Authorities on Sunday continued to seek for a motive within the disappearance — and suspected killings — of an aged couple who went lacking from a nudist ranch in San Bernardino County.
Daniel Menard, 79, and his spouse, Stephanie Menard, 73, from the Olive Dell Ranch have been final seen leaving their residence within the Olive Dell Ranch after which reported lacking Aug. 25 after they missed a church service, in response to neighbors and police.
On Thursday, the Redlands police arrested a neighbor of theirs, 62-year-old Michael Royce Sparks, who was barricaded in a concrete bunker beneath his residence when officers arrived. Sparks was arrested on suspicion of homicide and booked into West Valley Detention Heart.
Police mentioned that Sparks wasn’t cooperative and surrendered to authorities solely after “prolonged negotiations.”
Beneath the house, which is subsequent door to the Menards’, authorities say they discovered human stays that they’re now within the technique of figuring out.
The Menards and their canine, a small shih tzu named Cuddles, have been reported lacking by a good friend Sunday, police mentioned.
The Menards’ automotive was discovered unlocked down the street from their residence, and Stephanie’s purse was discovered inside the house alongside along with her and Daniel’s cellphones, authorities mentioned.
Redlands police spokesperson Carl Baker didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail looking for updates in regards to the case. He beforehand mentioned at a information convention Friday that authorities have been nonetheless “attempting to find the victims,” however that they have been assured that the Menards have been “deceased and that they’re nonetheless right here on the property.”
Baker didn’t touch upon a doable motive on Friday. However one resident Tammie Wilkerson, who lives subsequent door to Sparks, instructed a number of native TV stations that Sparks hated the couple. The obvious feud between the Menards and Sparks involving a tree between their properties, Wilkerson instructed Fox 11, saying that Sparks “mentioned it many occasions that he hated them.”
Different neighbors instructed the information station that Sparks was a quiet man who largely stored to himself.
Based on its web site, Olive Dell Ranch is a family- and couples-friendly nudist resort in Colton, Calif., that’s an “preferrred spot to benefit from the nudist/naturist way of life whether or not visiting for the day or an in a single day keep.”
