McStays Episode 3: In the Desert

20/20

In Episode 3 of 'What Happened to the McStays?', a motorcycle rider named John Bluth discovers a child's skull fragment in the Mojave Desert on Veterans Day, November 11, 2013. The find leads to the

Key takeaways

The McStay family's remains were discovered in shallow graves near a freeway, suggesting deliberate concealment rather than accidental burial.

Main topics

Discovery of McStay family remains in Mojave Desert

Notable quotes

The new Honda City isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe.

Conclusion

The discovery of the McStay family's remains in the Mojave Desert brought closure to a long-standing missing persons

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Hi, this is Ashan Singh here with another weekly episode of our latest true crime series from 2020 in ABC Audio, What Happened to the Mixed Days? Remember, you can get new episodes weekly on Tuesdays if you follow What Happened to the Mixed Days on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you're listening now. Or you can hear the entire series right now ad-free by subscribing to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts. Click the link in the description to start your free trial today. Now, here's the next episode of What Happened to the Mixed Days. Speaker 5 (0:38) The Speaker 4 (0:39) city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. Speaker 5 (0:50) The new Speaker 4 (0:54) Honda City isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe. Speaker 6 (1:02) In November 2013, a man named John Bluth took his motorcycle out for an off-road adventure. It was around 7.30 a.m. on Veterans Day when John rode east up Interstate 15, deep into the Mojave Desert. Speaker 3 (1:19) At that time of year, the sun doesn't come up very early, so it was kind of getting a full light, a little bit cool, nice day. Speaker 3 (1:30) and looked like a good day for a bike ride. Speaker 1 (1:33) John says that on Veterans Day, he thinks about his two brothers, veterans who have passed away. Today is usually a sad one for him, he says. Speaker 6 (1:44) On that morning, John took off, headed across the scrubby, sparsely populated land between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Speaker 3 (1:54) So actually what happened was I'm heading west on one of these dirt roads over here towards the mountains that you see behind me there. And I'm looking for the old Spanish Trail. Speaker 1 (2:09) The Speaker 6 (2:09) old Spanish Trail is a 200-year-old road, a historic trade route that cuts across the southwestern states, used by settlers heading west. It's now little more than a dirt track and some stretches, and almost hidden from sight. But John knew where to look. He turned off the highway and started making his way to the trail. Speaker 3 (2:32) I was looking around because I'm going very slow. Speaker 3 (2:36) And I saw what I thought was a, what looked kind of like an upside down turtle shell. And so I stopped, because I'm, you know, I'm curious. I took a stick and turned it over and it didn't look like a turtle shell. It looked like part of a skull. Speaker 6 (2:58) John wondered if it was some kind of historic artifact. He took a closer look. If it was a skull, it was small. Speaker 3 (3:08) John called Speaker 6 (3:13) the police to report what he'd found. Speaker 6 (3:32) The 911 operator sent an officer to check it out, and John went on with his ride. Speaker 3 (3:39) I was in suspense. I was wondering, you know, what is that? Is it something ancient, something new? Speaker 6 (3:46) It wasn't until a few days later, John said, when he turned on the TV, that he learned more. It wasn't ancient, but it wasn't exactly new either. Speaker 3 (3:57) On the news, they reported that it was the McStay family that they had discovered out there in the desert that I had discovered. Speaker 6 (4:10) Nearly four years and 100 miles away from where the McStays had disappeared, they were finally found. Just not the way their family and friends were hoping for. From ABC Audio in 2020, I'm Ashton Singh, and this is What Happened to the McStays? Episode 3, In the Desert. Speaker 6 (4:42) The area where John Bluth found the mysterious object was deep in the Mojave Desert, inland and north of the McStay's home. It was over 150 miles away from where the family's car had been found, abandoned at the U.S.-Mexico border. Speaker 6 (5:00) The location of the find put it in the jurisdiction of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. San Bernardino is two counties over from where the McStays lived, and the family didn't have any obvious strong connections to the desert. So when a report of possible human remains came in, some didn't immediately think it was connected to the McStay case. San Bernardino detective Eddie Bachman said he hadn't even heard of it. Speaker 2 (5:28) In 2013, I was working with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department assigned to the Specialized Investigations Division on the homicide detail. Speaker 6 (5:36) Detective Bachman says the first people on scene were local sheriff's deputies from Victorville, a town a few miles away. They quickly called for reinforcements, a coroner and a forensic anthropologist. The team confirmed that the biker's hunch was right. This wasn't a turtle shell. It was a bone fragment. part of a child's skull. And nearby, more horrors were discovered. Speaker 2 (6:02) Once we verified that it was human remains that were out there, they went out and they walked the scene a little further and they located two shallow graves a short distance from where the skull was located. Speaker 6 (6:13) Two graves. And inside those graves were more human remains. That's when Detective Eddie Bachman's homicide team was called. And Bachman went out to the grave sites himself. One of the things he says he noticed right away was how close to the main road they were. And Speaker 2 (6:32) the way that the graves were located, it was down inside of almost like a wash area. So if you were standing at the graves, you could see portions of the freeway. And it was probably, I would say, half a mile to a mile away from the exit to the freeway there. Speaker 6 (6:48) The graves themselves were shallow. Investigators would determine that some bone fragments were buried only six inches deep. Investigators collected the bones from what they labeled as Grave A and Grave B and sent them for analysis. Within days, the results came back. This collection of skeletal remains was confirmed to be what was left of the McStay family. The bones in Grave A belonged to Joseph McStay and three-year-old Joey Jr. And grave B was Summer and their older son, Gianni. According to their report, detectives suspected animals had disturbed the graves. The bone found by the biker was part of Joey Jr.'s skull. And there were other items in the grave, potential clues. Speaker 2 (7:36) Joseph McStay was wrapped in a woven blanket. He also had an extension cord that was wrapped around his neck and it had gone down to his ankles. Speaker 6 (7:48) Near Summer's remains, investigators said they found black sweats and the left cup of a bra spattered with paint. Near Gianni, they found a small pair of blue pants, a pull-up diaper, and a kid's backpack. Speaker 2 (8:02) Inside of the grave with Summer and Gianni, there were some other items, a cell phone holder, and then ultimately after the victims were removed from there, we located a Stanley sledgehammer underneath where the victims were placed. Speaker 6 (8:18) John Bluth, the biker, discovered the skull fragment on a Monday. By Friday, the 15th of November, 2013, investigators were ready to share the news with the world. The Speaker 1 (8:31) McStays would never be coming home. And while their friends and family had searched for them for years, someone out there had known exactly where they were the whole time. Speaker