Dear Readers
It is human nature to be quick to judge. I’m guilty of it. But mostly I don’t as I try to see the broader picture of situations. And people. I do try to be gracious here to posters that feel they have to attack my observations or opinions. I know their perception is not the same as my own but I diligently try to see through their perspective and respect those points of view. My own perspective is not the gospel truth and I welcome anyone’s challenge. However when my point of view or opinion, can not be accepted as just that and the opposing view becomes abusive and accusatory, we simply have to part ways. These individuals have also gone to other parts of the net to accuse me of fabricating things and conspiring with nefarious people to cause harm, among other outrageous claims. One poster even suggested I am Dan Kavanaugh himself. Imagine that. All of these are about as far from the truth as one can get.
So for all of you who read here (or post), welcome! If you don’t care for what I post, or my opinion, you can simply opt not to read. Yes it’s really that simple. Promise.
C.
For those who need catching up, a timeline of events:
- 2000 Joseph McStay creates EIP.com.
- 2001 Joseph meets Dan Kavanaugh
- 2005 Joseph and Dan together revamp EIP.com.
- 2007 Joseph meets Chase Merritt at a home & garden show.
- 2007 Joseph and Summer married.
- 2008 Provecho $33K chargeback.
- November 2009 McStay purchase home in Fallbrook, Ca.
- February 4, 2010 McStay Family last seen.
- February 15, 2010 Family officially reported missing, police enter home.
- February 18, 2018 Warrants executed and home is searched.
- April 2013 San Diego Sheriff’s office transferred the case to the FBI.
- November 11, 2013 the family remains are found and 4 days later identified.
- November 6, 2014 Chase Merritt is arrested for the murder of the McStay family.
- June 15, 2015 Chase Merritt attends a preliminary hearing where evidence is presented and testified to his guilt.
“The activity in Joseph’s business account, which had a balance of about $65,000, seemed consistent with business operations. Some withdrawals were made after his disappearance, but Dugal determined those were transactions conducted by Joseph’s employees.”
Just a notation to keep in mind while reading, excluding Chase Merritt’s exploits, there was nothing monetarily removed from the McStay’s accounts prior to February 18, 2010.
Someone recently accused me of going light on Dan K, I was accused of defending him. This is only partly true. One can not look at one aspect of this case and come to a satisfying conclusion. It’s like an old clock, so many moving parts orchestrating together and if one part malfunctions, breaks or goes missing, the whole system fails. For this case that missing cog of the wheelhouse was Joseph McStay.
I’ve never posted about the now infamous “Dan the Hacker” so let’s get right to it. Dan Kavanaugh, Joseph’s website designer, is a pivotal part of the case. Well some believe he is. It depends on which side you stand on. Was he somehow involved with the disappearance, murders and subsequent cash withdrawals? Or was he a witness to something? Rumor has it he will be called to testify. At what capacity remains unclear but it could be extremely detrimental to the prosecutions case.
Dastardly Dan?
Together Joseph and longtime friend Guy Joseph created Earthinspiredproducts.com, or EIP in April 2000.
It was born out of McStay’s other business, Naturally Dana Point. But the site was fledgling, even after a number of years. So just who is Dan Kavanaugh? Joseph McStay met Dan through Guy. Dan knew his way around computers so he worked with Joseph and revamped the EIP.com in 2005.
This is the first snapshot of the site in 2005. If you’ll notice, in a sort of twisted irony, the date is February 4. Over the next 5 years the site would see subtle changes. Remember Dan developed the site. He’s supposed to be some top notch computer guy. Overall the site was way better than what it was prior but seriously, it hardly looks professional. Even by ’05 standards. More on that later.
In early 2009 McStay and Kavanaugh had a falling out.
Dan says: the later you respond and deal with this, the worse its gonna be
Dan says: but do what u want
What a complete ass. However, on the surface we have no idea what prompted this argument. We also don’t know if there was prior text to this that lead Dan to attack Joseph in this way. It would seem that there was more to it because right from the beginning Dan states “Don’t IM me” and that he’d rather talk on the phone. Something is missing. Granted, this was originally posted to social media by Patrick McStay, Joseph’s father, so it’s impossible to know if there was more to it or not. Is it biased evidence or is it unfiltered? I don’t know if anyone aside from the provider has seen the actual IM thread.
