(Feb. 21) -- Back in December, the McStays were like any other family of four settling into a new home -- picking out paint swatches and comparing tile colors, according to friends. Now their Southern California community is keeping vigil as officials investigate the family's disappearance.
Homicide investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department are searching for clues about the missing: Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and their two children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph, 3.
The Sheriff's Department said in a statement that the McStays have not been seen or heard from by family members or business contacts in their Fallbrook, Calif. community since Feb. 4. Four days later, their car was towed as an abandoned vehicle from a parking lot in San Ysidro, two blocks from the Mexican border, according to published reports.
"This is stuff you hear about on TV," Joseph's brother, Michael McStay,
told the North County Times newspaper. "We are normal people. This is crazy."
The McStays, who recently moved to Fallbrook from their longtime home of San Clemente, were first reported missing by Michael McStay on Feb. 15. Michael McStay told the Times that three days earlier, one of his brother's co-workers said it had been days since he heard from Joseph, who owns a fountain and garden business called Earth Inspired Products. When Michael McStay found his brother's home empty on Feb. 13 and again on the 15th, he contacted authorities.
"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
told KTLA-TV.
Perhaps most notably, the family's two dogs, Bear and Baby Bear, a puppy, were left uncared for in their backyard.
"The dogs were left outside without food or water. They never would have left the dogs outside without telling their friends," Diane Cirignani, a family friend,
told the Orange County Register. She said that Summer McStay called Bear her "first child."
The family's sudden disappearance has prompted much speculation, including reports that Joseph may have had business ties to Mexico, or that the couple, who married in 2007, were experiencing marital problems. Cirgnani denies those charges, saying she does not believe the McStays skipped town voluntarily.
"We just want everyone to know how good a family this is," she told AOL News. "There were no domestic issues or anything else."
In the three weeks since the family was last heard from, their vanishing remains a mystery. A search of the McStays' home and cars on Friday revealed no evidence of struggle or clear foul play. No ransom or other notes were discovered, according to the North County Times, which said the sheriff's department planned to search the family's bank and cell phone records, as well work with federal officials to review video surveillance of border crossings. Authorities also planned to check Mexican hospitals, jails and even morgues.
Michael McStay, who has acted as a family spokesperson, said he would be establishing a Web site and reward fund for his missing family members.
The McStays were not a family who planned to abandon their Southern California roots, according to Cirignani's interview with the Orange County Register. She said the McStays, who grew up in Orange County and had worked in San Clemente for several years, had plans. Summer, a licensed real estate agent, was preparing to get back into the business. Joseph was excited about a large order of commercial fountains. They had a housewarming party in the works.
"I just don't understand what happened," a McStay family friend told KTLA at a local prayer vigil. "I just want them to be back home."
San Diego County Sheriff's Dept.
Joseph McStay owns a fountain and garden business called Earth Inspired Products. Summer McStay is a licensed real estate agent. The couple and their two children vanished on Feb. 4.
Linear Mode
