Neighbor ‘killed couple at nudist resort after fight over hot dog before dismembering them and burying them in basement'
A MAN accused of killing an elderly couple at a nudist resort confessed to murdering them over a hot dog, a court heard.
Michael Royce Sparks, 62, is accused of beating to death Stephanie Mernard, 73, and her husband Daniel Menard, 79, with garden tools back in August.
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The couple went missing from their home at RV park and nudist resort Olive Dell Ranch, Redlands, California.
Their remains were discovered by cops a week later stuffed in bags in a concrete bunker beneath Sparks' home.
This week, a detective told court that Sparks had admitted to multiple people that he killed the couple.
He allegedly said the final straw was an argument over a hot dog.
Testifying, Redlands detective Thomas Williams said Sparks told another inmate that Daniel had given him a hot dog, which he interpreted as an insult.
The cop 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."
Williams told the court Sparks had also confessed the crime to somebody outside the prison through texts and letters.
He allegedly wrote: 'Chopped up my neighbors. Didn't know I had it in me. SNAPPED.'
Sparks is accused of beating the couple to death with a rake, a hoe and a hammer.
He also allegedly admitted drown their dog, Cuddles, in a sink.
Huge breakthrough in gruesome murder of couple found dismembered and disemboweled with heads kept in fridge veg drawer
Another neighbor told KABC that there was a long history of tension between Sparks and the Menards - which all began over a trimmed tree.
The resident said the Menards pruned the tree after Sparks refused to - kicking off a bitter, years-long row.
The neighbor Tammie Wilkerson said: 'I didn't think he'd ever be able to do something like this.
'I know he didn't like them, and he didn't have a problem telling people that, but I never thought he'd do this.'
When a former co-worker reached out to Sparks during the investigation, he reportedly acknowledged he was the prime suspect and revealed he had planned to kill himself - but the gun jammed.
The initial search for the couple lasted five days.
At the time, cops said they searched Sparks' house because a neighbor reported that he had confessed to killing the pair.
SWAT teams stormed his home and found him hiding beneath it in a bunker.
Police had used a hydraulic battering ram, K9 teams, drones, and a helicopter to look for the couple.
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