The missing persons case opened on a nudist couple Sunday turned into a murder investigation by Thursday. Redlands, California SWAT police destroyed the trailer of a neighboring naturist to arrest the fugitive hiding underneath. They haven’t found any bodies yet but cadaver dogs are convinced the Menards and their beloved shih tzu, cudddles, are around there somewhere.
Nudist couple presumed dead
Michael Royce Sparks was arrested in connection with a missing couple, now presumed murdered. Everyone involved are residents of the Olive Dell Ranch nudist resort, in Redlands, California.
A “SWAT team moved into a nudist ranch and ripped apart” the suspect’s home but Daniel and Stephanie Menard haven’t been located. Police aren’t saying much other than they don’t expect to find them alive.
The 62-year-old suspect is being held on suspicion of murder. Overnight, “authorities swarmed the neighborhood” and put the whole resort on lockdown. Sparks was eventually “booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.” Redlands PD held a press briefing Friday morning.
Cadaver dogs detect bodies but no human remains have been recovered. Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was arrested on suspicion of murder overnight after authorities swarmed the neighborhood and locked down the area surrounding the Olive Dell Ranch. @abc7robmcmillan pic.twitter.com/Z8G5A8IMAm
— Tim Conway Jr Show (@ConwayShow) August 30, 2024
Spokesperson Carl Baker didn’t have much information about the missing couple but relates that “Sparks surrendered voluntarily after he was found underneath his home.” That was after his trailer “was tore down by a police armored vehicle with a hydraulic battering ram.”
“Stephanie Menard, 73, and her husband, Daniel, 79 – are believed to be dead,” Baker told reporters. Officers “are confident that their bodies are somewhere on the property.”
They brought in cadaver dogs from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to search the premises for the couple or their bodies. “The motive for the alleged killings remains unclear, but authorities said the suspect and victims were neighbors.”
Car down the street
The whereabouts of the couple became a mystery on Sunday when they missed church. The Menards had “last been seen Saturday morning leaving their home at the Olive Dell ranch in the 26000 block of Keissel Road,” according to the Redlands Police Department.
A friend “reported them missing the next day.” The friend was picking them up for church, part of a regular routine. The Menards were said to be “very active in their church and in the Olive Dell community.”
A vehicle belonging to the couple “was found unlocked down the road from their home Sunday. Stephanie’s purse was found inside the home and both of their cellphones were also found at their home.”
#BREAKING: A man was arrested in connection to the disappearance of a missing Redlands couple, who are believed to be dead, after a SWAT team moved into a nudist ranch and ripped apart his home, authorities confirmed.
Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was arrested for murder overnight… pic.twitter.com/ZMn4AvZ65n
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 30, 2024
Also missing is their dog, “a small white shih tzu named Cuddles.” Officer Baker, ABC reports, “could not provide more information about the fate of the dog.”
“There’s no way that Stephanie or Dan could have walked away from that car,” friend Tammie Wilkerson relates. “She has a cane. It was at home, her purse, their cellphones – things they would never have left at home.”
Friends also point out that the couple “is part of a possible lawsuit against the ranch.” They were “being harassed.” Friends wonder if that had something to do with what happened.
