Authorities are seeking the killer of a family of four that mysteriously disappeared in early 2010 after their graves were recently discovered in a California desert, PEOPLE reported.
Joseph McStay, husband and father of two, found a house in Fallbrook, Calif., that seemed perfect for his family. He and his wife purchased the San Diego suburb home in October 2009.
The new house had a "loft/game room & big yard for kids to go crazy," he told a friend through email. "Love it."
When he, his wife and their two boys, preschoolers Gianna, 4, and Joe Jr., 3, disappeared four months later on Feb. 4, 2010, people close to them knew something was wrong. The family seemed to vanish, not telling relatives, friends or business associates their plans. Four days afterward, their car was found at the Mexican border.
"My fear is that I'm looking for two adult shallow graves and ... my two nephews' crosses," Joseph's younger brother, Michael, told the Orange County Register a few weeks after the family disappeared.
The mystery was viewed primarily as a missing-persons case for nearly four years and a $25,000 reward was offered. But just last month, a motorcyclist riding through desert near Victorville, Calif., came across Michael McStay's worst fear.
Clearing up part of the mystery, two shallow graves held the remains of the two parents and their two children. Authorities have no idea who the killers are or why they would target an entire family.
"How did four people end up here in the middle of nowhere, over 100 miles from where they live?" Michael McStay wondered at a recent gathering to honor the family. Volunteers erected white crosses and released doves on Nov. 20 to remember them.
Some leads on the case could be provided by Patrick McStay, Joseph McStay's father, who has long said the San Diego Sheriff's Department was not taking the case seriously, or Rick Baker, who wrote "No Goodbyes: The Mysterious Disappearance of the McStay Family."
"Investigators are questioning everybody," Michael McStay told PEOPLE. "And they should be. We need to find the killer."
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