AI Summary
5 min readIn November 2013, a man named John Bluth took his motorcycle out for an off-road ride in the Mojave Desert. He was looking for the Old Spanish Trail, a historic trade route, when he spotted something that looked "kind of like an upside down turtle shell." Curious, he poked it with a stick. It wasn't a turtle shell. John called the police to report what he'd found: what looked like a human skull. He went on with his ride, but a few days later, he turned on the news and learned the truth. The skull fragment belonged to three-year-old Joey McStay Jr., and the discovery would finally reveal what happened to the McStay family, who had vanished without a trace nearly four years earlier.
The Graves in the Desert
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:12) **Discovery in the Desert** - Biker John Bluth finds what he thinks is a turtle shell while riding in the Mojave Desert.
- 2 (04:43) **Gravesites Revealed** - San Bernardino detectives confirm the remains belong to the McStays and uncover two shallow graves.
- 3 (08:28) **The News Breaks** - The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department holds a press conference to announce the discovery of the remains.
- 4 (12:52) **A Community Grieves** - Friends and family hold a paddle-out and memorial service for the McStay family.
- 5 (15:39) **The Investigation Shifts** - San Bernardino detectives take over the case, now a homicide, and begin piecing together clues from the graves.
- 6 (20:10) **Reviewing Old Leads** - Investigators comb through 4,000 pages of case files and re-interview previous persons of interest.
- 7 (22:55) **The Business Partners** - Detectives examine Joseph's business associates, Dan Kavanaugh and Chase Merritt, for possible motives.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
A motorcyclist finds something startling in the Mojave Desert.
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