California nudist community ‘on edge’ after ‘nightmarish’ double murder; next door neighbor arrested

Members of the nudist resort outside of Los Angeles A California couple said their once idyllic community turned into a “nightmare” after their neighbor was accused of murder.

“This is a nightmare,” Tony Wiley, 69, told People . “You hear things like this on the news, but you would never imagine that he would be one of your friends, and in a very strange way.”

Laurie Riffel, 69, said store residents felt “on guard” after the double murder.

“There is a dark cloud over us,” he said. “There’s just a feeling of always being on guard, of worrying about not being safe here.”

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The feeling of unease comes after the Redlands Police Department announced the arrest of 62-year-old Michael Sparks in the Aug. 30 murders of Stephanie and Daniel Menard at the Olive Dell Farm in Colton. He was later charged with two murders.

The Menards were last seen on Aug. 24, police said. (Redlands Police Department)

Sparks was found hiding under his home Thursday night after not responding to police for several hours, City of Redlands spokesman Carl Baker said at a news conference following the discovery of Menards’ remains.

Police said the man hid under the house in a concrete area 1.5 meters deep, which forced officers to remove the front wall of the house.

Baker said the suspect attempted commit suicide When the police first discovered him hiding.

“He had a rifle and when police found him he tried to kill himself but the rifle did not fire,” Baker said.

A cadaver dog was used to search the couple’s bodies at the Sparks home the next morning. “The dog raised the alarm, indicating the presence of a body somewhere under the house,” Baker said.

Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was charged with two counts of murder. (Redlands Police Department)

Members of the dress code community told People that tensions between the Menards and Sparkses reached a breaking point over the pruning of a tree that shaded their property.

“I talked to them and I know they had a problem with a tree being cut down because of branches leading up to the Menard house,” Tony Garrett, 63, told People. “But I can’t say that’s all. I can’t say it’s just one thing.”

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“When I first got here she was telling me which neighbors she liked, which neighbors she could do without, and then she pointed in their direction. ‘And I hate those assholes,’ she said,” Tammie Wilkerson, 61, told People.

“I was like, ‘Dang, Sparky, that’s a little rude.’ That’s when he told me about the tree thing, I was thinking it’s a lot to hate someone. Only he knows.

“I don’t know if that’s what caused it or if that’s what caused it. I just took one day. I really don’t know.”

The Redlands Police Department said the Menards’ dog, Cuddles, has not been found. (Redlands Police Department)

Neighborhood residents remembered the couple with their warm personalities.

“They had a great little house for the two of them and their dog,” the couple’s friend Michelle Ann Archambault Reese told People. “They had a nice outdoor patio area to relax in. They were just someone you wanted to hug. They were just great people.”

Neighbors said Sparks appeared to be more of a loner.

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“You’d see him once in a while, but mostly he loved his hot tub,” Garrett said. “He wasn’t a bad guy. He wasn’t any different from the other residents. Just a little quieter, a little more reserved.”

“She said she hated the ‘textile world’ and that there had always been nudists for as long as she could remember,” Wilkerson told the press. he said.