Still, Joseph did take measures to protect himself. After this IM with Dan, Joseph subsequently sent this email to his web host with the IM attached:
It’s nice to know there are those out there who genuinely want to help others be successful. As you are well aware, it’s been extremely difficult these past months due to I thinkbprimarily this dismal economy and we do sell a “luxury item” which is the 1st to go when people are simply trying to survive and only buy necessities. We haven’t formally met… I simply pay you folks each month these past years. I allowed Dan to deal with you since he is the SEO specialist for the site…. As of recently, due to the declining sales, etc.,
and he’d give me software, etc. He was just a kid at 21-22 back then. He didn’t have a car, so I let him use a Volks Vanagon I wasn’t using to help him out.
Since then with your help, PPC, etc. we’ve built it up pretty good. Yet 2008 was tough at times and extremely difficult this past 3 months in particular.
parties like a rock star, heck can’t blame him.
someone else. But, if I have to for me and my family to survive, I will. I do wish the best for Dan. I will not be malicious as he is being. And perhaps we can work through this or part ways amicably, I don’t know.
“i want to be treated fairly, and more respected as a owner of this business….” to which Joseph responded “Even if we came to a $$$ amount and you were paid….”.
“But, the success of eip is much more critical to me than to him. I can’t couch hop as he could, I have mouths to feed. I know from experience, that you “have to save up for the rainy day” and I did now for 4 yrs. Dan never did. Whether he made $3,000 or $8,000 in a month, it was gone as soon as he got it.”
I’m sure I’m not reading too much into this, that right there seems to be a pretty clear indication that Dan was more than just the website guy and that he was somewhat of a partner. Dan was receiving some profits from the fountain sales, he surely was not making $3-8K a month for SEO or web design. Joseph also talks about the “success of EIP” in a way that indicates the differences of dedication there is ‘between partners’. This is a no-brainer.
There are some who go with the notion that Joseph bought Dan out of the company and in the same breath say Dan never had ownership in the company. You can’t have it both ways. Like it or not, Dan had easy access to clientele’s emails, could see (some) of the financials and dealt with some of the business. This was indicative of someone in high esteem to hold access to such things, not someone who simply did maintenance on the website.
Hacker Dan
Joseph was ready to kick Dan to the curb and rightfully so.
Apparently not. Joseph was still using Dan. Traffic was silent on EIP’s site for 5 months after this fiasco. It seems Dan was right about the site tanking. Then traffic picked up in August. Joseph must had brought Dan back in. But the traffic is only a small indication.
Through most 2009 the business really did struggle, according to these emails:
May
August
Catch Me If You Can. Great movie. It was based on real life con man Frank Abagnale. He had people believing he was a lot of things and in turn he gained a lot control. Dan K is like that. He probably isn’t some professional hacker that people believe him to be. He talks a good game. Perhaps he has some skills and perhaps he knows some backdoor tricks but based on his skills as a website builder, I would say he’s full of it. After all, he doesn’t seem to have made anything of himself in all these years. The last I remember him doing anything was music mixing on unheard of acts. The type you might hear at a Rave party.
Do they still do those?
“Dan Kavanaugh is a genius” – Patrick McStay
So Joseph was still floating him money. It makes me wonder if Joseph was keeping a ledger of all these ‘payments’. But why was he continuing to give him money? Why did he bring Dan back in after he saw “his true colors”? Maybe because Dan had over the course of years impressed upon Joseph that he couldn’t do it without him. Like a con artist would. Like Chase Merritt would. Dan convinced Joseph that he couldn’t get anyone better than him with what he was paying him. The truth is, Kavanaugh really wasn’t that good at all, ESPECIALLY for what Joseph was paying him (or maybe paying him). He probably convinced those associated with Joseph, like his brother, his dad, his wife, his friends, that he really was a computer ‘genius’ and a “Hacker”. In reality, his computer skills he probably learned from a couple of classes in a junior college and then became a punk trying to turn a buck. This type of work is called “Grifting”.
Below is more the same.
As stated in an earlier post, Dan and Joseph had at least 28 electronic communications between each other from December – January. This is a fact. These are calls one would expect from good friends or associates, once or twice a week. I won’t go through all of them but ones of significance include:
- A text to Joseph on 11/20 (happy birthday?)
