(CNN) — Police have arrested a man and accused him of killing the couple who lived next door to his house at a California nudist resort.
Police tore into the suspect’s home Thursday using a battering ram and searched for him using video equipment.
The suspect, 62-year-old Michael Royce Sparks, was found “under the home” about 9:30 p.m., said Carl Baker, a public information officer for the Redlands Police Department, on Friday morning.
“He surrendered voluntarily – I won’t say he’s been cooperative,” Baker said, adding that there had been “lengthy negotiations” with Sparks.
Police have not found bodies, but “we believe the bodies are on the site of his home,” Baker said. Cadaver dogs from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office are on site to help locate the victims, he added. “We are confident that they are deceased,” Baker said.
Sparks is set to appear in court on Tuesday, jail records show. He’s ineligible for bail, according to the records.
CNN has not been able to identify an attorney for Sparks or locate family members.
Daniel and Stephanie Menard were last seen on Saturday and reported missing on Sunday, police say. CNN affiliate KCAL reported that Daniel Menard was 79 and his wife 73. Daniel suffered from dementia and was diabetic, the police department said on Facebook.
Their unlocked car was found near their house at the Olive Dell Ranch. The ranch’s website says it is “Southern California’s favorite nudist resort for families and couples.”
Police say they got a tip alleging the neighbor was involved when they were following up on the missing person’s report.
“We obtained a search warrant to try to locate and contact the suspect. That’s his home,” Baker said Thursday. “He was not responding to our efforts to have him come out.”
There was no information about the couples’ dog, a white Shih Tzu named Cuddles, Baker said.
Redlands police locked down the suspect’s house in the Olive Dell Ranch RV Park, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.
Irene Engkraf, who identified herself as the concerned neighbor who called police, told reporters ahead of the Friday news conference that she and the couple usually attended Sunday church service together.
But last Sunday, the couple didn’t turn up for church and she saw their car sitting “abandoned.”
Using a spare key to enter the Menards’ home, Engkraf saw Stephanie Menard’s purse and both of the Menards’ phones. Then she called 911 and started calling hospitals, searching for news of her friends.
“It felt so odd not to have them sitting right next to me” at their usual Wednesday Bible study, she said. “But I know God’s with them. He’s with them wherever they are.”
She described the suspect as a “loner” who “didn’t socialize so much.”
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