A first glance at my photo of Summer McStay, taken from one of Joseph McStay’s famous home videos, playing with their equally famous dog Digger, suggests that it’s a throw away, worthy of instantaneous deletion. Yet I kept staring at it (early this morning, before I had enough coffee in me), gripped in confounding awe! Her face was gone; she looks like a mannequin. Metaphorical! Her identity is in question by a suspicious public. A public indulging in a frivolous game of so many modern-day Sherlock Holmes, sitting at their computers playing the ‘What Happened to the McStays?’ media game.
But this is not a game for me, nor have I ever concentrated my focus in any suspicious way on Joseph McStay’s wife, Summer. I’ve sure seen others do this, however, in sundry postings on the internet. There doesn’t seem to be any validation for these suspicions of Summer, and yet it doesn’t hurt (I suppose) to follow a path of evidence or clues wherever it takes you, so long as it’s not just blind speculation or merciless innuendo. *(Well, to be honest, the McStay case is going to force you to indulge in rumor and innuendo anyhow. It’s okay, just as long as you know you are doing it).
We did just pass the two year mark of the McStay disappearance. We look back on the entire investigation, including the way the media has covered the case these past two years, in total disbelief. History has been made, we certainly sense it. It’s not obvious that anyone is consciously making a sensation of the McStay’s misfortune of going missing, yet this is the end result. It’s the McStays themselves, actually, who are causing a stir that will always be remembered. Joseph and his family of four are part of the American psyche now, and will never be forgotten!
The McStays have morphed to a status of ‘legendary,’ almost from the get-go. It’s hard to stick to the facts when there’s so few to run with. This is why the rumor-mill has been spinning cotton-candy like it’s the last day of the World’s Fair, over the past two years. Were Joseph and Summer trying to trick us into believing they never would go to Mexico, when actually this was their plan all along? This is suggested by the undisturbed remnants left at the house and by the clever escape to the border (and the grainy video crossing as well), where a toy-filled family Isuzu was abandoned, illegally parked.
Most recent news, or what little is available, has Mike McStay admitting his brother and family must have met with foul play. Foul play seems highly likely to me also. In fact, I’ve always been convinced of it. Others weren’t privy to every contact Joseph and Summer may have made, on the bumpy road of their mysterious lives. Summer had her doubts about moving to this beautiful dream house in Fallbrook, Ca. These apprehensions of Summer are noticeable on one of Joe’s home videos.
And how could they afford to buy such a beautiful home? Was Joseph making that much money on his fountain business? How could they have a cash balance of nearly $100,000 left in their bank account? He must have been selling an awful lot of fountains? But what was the markup on one of these fountains verses the expense of making one and shipping it? I’m having trouble with the accounting here! Or was there another source for this plethora of cash?
This seems more likely to me. Moreover, I might suggest the source was connected, in some way, with Mexico. This would explain why the McStays pitched a cover story of disregard and disdain for travel into Mexico. They didn’t want anyone to know, or to suspect, this was to be their final destination. We’d like to believe this is benign in nature, but we’re having trouble convincing ourselves of it. Mike feels the same way, I sense. No, my pic of a faceless Summer is just as clear as day, in a Big Picture, relative sort of way. We simply don’t know much concrete about the identity of Summer McStay.
