Sep 16, 2026 · 39 min · 20 segments
The McStay case goes to trial, with a man's life hanging in the balance. To keep listening, follow 'What Happened to the McStays?' for free on …
Ashan SinghHostBrian BuckmireHostspeaker_17You know, we're not supposed to show our emotions.
We're supposed to be professional at all times.
And I almost lost it.
I actually had to turn around and, like, catch my breath and take a minute.
He was one of the prosecutors who presented the case against Chase Merritt in court.
And Imes told ABC News in an interview last year that in the nearly 30 years he's been a prosecutor, the McStay family murders was the most personal case he'd worked on as a dad.
The emotion really hit him, he said, when he was questioning a crime scene specialist on the stand and put up a picture of the family's Isuzu Trooper for the jury to see.
It was Joseph Jr.'s car seat.
It was the same car seat that I put my kids in.
It was a personal connection that I don't think I ever had with any other case.
The most difficult case in 27 years.
There was the nearly four-year gap between the murders and the discovery of the bodies, the multiple jurisdictions involved, the enormous amount of public interest, which generated a huge volume of tips for law enforcement to handle.
We would have loved to have had an identifiable murder scene with physical evidence, whether it be blood or fingerprints or DNA.
We would have loved to have had an eyewitness.
We would have loved to have had a neighbor have heard a scream in the night to at least pinpoint when it happened.
I mean, I could probably go on and on.
Instead, Imes said what he and his fellow prosecutors had was highly circumstantial evidence, facts that didn't directly link the defendant to the crime.
But, they argued, taken together, painted a picture of Merritt being the one who killed the family.
At trial, Merritt's defense team argued that the state's entire case was based on confirmation bias.
Defense attorneys said authorities decided Merritt was their guy, twisted facts to build a case against him, and ignored other facts that didn't fit.
You know, we're not supposed to show our emotions.
We're supposed to be professional at all times.
And I almost lost it.
I actually had to turn around and, like, catch my breath and take a minute.
He was one of the prosecutors who presented the case against Chase Merritt in court.
And Imes told ABC News in an interview last year that in the nearly 30 years he's been a prosecutor, the McStay family murders was the most personal case he'd worked on as a dad.
The emotion really hit him, he said, when he was questioning a crime scene specialist on the stand and put up a picture of the family's Isuzu Trooper for the jury to see.
It was Joseph Jr.'s car seat.
It was the same car seat that I put my kids in.
It was a personal connection that I don't think I ever had with any other case.
The most difficult case in 27 years.
There was the nearly four-year gap between the murders and the discovery of the bodies, the multiple jurisdictions involved, the enormous amount of public interest, which generated a huge volume of tips for law enforcement to handle.
We would have loved to have had an identifiable murder scene with physical evidence, whether it be blood or fingerprints or DNA.
We would have loved to have had an eyewitness.
We would have loved to have had a neighbor have heard a scream in the night to at least pinpoint when it happened.
I mean, I could probably go on and on.
Instead, Imes said what he and his fellow prosecutors had was highly circumstantial evidence, facts that didn't directly link the defendant to the crime.
But, they argued, taken together, painted a picture of Merritt being the one who killed the family.
At trial, Merritt's defense team argued that the state's entire case was based on confirmation bias.
Defense attorneys said authorities decided Merritt was their guy, twisted facts to build a case against him, and ignored other facts that didn't fit.
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