Human remains found beneath the home of a man suspected of murdering a couple in their 70s at the nudist resort where they lived belong to the missing husband and wife, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
A department spokesman confirmed that the remains found beneath Michael Royce Sparks' home belonged to Stephanie Menard, 73, and Daniel Menard, 79.
The identification of the remains comes shortly after the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office charged Sparks, 62, with the murder of the Menards.
Authorities have declined to discuss a possible motive.
The Menards were reported missing by a friend on Aug. 25 after they failed to attend a morning church service, according to the Redlands Police Department. The couple's car was found unlocked down the street from their home in Olive Dell Ranch, a nudist resort.
Redlands Police Chief Rachel Tolber said Sparks became a suspect in the Menards' disappearance on Aug. 29 when one of his family members told a police dispatcher that Sparks had been involved in the Menards' disappearance.
Michael Royce Sparks was arrested in connection with the disappearance and deaths of Daniel and Stephanie Menard.
(Redlands Police Department)
According to Tolber, the relative told the operator that Sparks had admitted to killing two people and was threatening to kill himself.
At the time, investigators and police officers were in the area conducting a search for the Menards and interviewing neighbors. Tolber said those officers went to Sparks' home, which is next door to the Menards' home, and began searching for him.
During the search, he said, officers discovered that Sparks had barricaded himself in a homemade bunker beneath the home and was armed with a rifle, prompting police to use a drone and then a battering ram to knock down the walls of the home.
At one point, Sparks tried to use the rifle to harm himself, Tolber said, but the gun misfired.
Sparks was then arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into the West Valley Detention Center.
Following Sparks' arrest, police found the remains of two people believed to belong to the missing couple, Tolber said. Investigators completed an extensive search of the property Sunday, he said, and do not believe there are any other victims.
