The man suspected of murdering a couple and their two young sons pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Wednesday.<br/> <br />57 year old Charles Chase Merritt is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of his former business partner and family.<br/> <br />Joseph McStay, his wife Summer and their two boys, aged three and four, were reported missing in February 2010 from their home in California.<br/> <br />Their bodies were discovered in a desert northeast of Los Angeles last year.<br/> <br />Authorities say the family died inside their home of blunt force trauma on February 4, 2010.<br/> <br />No information has been release as to a motive for the killings.<br/> <br />Officials say Merritt and McStay worked together in the decorative fountain business.