- A call to Joseph on 12/1 for 15 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 12/9 for 9 minutes
- A call to Dan on 12/14 for 13 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 12/23 for 9 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 12/27 for 49 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 12/31 for 9 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 1/18 for 4 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 1/19 for 11 minutes
- A call to Joseph on 1/23 for 95 minutes
There are other calls made, right up to February 3, 2010.
Where’s Joe?
The family disappeared February 4th. Dan was trying to get a hold of Joseph as early as the 5th because apparently he was owed money. Here’s an email Dan sent to Summer, Joseph’s wife:
Dear Summer,
Where is Joe? He was supposed to send me $800 on saturday and his phone has been off and not accepting more messages. Is he in the hospital or something? I’m sincerely worried for him
Let me know asap 858 717 ****
Thanks!
Dan
Obviously by the time this email was sent Dan had tried to contact Joseph via text, phone or email. As per interviews, Dan stated he became concerned because he noticed that emails from clients were piling up and going unanswered, which was not typical of Joseph. Dan was no longer concerned about the money but rather Joseph’s well being. Dan started calling around, starting with Guy Joseph. Guy didn’t know anything. So, he called Joseph’s Dad. That call went unanswered. My only question in that is, why did Dan call Patrick McStay who lived in Texas hundreds of miles away, instead of calling his brother Michael, who lived an hour away (and who he obviously knew)?
Dan texted Summer twice on Saturday morning February 6. With no response, he waited until 9:00 pm that night to request the funds.
This subsequent to the email that Dan sent to Summer, that Joseph was supposed to send him $800. There are no emails from Dan asking for money like seen before.
Patrick McStay reported that he called his son Michael to ask if he knew who “Daniel Kananaugh” was because that was on the caller ID and had a Southern California number. “Dad, that’s Dan The Hacker”. There hasn’t been much commentary about the rest of that call but then Patrick had to have been expressing to Michael about not being able to reach Joseph either. I mean, wouldn’t he call Joseph first about the mysterious phone call? Did he? Maybe he did and hasn’t mentioned that and it means nothing.
And why didn’t Patrick McStay call Dan back once he knew who it was? Wouldn’t he be the one to talk to since he himself couldn’t get a hold of his son? And did Michael call Dan back?
DK: “We had reached our record month, the actual month that he disappeared we clocked 100,000 dollars in revenues.”
Laura Ling: You were actively expanding your business at the time.
DK: “Yeah we had EIP for years and we had just launched this new flagship store Water Feature Guide and we were hoping by that to build and even bigger site.
E! Investigates, The Family Who Vanished
Did LE Fumble The Case?
“The activity in Joseph’s business account, which had a balance of about $65,000, seemed consistent with business operations. Some withdrawals were made after his disappearance, but Dugal determined those were transactions conducted by Joseph’s employees.“
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/30/local/la-me-missing-family-20110530/2
“Employees”. Plural. This is a curious conclusion. I wonder if this was a direct quote from Dugal or an assumption of the reporter. It kind of aligns with an earlier quote above. But if the detective did see there was transactions in the thousands to at least Chase Merritt after the disappearance, why didn’t he investigate? Was he being told by his superiors to not press it? As many know, I support SDSD in what they did in their investigation. They had access to the bank accounts and transactions. But if they saw these withdrawals from “Employees” receiving substantial amounts of money in the days after the disappearance, shouldn’t that have been several red flags? If detective Dugal and others saw that these withdrawals by Dan and checks being made out to Chase Merritt, did he question them about it?
After all, at least one of them was guilty.
Perhaps Dugal or other detectives saw all these curious things happening between Dan and Chase in the accounts. Considering there was no evidence of a crime (like murder) they were limited to do anything about it.
Here, from the same article, might be an indication of why the investigation slowed down:
A week before the family disappeared, someone used the desktop computer to research travel to Mexico. One search specifically asked: “What documents do children need for traveling to Mexico?”
“The family didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe it,” Dugal said. “But the truth is, it was evidence. A possibility had changed into a probability.”
The family went or fled to Mexico was the direction the investigation was going. Someone may have created the perfect diversion. It worked. Rumor has it that Dan was who helped search the computers because of budget constraints and he was the one who found this piece, but that just seems really far-fetched and zero evidence to support that. But it’s an interesting suggestion nonetheless.
