By Jared Harris September 4, 2024 at 9:52am
A resident of a California nudist ranch has been arrested after a tense standoff.
Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was taken into custody last week at Redlands’ Olive Dell Ranch and charged with the murder of neighbors 73-year-old Stephanie Menard and her husband, 79-year-old Daniel Menard.
The Menards were initially reported missing on August 25 after a friend could not locate the pair.
The friend grew concerned after the pair failed to show up for a regular potluck.
According to KNBC-TV, the Menards’ unlocked car was discovered near their home, and Stephanie Menard’s purse and the couple’s cell phones were discovered inside the residence.
The Menards’ dog, Cuddles, was also found to be missing.
A tip from an unknown party alerted authorities to Sparks, and law enforcement soon arrived at his home.
KTLA-TV reports officers attempted to contact Sparks within his home but found him uncooperative.
Police deployed a drone and an armored vehicle against the house, ultimately leaving it collapsed and destroyed.
Sparks was soon found under the property, armed with a rifle and inside a concrete bunker.
Redlands Police Chief Rachel Tolber said Sparks turned the firearm on himself as law enforcement officers closed in, but a misfire kept him from taking his own life.
Video shows law enforcement’s destruction of Sparks’ house.
Authorities say they have found more human remains at the home of 62-year-old Michael Sparks, who was arrested last week in connection to the disappearance of a couple who went missing from a nudist community.
MORE: https://t.co/vLpE6gVSHw pic.twitter.com/CKxpvR3HJc
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) September 4, 2024
After Sparks was cleared out, a cadaver dog made a gruesome discovery.
The dog alerted authorities to bags in the bunker, which were found to contain human remains upon further investigation. Authorities believe the remains to be those of the Menards.
“As far as we know, the remains that we’ve recovered are those of Dan and Stephanie and there are no others,” Redlands Police Department spokesman Carl Baker told KTLA-TV.
The remains are being examined by the San Bernardino County Coroner’s office in an attempt to positively identify the bodies.
Sparks has been charged with two counts of murder as well as a charge of a special circumstance allegation of double murder. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.
Sparks’ first court date is set for Wednesday.
Jared has written more than 200 articles and assigned hundreds more since he joined The Western Journal in February 2017. He was an infantryman in the Arkansas and Georgia National Guard and is a husband, dad and aspiring farmer.
Jared has written more than 200 articles and assigned hundreds more since he joined The Western Journal in February 2017. He is a husband, dad, and aspiring farmer. He was an infantryman in the Arkansas and Georgia National Guard. If he’s not with his wife and son, then he’s either shooting guns or working on his motorcycle.
Location
Arkansas
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Military, firearms, history
