Five days after Redlands residents Dan and Stephanie Menard were last seen alive, police received a crucial tip on Thursday, Aug. 29, that broke the case and shifted it from a missing person to a homicide investigation.
“Police dispatchers received information from an individual, identified as a family member, indicating that the suspect, Michael Sparks, was involved in the disappearance and had admitted to killing two people and was threatening suicide,” Redlands Police Chief Rachel Tolber said during a news conference on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
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District Attorney Jason Anderson announced the filing of two counts of murder against Sparks, 62, of Redlands, including special circumstance allegation of committing multiple homicides. Sparks will be arraigned Wednesday, Sept. 4, in San Bernardino Superior Court, he said.
“I want to say that, from the beginning of this case, what we were impressed by were the community members, the friends and loved ones who were so concerned about the Menards that they came forward to indicate that things weren’t right,” Anderson said.
The crime, the most gruesome case in recent memory in Redlands, has made national headlines because the victims lived at a nudist ranch and had been dismembered.
Lived at ranch for 15 years
Dan Menard, 79, and his wife Stephanie, 73, lived at the Olive Dell Ranch nudist resort for 15 years. The resort, established in 1952, lies nestled in the hills of Reche Canyon south of Redlands and on the southeastern outskirts of Colton.
The Menards’ car was found abandoned on a road inside the resort about 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. The keys were still in the ignition, and Stephanie Menard’s purse and her husband’s cellphone were found inside their mobile home down the street. A friend reported the couple missing the following day, police said.
Residents of the resort grew immediately concerned about the couple’ disappearance, stressing to police that Dan Menard suffered from dementia. The couple’s beloved white shih tzu, Cuddles, also went missing and has not been found.
Police searched the hills and canyon surrounding the ranch for four days, and were at the ranch on the evening of Aug. 29 interviewing residents when Redlands police dispatchers received the call, allegedly from a family member of Sparks, saying he had sent them a text message saying he had killed the Menards and was going to kill himself, Tolber said.
Police immediately locked down the resort and began searching for Sparks, narrowing it down to his home, which is next door to the Menards’ mobile home, Tolber said.
Hiding in makeshift basement
Because police were informed Sparks was potentially armed and dangerous, they called in reinforcements from other agencies. After failing to make contact with Sparks, a search warrant was obtained and police entered the property and searched it using a drone and remote cameras, Tolber said.
Police eventually found Sparks holed up on the property in a homemade concrete basement, with an old Army rifle.
“He was in fact armed with a rifle, which he attempted to fire in an effort to harm himself, and the weapon misfired, and Sparks was subsequently taken into custody,” Tolber said.
Sparks was arrested at 9:46 p.m. Aug. 29 and booked into the West Valley Detention Center, where he reportedly was on suicide watch and being held without bail on Tuesday.
Human remains found
Investigators searched Sparks’ property from Friday, Aug. 30 through Monday, finding bags of human remains, believed to be those of the Menards, and other evidence. The search, however, was interrupted Friday due to concern about the structure collapsing because of extensive damage.
“My understanding is that (Sparks) basically built the structure on top of a trailer frame that he put in the ground, and underneath that is where he built the basement, so it was very unstable,” Anderson said. “Imagine building a structure on a trailer frame. That’s why they were concerned about the structure — having people under there and the whole thing just caving in.”
The city’s building inspector fenced off the property, which will likely be condemned and red-tagged, a city spokesperson said.
It was unclear where, when and how the Sparks were killed. Tolber said there was no blood or other evidence of foul play found at their car. Anderson said there were cutting tools found in Sparks’ basement, but no clear indication they were used, or could have been used, to dismember the bodies.
Anderson said police are certain the remains found at Sparks’ home are those of the Menards, and were able to confirm their identities from the crime scene photos. He said the autopsy findings should be able to determine a time of death.
He said the Coroner’s Office was conducting the autopsy Tuesday, and expects to positively identify the remains sometime this week.
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