Brugos said detectives are still talking with McStay’s business associates. “We are in daily contact with them,” he said. 3/1/2010
So what happened to EIP in the days after the family was officially declared missing? Did Dan pilfer Joseph’s bank accounts for personal gain? What about Michael? So much has been said about these two that people seem to totally overlook Chase Merritt, who had absolutely no excuse to be in the accounts writing himself checks. Is Michael guilty of taking money for personal use? Extremely doubtful.
Dan however…. well that’s really a conundrum. At the start, he seemed to be genuinely concerned. On one hand he’s calling around inquiring about Joseph, yet with the other hand he is hijacking the company. Meanwhile the other associate (Chase) is ransacking the proverbial mattress stuffed with cash and his only witnesses are dogs.
A close inside confidant claims that a couple days before the disappearance, Joseph had told them he had finally paid Dan off, or bought him out and that he “got him refocused on water filtration product site.” This is a pretty interesting tidbit considering after this payoff Dan indicated in more than one interview that he had an equal share in the company. This confidant also claimed that Dan said “Joseph had been ripping me off all those years”. Dan said that Joseph kept “extra, secret books” of deals he didn’t know of. In actuality, Joseph did had separate books, as testified to in the preliminary hearing. Dan would have seen this if he was successful in his attempt to download the Quickbooks.
Dan The Liar
A business partner of Joseph McStay told homicide detectives that McStay had lent Charles “Chase” Merritt $30,000 to cover a gambling debt, and was planning to fire Merritt from his custom water fountain business, before the McStay family was last seen alive in 2010, according to search warrants released Wednesday.
I can’t help but to look at this and think this is as a bold-faced lie. Ok, let’s take the source for starters. So Joseph has already given thousands to Dan, who he’s already been at ends with, and he’s going to complain about having to give money to this other guy? I just don’t see that happening. Second, if Dan had this information, for years, he never mentioned it to anyone. Not McGyver, not Michael, not in any interviews, not to me and probably not Rick Baker or even SDSD. The one thing Dan told me was that he felt it (the disappearance) was the result of “a deal gone bad” (as in one of his clientele) and that Joseph some side dealings he kept from him. Dan never had one bad thing to say about Chase Merritt. In our conversation he mentioned him only once in over 2 years.
Rick Baker reported in his book (the source being Summer’s family member) that Summer had complained Joseph’s brother Michael was constantly asking for money. I think it’s pretty clear here that the source confused Dan as “the brother”. According to the IM thread: “Now, I, Summer & Kids know the “Real You””. Joseph didn’t keep this from Summer apparently.
Also consider Michael in the Steph Watts video stating that Joseph was constantly having to bail Chase out of some mess, like stolen tools or having to pay for his rent or food. This could also be misconstrued as “the brother”.
But let’s further dive into what Dan did squeeze out of Joseph.
So these last four payments are on or around the first of the month, between $500-800. Seeing that they are even amounts, but not exact, it would appear that this might be a rounded up number devised from a percentage of what the company made in sales that month. To further support this theory, again consider the request on February 6:
This is subsequent to the email that Dan sent to Summer, that Joseph was supposed to send him $800. There are no emails from Dan requesting for money like seen before. Again, this payment is consistent with the others, being around the 1st of the month.
The next thread will cover the post-disappearance history of EIP and Shenanigan Dan, as well as some of the possible reasons for his financial dealings. There are some alarming things, things that have as of yet been discovered or discussed, here or elsewhere.
Until then……
Burning Questions
- Patrick McStay says that Dan requested a welfare check on the 10th. Dan says the family requested a welfare check. Who requested the welfare check?
- Dan sent Patrick McStay an email, which he says he deleted. There was also a phone call from from the same person whom was later identified by Michael McStay. So why wasn’t the email retrieved?
- Why didn’t Dan call Chase? Joseph was his “best friend” and main contractor. Surely Dan knew just who he was from all the charge back fiascos. Then there is that “gambling debt” thing.
- Why didn’t LE act sooner when they realized large sums of money was being siphoned out of the accounts by Dastardly Dan and Chase, an ex-con?
- Why was it reported in August 2010 that EIP was no longer taking orders yet months afterwards Dan K was still accepting payments of thousands of dollars and not delivering?
- Why did family friend Jeffrey McCarger (McGyver) wait until after Chase Merritt was arrested to make the claim that he believed Summer feared Merritt? Did he tell detectives this?
- Who started the rumor of a secret safety deposit box and the family being holed up in a motel for 4 days? And why?
