Is Two Shallow Graves based on a real life incident? Details explored

Two Shallow Graves is not just another true crime series but it tells the saddening real story of the McStay family murders. The show on Investigation Discovery retraces how Joseph and Summer McStay, with their two little boys, vanished into thin air in 2010, only to be found years later buried in the California desert.

Two Shallow Graves asks the chilling question of who was responsible and whether the man convicted, Charles "Chase" Merritt, really did it.

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The real family behind Two Shallow Graves

Two Shallow Graves tells the story of the McStays who were a picture-perfect California family. Joseph ran a business designing decorative fountains, while Summer looked after their home and their two sons, Gianni and Joey Jr.

Friends described them as always being close, always traveling, laughing, and building a comfortable life in Fallbrook, San Diego County. That's why it stunned everyone when, on February 4, 2010, they simply disappeared.

At first, no one panicked. Joseph's brother Michael assumed they were on a short trip, but when he finally checked the house days later, what he found was disturbing. Their two dogs were alone in the yard, food was left rotting on the counters, and Summer's prescription sunglasses sat untouched. Even stranger, their Isuzu Trooper had been discovered abandoned at a parking lot near the Mexican border.

Investigators at the time floated the theory that the family had walked into Mexico, even pointing to grainy border footage of four people who looked like them. But their loved ones never believed it. Joseph's mother insisted to producers that she could recognize her son's walk anywhere, and it was not him.

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The haunting discovery in the desert

For more than three years, the mystery dragged on without answers. Then in November 2013, a motorcyclist came across human remains in a remote patch of the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles from the McStays' home. Authorities uncovered two shallow graves holding the bodies of Joseph, Summer, and their children. A sledgehammer, believed to be the murder weapon, was also found at the site.

The family's remains were later confirmed through dental records, and the cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma. At a press conference, Joseph's brother Mike spoke through tears, saying in footage shown on Killer Motive, "It gives us courage to know that they're together and they're in a better place. It's been a tough road."

The Two Shallow Graves case shifted overnight from a missing persons file to a homicide investigation. Detectives began revisiting old leads, focusing their attention on Joseph's business associate, Charles "Chase" Merritt.

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Chase Merritt on trial

Merritt had worked closely with Joseph on his fountain business. But evidence against him began to stack up. Investigators said his DNA was found on the family's car. They also found out he had forged checks from Joseph's account and was in financial trouble, reportedly owing more than $40,000 due to gambling debts.

During the 2019 trial, prosecutors argued that Merritt killed the family after Joseph began cutting ties, citing shoddy work and stolen money. Cell phone records also showed Merritt's phone pinging near the desert where the bodies were buried.

Merritt, however, has always denied involvement. In Two Shallow Graves, he says bluntly:

"They didn't have any direct evidence to support that I did these crimes. Everything was circumstantial. Everything."

His defense even claimed he was the one who had been pushing others to take the disappearance seriously back in 2010.

Despite his arguments, Merritt was convicted in June 2019 and sentenced to death in January 2020.

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The other suspects and unanswered questions

While the trial ended with Merritt's conviction, Two Shallow Graves digs into the many unanswered questions.

Executive producer Kevin Fitzpatrick told The Independent;

"There are so many actual other people who could potentially be suspects and so many people who had motive."

The show highlights several figures never fully explored in court. Among them was Summer's ex-boyfriend, who once wrote her an email declaring he would "love her forever."

There was also Joseph's former business partner, who allegedly tried to sell the company behind his back, and even the new husband of Joseph's ex-wife, a man with a violent past. Defense attorney Raj Maline describes one of these men in the series as "a walking, talking red flag."

But jurors were not allowed to hear much about these alternative leads since the evidence was thin. Even friends like Gina Watson, who began her own search for answers when the McStays vanished, told the Two Shallow Graves series:

"I never settled on anybody. I would follow all of these paths, but I never followed just one to the exclusion of the others."

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Two Shallow Graves is based entirely on the tragic true case of the McStay family. It revisits the trial of Charles "Chase" Merritt but also opens the door to questions about other possible suspects and motives. While Merritt sits on death row, the series reminds viewers that the full truth may still be buried in the desert - just like the evidence that first shocked the nation.

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