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 The decision capped a daylong preliminary hearing in the case
against Charles "Chase" Merritt, 58, described by authorities as a
former business associate of the slain father, Joseph McStay.
Merritt has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder in the
killings.
San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael Smith said that
evidence outlined by investigators in the proceedings, including
cell phone records and DNA analysis, had established probable cause
for prosecutors to proceed to trial.
McStay, 40, his wife 43-year-old Summer and their two sons,
4-year-old Gianni and 3-year-old Joseph Jr., were reported missing
in 2010 from their home in the San Diego County community of
Fallbrook.
Their skeletal remains were unearthed in 2013 from shallow graves
near Victorville, northeast of Los Angeles.
 Police previously disclosed few details of the killings, except that
all four victims were slain inside their home on Feb. 4, 2010, the
day they were last heard from, and died of blunt-force trauma.
On Monday, detectives testified that a sledgehammer believed to be
the murder weapon and tinged with paint from the family's dwelling
was recovered from the burial site.
They also testified that Merritt, who authorities say served two
state prison terms for unspecified felony convictions, aroused
suspicions in part with statements he made referring to the McStays
in the past tense, when the case was still a missing-persons
investigation.
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FBI agent Kevin Boles, who examined Merritt's cell phone records,
found the defendant had placed several calls two days after the
killings from a spot close to where the bodies were buried. Boles
said those were the only calls Merritt made from that location,
except once the year before.
Sheriff's detective Edward Bachman testified that DNA on the
steering wheel and gearshift of the family car, which turned up in
an impoundment lot near the U.S.-Mexican border, was a match for
Merritt, who authorities said denied ever driving the car.
Defense attorney Jimmy Mettias presented no evidence to counter the
prosecution's case but said in court that the government had failed
to place his client at the scene of the killings, adding "There has
been nothing that ties Mr. Merritt to these murders."
(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Sandra
Maler)
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