filled with a mind-numbing series of numbers: dates and times of cell phone calls and bank checks.” This is what the readers of her book have to endure at the beginning. The money and accounting figures, computer analysis details, DNA evidence discussions were so detailed, it made it difficult to follow at times.
There are a lot of gory details of the crime that might be tough for the squeamish to get through. But when a case goes on for ten years, the book challenge becomes what to leave in and what to leave out.
Merritt finally went to trial with his third team of defense attorneys after firing the first two. Rother does a great job of capturing the essence of the emotions of a five-month trial, the acrimonious gamesmanship among attorneys, an unknown illness of a defense attorney, accusations of unprofessional conduct, the loss of three jurors, and on-and-on.
Each team, the prosecution and defense, had three attorneys assigned. There were accusations of unprofessional conduct flying back-and-forth every step of the way. In a book excerpt, a member of the defense team stands up to address the judge about the prosecution team’s behavior.
“Every time we discuss these issues, the three of them get up like cackling school girls, and go through this thing, that we’re engaging in some type of misconduct, and the court allows this to occur on a regular basis. So, should we just sit down and not say anything?”
Defense attorneys called the prosecution conduct “reprehensible” and that the prosecution used “shell game” tactics to deprive defense of crucial info. The prosecution accused defense counsel of intentionally violating rules of professional conduct. At one point, the defense accused the judge of serving as an advocate for the prosecution for not sanctioning the prosecution team. It even got a little testy between witnesses and attorneys at times.
The readers of Rother’s book get a front row seat to all of it.
The judge was quoted at one point saying, “We could certainly sidetrack the entire trial and have a whole trial just on the conduct of counsel. That, of course, would be to the benefit of the defense, because we would never finish the trial. So, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to keep the focus on the trial and let others deal with misconduct of counsel at a later point.”
The barbs continued all the way through to closing arguments.
Final words from Rother: “I hope this book opens readers’ eyes on the workings and flaws of our criminal justice system and also changes preconceived notions about this case in particular.”
After being sentenced to death, Merritt was transferred from San Quentin prison to R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa.