Neighbor arrested in deaths of elderly couple who vanished from California nudist ranch
A neighbor has been arrested for the assumed murder of an elderly couple who vanished from the California nudist ranch where they all lived, cops said Friday.
Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was taken into custody after a huge SWAT team raid at the Olive Dell Ranch nudist resort in San Bernardino County starting late Thursday.
His home was torn down by a hydraulic battering ram and police dogs and drones swarmed the closed-down area, ABC7 noted.
Sparks was slapped with a murder charge in connection to the disappearance of Stephanie Menard, 73, and her husband, Daniel, 79, according to police.
The Menards and their dog, a Shih Tzu named Cuddles, were reported missing by a friend last Sunday after they were last seen leaving their home a day earlier.
Their phones and Stephanie’s purse were later found still inside their house, while their unlocked car was found down the road, police said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the couple, or their dog, had been located.
News of the arrest comes less than 24 hours after cops said they had identified a person of interest in the case and were in the process of trying to locate him.
Police, who didn’t name Sparks, said they’d received a tip that prompted them to carry out a search warrant on Menards’ neighbors’ home.
Details about Sparks’ connection to the couple weren’t immediately available.
Prior to the arrest, cops had already revealed they suspected foul play in the couple’s disappearance.
After the discovery of the car, neighbors said the couple had a slew of ailments between them that meant it was unlikely they’d walked somewhere on foot.
“There’s no way that Stephanie or Dan could have walked away from that car,” friend Tammie Wilkerson told ABC. “She has a cane. It was at home, her purse, their cellphones — things they would never have left at home.”
Police also disclosed that Daniel suffered from dementia and was diabetic.
Sparks has since been booked at West Valley Detention Center, police said.