- Why does the family claim that they didn’t know Chase before but he went directly to Susan Blake’s house unannounced on February 8th?
- Why do family members deny Chase Merritt attending Joseph and Summer’s wedding?
- How did Michael miss the notice from Animal Control? Did Chase move it from the front door to the shed?
- How well did Dan K know Matthew Schneider and Patrick Maloy?
- Will Dan’s testimony benefit the defense instead of the prosecution?
CHASE MERRITT AND THE MCSTAY FAMILY MURDERS 
Hi! Please provide the password. Thx!
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Absolutely unbelievable. Will write more after I digest all this amazing info. This crap will keep someone awake at night for absolutely sure. Bless Joseph. He sure played with fools.
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From the Paul email
“The site didn’t do much till 2005 when I got
together with Dan & suggested we revamp EIP from the dead and give it a go. Then 1,000’s
of hours redesigning began, re-establishing relationships with past vendors, etc. A lot of
late nights & coffee among other things.
Since then with your help, PPC, etc. we’ve built it up pretty good.“
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If I understand things correctly, Dan took money via the Paypal account. I believe that is a different account other than the QuickBooks approach that Chase wrote checks out of. You can put money in the Paypal account and then use it to make purchases. Maybe that is why Dan did not notice Chase taking money directly out of Joseph’s business account and writing checks. Dan must have had the Paypal account info because Joseph paid him that way, apparently. Maybe that is why he did not get arrested for embezzling money from Joseph because he had access to that account. I do not know, just grasping at straws here. Trying to understand this crime is headache inducing with all the info that is involved and it has been seven years.
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Cornelius I am also sorry for the abuse that you have had to take regarding your blog. There is no need for that. I have found out the hard way that some of these true crime followers are strange and weird people. I like your blog because you show respect for Joseph and Summer and the children. That is refreshing.
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Wow, I kept inquiring about a new entry since December and boy did you add a whopper! Thanks for all the research and hard work on this Corn.
Off topic- for those with a Twitter or Facebook account if you don’t mind sharing
This amber alert has been on my local tv, along with cell phone alert, and my highway signs all this week but the TBI has an appeal to everyone, not just Tennessee and Alabama now. A 50 year old man has taken a student.
http://www.kvue.com/mb/news/crime/statewide-endangered-child-alert-issued-for-missing-teen/423353375
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I saw this. How crazy.
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A follow up to the jawbone found in January.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20170114/mans-death-in-1998-remains-mystery-donald-raisers-jawbone-was-discovered-on-new-years-day-in-apple-valley
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Thanks for that follow-up link. I wondered about that jawbone. So if I understand it, that man just died from exposure to the elements and no foul play? It is amazing how bones can be found such a long distance from each other. Maybe they were carried by coyotes?
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I do have to wonder where everyone went that used to patronize this blog. I miss their input and expertise. We had many extremely interesting conversations. It was good to share different points of view. Are people mad about the sparring with “Rob”, “anonymous one” and all those other names for that same person? I understand your choice to part ways with that person. They really made on like they were “THE” expert on this case and case closed, just a bit of a know it all. That is not a fair debate since essentially we do not really know who that person truly is. Some do know who it is, but still, their delivery was very challenging. There was quite a bit of anger in their writing and they were very judgemental. JMO
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I think the post might be too big and a bit much to digest all at once, as you said yourself. I’ll take Rob off of moderation if he or she can post in a way that is open to objective dialogue instead of attacking another’s point of view. Sometimes some do get things wrong, that doesn’t make them an idiot but absolutely fallible. It makes them human. Nobody has all the facts, including LE, that’s why this isn’t an open and shut case.
It would be wise for posters (and readers, there are many) to comment respectfully whether new to the case or have been around from the beginning. I see where everyone is visiting from on a daily basis. Posters shouldn’t be afraid to post here.
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I find this blog to now be nothing more than an extension of a blog we all have known in the past. As I see it, no one is to disagree or argue the facts with Corn because he controls the blog. If you do you will be moderated or your posts don’t get posted. I say this because I’m sure you all remember the many people here ( and not just trolls) who have repeatedly made comments about there posts not being posted and wondering why they aren’t being posted. Now I don’t expect these comments to be shown here because it shows facts of what has transpired here.
