. >> 1500 miles away in houston, patrick mcstay was frantic. sually spoke to his son every day. >> i'm worried, what happened, is somebody hurt? did they go on a trip? >> six days would pass with no sign of the mcstays and then on february 10th, chase merritt said he went to check their home for the first time. >> he wasn't there. his truck was in the driveway. dogs were in the backyard with no food, no water. i walked around the house. i didn't see anything suspicious. >> did it surprise you that the dogs were outside? >> very much so. so much so that i called susan, joseph's mother, and told her, there's something amiss. >> i side, go down, if the dogs are there, move the dog bowls, the food and the water, and then we can see if they hired someone to feed the animals. well, then go back two days later and could tell the bowls were moved, obviously fed. so this is why we thought they were out of town. >> finally, eight days after anyone had heard from joseph, michael mcstay went to his brother's house with chase. who knew exactly how to get ins