An elderly couple were killed and mutilated by their neighbor after being humiliated with a taunt about a hot dog, a court heard.
Michael Royce Sparks, 62, is facing murder charges over the deaths of Stephanie Menard, 73, and Daniel Menard, 79, who were brutally killed at their nudist community, the Olive Dell Ranch, in Redlands, California.
The couple were found in August 2024 underneath a concrete bunker at Sparks’ home.
At a Monday hearing for Sparks as he prepares to stand trial, a witness in their nudist community testified that the suspect and his alleged victims often argued and had a fraught relationship for some time before the killings.
They said they lived next door to each other, and had clashed over issues including a tree overhanging the Menards’ yard and a noisy generator.
But the witness said the rift turned violent due to Sparks feeling humiliated after Menard bought him a $1 hot dog.
The story was also told by a Redlands police officer who testified Monday that another inmate was told the same story by Sparks about how he snapped when he was bought the hot dog.
‘He said Mr. Sparks told him the incident started over a hot dog that Daniel Menard had purchased for him,’ Redlands police Detective Thomas Williams said.
‘He said Mr. Sparks felt that the hot dog was a jab at him, making him feel like he was worth only a dollar hot dog, and that’s what set him off that day.’
Sparks ‘went outside and struck Mr. Menard in the head until his head caved in’, the Williams said, recalling the inmate’s words.
Michael’s wife Stephanie then came outside yelling ‘no, no’, the detective said, leading Sparks to ‘begin striking (her) and (Michael) with a rake, a hoe and a hammer’.
The detective said the inmate at at West Valley Detention Center was told that Sparks then took the Menards to a concrete bunker he had built underneath his trailer, reports The Mercury News.
He allegedly told fellow prisoners that he dismembered Stephanie and mutilated Michael, and during a search of his home police found body parts stuffed in plastic bags and a Home Depot bucket.
Sparks also allegedly told other inmates that he drowned the Menards’ Shih Tzu dog in a sink before leaving her on a hillside for coyotes to eat her.
At the preliminary hearing on Monday, Sparks’ attorney did not present a defense.
A judge subsequently ruled that there is sufficient evidence for Sparks to stand trial for the murder of the couple, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
Prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek the death penalty in the case.
Many residents of the California nudist community where the alleged killer and his victims appeared at the hearing, with Sparks described as a popular figure in the community.
The Menards were missing for four days before the case turned into a homicide investigation and a former co-worker of Sparks came forward with a stunning text Sparks had sent her the day of the killings.
She said she recognized the nudist community where police were searching on the news, and texted Sparks: ‘I am watching news. Something going on where you live. Are you in town?’
According to texts shown in court on Monday, Sparks replied: ‘It’s me. Committing suicide today. Take care. Bye.’
‘Wait. What’s going on? Where are you?’ she responded.
‘Chopped up my neighbors. Didn’t know I had it in me. SNAPPED,’ Sparks said back.
Cops then raced to Sparks’ home, where they found him in his trailer bunker holding a long rifle.
Sparks tried to shoot himself, but the rifle jammed, and when asked by cops where the Menards were, he said ‘they were underneath the trailer and that they didn’t need any help’, Williams said in his testimony.
‘He replied back that they were in pieces.’