Lets look at just one point of favoritism or contention involving Dan Kavanaugh. An example of this favoritism a comment was made in the lengthy description (or defense of Dan), Patrick was said to have been wrong and questioned why he didn’t call Dan himself on the 9th when he got the call and email from Dan. Well is this person analyzing Patrick not being judgemental in questioning what he did at the time? Does he claim to be able to read Patrick’s mind and how frantic or scared he may have been at that time? Did the analyzer ever stop to think that Patrick felt Michael knew Dan better than he did and since they were both in California they could relate better to the circumstances? Did the analyzer ever stop to think Patrick never opened the email from Dan because he didn’t know the sender and didn’t open it for fear of his computer being compromised? No, instead he just attacked Patrick and criticized him for how he responded or didn’t respond to things happening at the time. So I guess the next thing is it will be said these weren’t attacks on Patrick. It sure looks like they were attacks or someone who has a disdain for Patrick.
Then there is what seems to be the writers continued defense of Dan Kavanaugh and his saying he was a partner or owner of EIP and had rights to sell or do what he wanted with the money in Joey’s accounts or the ownership of EIP. There is no law in this country that would give Dan or anyone else any rights to anything of Joey’s or EIP without a court hearing. Dan has never shown any legal proof of ownership EIP and the law would laugh at his claims. Yet this writer defended Dan saying he is a partner and accepted it because Dan says so, or the writer assumes it is common sense because there is talk of Dan by only Dan as his being a partner. So why all the adamant defending of Dan?
Then there are the statements that Susan and Michael gave Dan authority to run the company. Well that to is totally without merit because they had no right to anything of Joey’s or EIP and they had no orders from any court alloying anyone to do anything with Joey’s or EIP’s assets. So no one had the right to do anything and Patrick was right when he pointed this out many times. So then Patrick was attacked by the writer because he was the only one who argued these facts and didn’t join the others. Did anyone stop to think of any of the legal ramifications and the many lawsuits and people who could be sued for what many have done in violating numerous laws. customers, vendors, government and many others could have taken action against many laws that were broken, but no one seemed to care and just did what they wanted. So if I recall correctly Patrick was the one person who spoke out to do things legally and through the courts to protect Joey and EIP and anyone who would be put in charge of EIP. But I don’t remember Susan, Michael, Dan, Chase or anyone else doing what is legal and through the courts. Does anyone else know of any court filings for appointing anyone to handle EIP or Joey’s assets?
So I see that if you disagree and put up a case (your attacking or argumentative if you disagree with the writer) against a certain person you get moderated or stopped from posting. Is that a free and open forum for discussion as is claimed here?
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I don’t see anything new from your post, but I was glad to read it. Honestly, I kind of let this case go because it seems like trial will never happen. I google about the case almost daily for new news, and nothing. Year old articles come up. What a shame. A whole family murdered, babies….and justice is just hanging there taunting us, just as Chase would love to have it.
I’ve been so curious about the Delphi murders — I noticed people in a group were claiming gray Hughes is Jason parmelee. Any comment on that one???
Hope everyone is doing well. Looks like I missed some drama. This Alaskan winter has been brutal, I’m glad spring is coming….
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Do you mean Gray Hughes and Jason Parmalee are the same person? I do not believe that they are. Gray married a woman in Oregon and he got so beat up by Baker and his crew that I think he disappeared from blogging. Jason Parmalee lives in CA with his wife and children.
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I as well as my friends were found to be analyzing the excellent thoughts found on your web blog and then instantly I had a terrible suspicion I never expressed respect to the site owner for those techniques. All the young men ended up for that reason glad to read all of them and have now pretty much been using them. I appreciate you for really being quite accommodating and for making a decision on variety of really good guides most people are really eager to understand about. Our own sincere apologies for not expressing appreciation to you sooner.
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Dan The Band
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A Cold Summer. I can’t make this stuff up if I tried. He even lifted the main riff from Smashing Pumpkins “Zero”.
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Do clubs actually hire this no talent person? I love music but I do not get his appeal. Even if I would never have heard of him, I still would not care for his delivery.
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Cornelius: With all your research and all that you found out about this crime, do you think some people might have been offered immunity against prosecution if they contribute to the prosecution’s case? I am referring to basically Dan and Jarvis? Is there any possibility for this in your opinion?
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No idea. I do know they investigated Dan’s possible involvement pretty extensively before they arrested Chase. I would assume it was the same for Cathy. Dan may have received some deal but I feel Cathy was in no way involved or had knowledge what Chase could have done.
