Preliminary hearing postponed in case of man accused of killing McStay family

SAN BERNARDINO (KUSI) – A preliminary hearing set to get underway Tuesday in the case of a man suspected of killing a Fallbrook man and his family in 2010 was postponed after the suspect was not prepared to go forward.

58-year-old Charles Merritt has also hired an attorney after initially choosing to represent himself.

Merritt was the lone suspect in connection to the disappearance and deaths of Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two sons. Merritt has pleaded not guilty.

The bodies of the family were discovered in Victorville three years later.

Evidence is expected to be debuted for the first time in Tuesday’s hearings. Merritt was a former business associate of the elder McStay, whose company designed and installed water features in homes. The two men were believed to have met up the day that the McStays disappeared.

There was no forced entry in either the McStay home or their vehicle, and nothing taken from the house.