Why Call Cathy, Chase?

Quartzite Mountain Electronic Site

On February 6, Chase Merritt placed 5 calls from his cell phone that pinged a cell tower on Quartzite mountain near Victorville, Ca. They were at 11:30, 11:31, 11:33, 11:34, and 11:52 am. This tower is approximately 1.5 miles from the McStay gravesite. This is not new knowledge. Well, for some it may. We choose to believe this is a fact and not junk science.

I’m not sure what is more important – Why Chase called who he did or who Chase called when he did. On the night of the 4th, Chase had 5 missed calls from one number and that number he called back. In the Prelim, the DA asked Detective Boles if this number was to Catherine Jarvis. The detective stated he did not know who it belonged to. It is possible that the DA did know it belonged to Jarvis and assumed Boles had identified it.

As far as the number that Merritt called in the late morning hours of the 6th, the DA didn’t ask about it, perhaps because it was the same number as on the 4th. But why did Merritt make seemingly frantic calls, one after another, to the same number? What happened? And why was Merritt in the desert when he claimed he wasn’t?

Who was the 5th call to at 11:54? 

Q Turning your attention to February 6th, 2010, Saturday,
what did your analysis reveal on that day?
A The first phone activity is at 10:46 A.M. It contacts a
tower in the Victorville area near Interstate 15.
The next activity is at 11:30 A.M., and continuing
through 11:52 A.M, contacts the cell tower in the Oro Grande
area just north of Victorville in the High Desert, near
Interstate 15.
11:53 A.M., contacts a cell tower a little bit to the
south, back up near Victorville.
THE COURT: What time was that?
THE WITNESS: 11:53.
And 12:49 P.M., contacts a cell tower in the Victorville
area.
And then at 1:30 P.M., has contact with the cell tower in
the Oro Grande area, again from a direction pointing to the
south in that case.

Pg 85 Chase Merritt Preliminary Hearing.

10:46 – 1:30. 2 hours, 45 minutes. That’s a hell of a long time to bury the bodies, assuming Chase did this. Assuming, he hid it in that time frame. Thinking about how much Chase shut his phone off and went dark, he most likely got to the site a lot earlier. Still, what is up with all that extra free time, just hanging out round Victorville?

In reference to the above snip from the Prelim,why does it seem like he is moving back and forth between the graves and Victorville. Or, was he actually at the gravesite that long and his phone pinged off different towers?

A Distorted Timeline of Events

Were the bodies stored somewhere in Victorville, brought there a day or two earlier and Chase retrieved them? Would this explain the dual set of tracks? I’ve been told that this would be risky for him to do but let’s consider a few things.

• Chase gambled, big time,  so from the get-go he’s already a risk taker.
• He drove to Fallbrook and committed premeditated murder, on a family.
• Chase returned to the Fallbrook home, painted and cleaned up.
• He buried the family, what is believed, on February 6 and buried them in the desert in (somewhat) broad daylight. .
• He stole thousands of dollars from his boss, via his own computer as well as the Fallbrook computer.
• Chase called Quickbooks posing as Joseph McStay to request to cancel the account.
•  There’s a multitude of accounts where Merritt ripped off clients, friends and loved ones.

Chase Merritt was not a person afraid to take risks, at all. His whole life is chock full of risks. It’s my belief that Chase Merritt made two separate trips. Possibly on different days. But after reviewing the Prelim over the last few days and the multitude of discussions that have been had on the matter, I can’t be swayed from this. There is however a compelling argument for the two sets of tracks to have been made on the same visit.

 

I can’t buy into the ‘single-drop’ theory. For me, it doesn’t work. While I respect my colleagues, I respectfully disagree. One set of tracks seems to have been made during wetter conditions, or post wetter. The other, well it is possible they were made in damp, possibly dry conditions. I will attempt to recreate this theory soon.

So far, I have nothing against Cathy Jarvis. In fact, my heart goes out to her  and how this tragedy that has enveloped her family, her children. Chase Merritt’s actions in February 2010 have destroyed and deeply wounded many lives. So, I can’t imagine the anguish of wondering…..

But there are some things that will inevitably be brought out at trial. Catherine Jarvis will most likely be called as a witness. But I want to take a look at something. I’ll just put it up and you decide. This is not a witch hunt and not meant to turn into one. I do believe Catherine to be a good person, a loving mother. There should be a respectful discussion about this. Chase Merritt could be very manipulative and deceptive in his dealings. I know this first hand from talking to many of the people he was deeply involved with.

Compare the above quote from the Prelim and the screenshot below.

http://imgur.com/hnh52Kx

If the said number was Jarvis’ number, I found it on a simple Google search, seen above. I lifted it from the warrants. I have to think these detectives are more savvy than myself.

So the question is, who is the AT&T number that the defense wants records for? Is it Catherine Jarvis? Or some unknown subject? Did Chase call and meet someone else in Victorville for those 2 hours, 45 minutes?

 

Preview of next post: Postmortem

 Q What did you note about it?

A The way the victim was positioned inside the grave