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This is way off topic but it is something that is worth sharing. Here is an enlightening article in the current Vanity Fair magazine about Trump. This has to be true info or Trump would be raging and suing. What are we in for? Here is the link: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/donald-trump-white-house-business
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Going to have a few hours of downtime, no internet. Flying to Texas. Using the time to read Patrick’s book.
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I just saw that Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson are slated for a reality TV show about what their lives are like now that they have been tried and set free regarding murder. Can you believe that? These two people may have been acquitted of murder but I believe that the majority of the population of the US think that they are guilty. People will watch the show, there is no doubt.
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I think they both got away with murder. And Creepy Casey’s creepy mom Cindy helped by lying on the stand, my opinion. I hope people boycott the shows so that neither sub-human profits off the deaths of the victims.
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So glad to have found your interesting, thoughtful and well written blog. The stupidity on the blog of he whose name rhymes with ick has left me adrift for months on the McStay case. Thanks for having the courage to persist in spite of the mean people.
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Thank you
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Hi! A google search didn’t turn up anything in regards to the chargeback (and a high ticket one, at that!) can you please steer me in the direction of the blog post where I can read more about it ? Thank you So much!
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I don’t believe I’ve posted on it before. I’ll include information on it in the next posting, there’s a lot to it.
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I am looking forward to your research on Provecho. I was hoping that Patrick would have addressed the subject in his book. I think it was Guy Joseph that said that maybe that was why the family was killed. Supposedly the building the restaurant was in was owned by the Sinaloa Cartel. I do not know if that was true at all. Maybe not. Also, the address for the lady contractor was a vacant lot. This could all be made up drama by that other blogger. Your info will be interesting because I know you do not make stuff up. I hope the post comes soon.
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Cornelius, could you please comment on whether there was ever found to be any truth to a story that someone posted I think in the comments section following an article about the McStays. The poster claimed to know Chase and had observed a visit by some gangster types who rolled up to his shop in some sort of a customized, armored vehicle. Many thanks!
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Never seen that one. There was a comment similar to that from an employee that said the mexican mafia would visit the shop often.
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We launched 2 years ago today. Happy anniversary to Cutting!!
With 23,434 total comments, 289,479 total views and best 2,143 views in a single day, we are getting the TRUTH out there. Your voice silences the bullshitters!!
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Congratulations on your anniversary Cornelius!
I remember seeing emails between Joey and the designer/decorator for Provecho and she complained that Chase was difficult to work with and that she couldn’t get in touch with him, he wouldn’t return her calls. Another woman calling him on the carpet, I bet he had a case of the red a**!
Mike suggested in his interview with Tim Miller that with Chase there was always “a problem”, a delay of some sort that prevented him from getting the job done as scheduled. He wasn’t foolin’ Mike with his excuses!
Would love to see more complete copies of the accounting records. The random bits and pieces just didn’t add up, need more to get a picture of the financials.
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“God money I’ll do anything for you.
God money just tell me what you want me to
God money nail me up against the wall.
God money don’t want everything he wants it all.”
– Nine Inch Nails
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I found this picture of the glass water wall behind the bar. The restaurant is closed now but someone completed the water wall. Here is the link: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/provecho-restaurant-los-angeles?select=2u3zsGXn3UnyyAFVHB6POg
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Yep, that’s the one.
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Cornelius: Since you are a true advocate for finding out all the true things that happened with this crime, I wish you could find the answer to a question that I have had for years and I have not seen any attempt by anyone to answer it. The question is: How could Chase have been in debt with $30,000 for gambling at all the casinos in this area? Did he borrow money and from whom. Kavanaugh said that Chase had a debt of $30,000 for gambling and he went to Joseph for the money to pay it off. How does someone owe a gambling debt? Who fronts the money and how does all that happen. I am just curious.
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If he owed debt, I doubt he owed it directly the casinos. But maybe he did I don’t know, I don’t gamble and have been in casinos in less than I can count on one hand. Do they run lines of credit for people? For 30K? Wouldn’t gamblers be extremely high risk? All questions I could never know. But going back to what Dan said to LE and the media, I really have to doubt Dan knew of any severe debt that Chase incurred due to debt. People knew that Chase owed him some things, due to charge backs and Joseph bailing him out for rent and whatnot, nothing about gambling debt. I have to take what Dan said with a grain of salt on this. I would believe it if there was a ledger on this and Dan recently discovered it.
