FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2019, file photo, murder defendant Charles Ray Merritt sits in San Bernardino County Court prior to opening statements in San Bernardino, Calif. Jury deliberations have resumed in the trial of a Southern California man charged with killing a family of four and burying their bodies in the desert. Jurors last Thursday got the case brought by San Bernardino County prosecutors against 62-year-old Charles "Chase" Merritt. The jury was off Friday and deliberations started again Monday, June 3, 2019. (Will Lester/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool, File)

Verdict reached for man charged with killing family of 4

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Jurors have reached a verdict in the case of a Southern California man charged with killing a family of four and burying their bodies in the desert.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said Friday that the verdict in the case against 62-year-old Charles “Chase” Merritt will be read in court Monday.

Merritt is charged with killing his business associate Joseph McStay, McStay’s wife, Summer, and the couple’s 3- and 4-year-old sons.

The family vanished from their San Diego County home in 2010. Three years later, their bodies were found in shallow graves in the desert.

Merritt was arrested in 2014. Prosecutors say Merritt killed McStay at a time when he was being cut out of McStay’s water features business.

Jurors began deliberations last week.

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