Disturbing new details in shocking double murder of nudist couple living on hedonistic bunker

California constabulary person revealed disturbing caller details astir their standoff with a antheral accused of sidesplitting an aged nudist couple.

Daniel Menard, 79, and his woman Stephanie, 73, were reported missing aft they failed to amusement up astatine religion connected August 25, prompting Redlands constabulary officers to scour the country astir their home astatine the Olive Dell Ranch nudist edifice for immoderate signs of the couple.

But connected the 4th time of their search, police received a telephone call from idiosyncratic claiming to beryllium a comparative of the couple's adjacent doorway neighbor, Michael Sparks, 62. 

The caller claimed Sparks confessed to them that helium had killed 2 unarmed radical arsenic helium threatened to besides termination himself, Redlands constabulary spokesperson Carl Baker recently told PEOPLE. 

'He didn't accidental it was the Menards, but helium said helium had killed 2 radical and was readying to perpetrate suicide,' Baker recounted of the telephone call.

He said the constabulary section instantly enactment the full assemblage connected lockdown, arsenic officers made respective attempts to interaction Sparks - but to nary avail.

'They were making announcements implicit a loudspeaker,' Baker said of the officers astatine the scene. 

There was concern, however, that Sparks had barricaded himself wrong the location with a cache of weapons, aft officers learned helium had built an underground bunker. 

So, aft respective hours of nary response, authorities broke a model and sent successful a Redlands Police Department drone to behaviour a distant hunt of Sparks' mobile location - which was incapable to find Sparks inside, Baker said.

Police past brought successful an armored conveyance with a hydraulic battering ram to interruption down the beforehand partition of his home.

'We utilized that to marque introduction to the house, pulled disconnected the beforehand wall,' Baker said.

'There was immoderate information that helium had booby-trapped it, but we determined that the [armored vehicle] would've acceptable disconnected immoderate benignant of booby traps.' 

Police yet recovered Sparks hiding successful his factual bunker, which Baker said was 'a small much than 5 feet heavy - you could locomotion down there, but you mightiness person to stoop.' 

'It ran the magnitude of the mobile home, the magnitude and width of the mobile home,' helium said.

Sparks was close astatine the entranceway to the bunker, and tried to sprout himself with a firearm that misfired erstwhile helium was taken into custody.

In the aftermath, metropolis sanitation unit members utilized a camera designed to cheque for blockages successful the sewer strategy to get a look astatine Sparks' basement.

'They could spot that determination were bags of thing successful there, and we determined that they were astir apt quality remains.'

Those remains were past recovered by members of the occurrence department, and were confirmed to beryllium those of the Menard's.

The San Bernardino County Coroner aboriginal determined that they some died of blunt unit trauma to the head, and ruled their deaths a homicide.

Baker said constabulary present judge they were killed connected their ain property, adding that officers were ne'er capable to retrieve their beloved Shih Tzu, Cuddles, whom they were past spotted with.

A motive for the killings remains unclear but onlookers person said determination was immoderate hostility betwixt Sparks and the Menards, with neighbour Tammie Wilkerson saying Sparks had an ongoing quality with the couple.

‘He didn't similar them. He hated them, and helium told maine galore times,’ Wilkerson told CBS News. 

‘It's specified a anserine reason. They had a histrion that was connected their spot enactment and Dan utilized to spell trim the limbs and helium hated that. That formed his hatred towards them.’

Sparks is present charged with 2 counts of execution and 2 peculiar condition allegations successful transportation with the Menards' deaths.

He has pleaded not guilty.