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Thank you for your honesty. That is my thinking also. I know from going to these casinos that you do not gamble with a reserve or a credit. If you do the cards, it is money up front. Maybe this is just another bogus assumption contributed to this case. Unfortunately there is so much crap with the McStay case that numerous people have lost interest. It is one thing after another.
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Cornelius, in your research, have you found any records showing how much Joey was paying Chase in the 6-12 months leading up to Feb, 2010?
The business was going strong, Joey was flush with cash yet Chase and his family were evicted from their apartment for non payment of rent?
Chase wasn’t completing projects in a timely manner, he was unavailable (Joey calling his girlfriend looking for him), his persistent money problems (stories that don’t add up, implausible events), suggests addiction issues to me. I can’t speak to what his particular addiction might or might not be but his circumstances and behavior suggest that to me.
Chase probably had the best of intentions when he and Joey started out, most addicts do (another fresh start) but when they have an underlying beast to feed and they start to get ahead, that beast will return because they have $ to feed it and it will drive them to distraction. Before long all they are doing is feeding it and when they aren’t, they are thinking about the next time they will. The pressure builds and when the addict is backed into a corner desperate to feed their beast, they have a hair trigger and the slightest thing will set off a psychotic rage.
I believe “loan sharks” lend money to people who don’t qualify for traditional forms of credit or have maxed them out, like on The Sopranos. Loan sharks who in Chase’s world drive cars reinforced with armor? Yikes!
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There is a ledger, I’ll put it up in the post after the next. There is still much to discuss about Dan.
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I have never seen “casino credit,” but I have known of people getting loans from friends on the Res. If you don’t pay them back, no one will ever find your body.
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Off topic the remains of 6 year Isabel Celis have been found. Missing almost 5 years.
https://ktar.com/story/1513948/body-tucson-girl-missing-6-years-found-arizona-county/amp/
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It’s a sad world we have to live in. No suspects?
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I did some reading on this crime and LE said that the discovery of the remains was not “happenstance”. Something is going on. I remember this tragedy. My husband’s daughter lives just blocks from this home where the little girl disappeared. Her one daughter is the same age. Truly tragic. There is way more to this than LE is sharing.
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There was either a funny uncle or family friend that left town shortly after the disappearance and I think some traces of blood found in her room.
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Samantha Stevens:
First of all, welcome! Always nice to hear from newcomers.
As far as Merritt’s addiction, many people, including law enforcement, believe he had a very bad gambling addiction.
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Thank you!
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Lil: Thank you for that info. I did not read about a possible family connection. That gives some comfort. I just was envisioning some random nutjob who knew where the little girl lived. Thanks.
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New post is coming in the next day or so and some of the record will be set straight. But there will still be questions. I find the recent records request from Paypal were complied to upon subpoena from the court very compelling considering with what we have discussed here. In no way did I know that they had even been subpoenaed, but hey at least we’re ahead of them. I’m unsure if it’s good or bad for the defense, or the prosecution.
Either way, it’s already been out on the internet provided by both Rick Baker and Joseph’s father. Nothing we discuss here is not really new. Except maybe the perspectives and viewpoints.
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yanno Corn, I’m a bit surprised you didn’t put up a vid link to Pink Floyd’s Money. 🙂
When is this case ever going to trial?!?
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Ha, you know me too well. You must have missed it, it’s been at the top of the post.
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facepalm. Yes, I scrolled by it too fast and have been at the bottom checking for recent comments.
Sitting outside listening to the rain crows as my maw called them. (mourning doves) we are to get more storms tomorrow.
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https://cuttingthebs.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/dan-kavanaugh-enterprises/
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just want to say what an excellent blog you have and how much I apricate the time and effort you put into the research. Sometimes my opinion differs, but you always give me something to think about, challenge my own thoughts and idea’s and for that I am grateful. I can only image that the people whom attack you are very closed-minded and insecure people, with nothing much to offer professionally or personally.
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Has anyone noticed that the custom fountain and water wall site is live again at https://earthinspiredproducts.com
Conreieus I have information that you may find useful email me if interested.
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Patrickq, I sent you an email at your request but you have to respond. You can reach me at corneliuseffect@gmail.com
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