August 14, 2025 • 27 mins
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It's not what you think. Or maybe it is.
It's not what you think. Or maybe it is.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Listen to Hudson River Radio dot Com at work. We
won't tell the boss.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman, I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this is Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio dot Com.
And just when you think it's safe to go back
to Murder in the Hudson Valley, we have the Newdest
Hot Dog Murders.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yeah. All I know about this is the title. My
mind is already spinning. I don't know which direction this
is going to go.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's going to spin even further into the depths
of depravity. So we are this is a case that
is having some current ramifications. It has not yet gone
to trial at the time of us recording. At the
end of June, the trial date was supposed to be set,
but there's been a delay. So we might have an
(00:56):
update on the Newdest hot Dog Murders. But let's give
you what we have so far. We are going to Redlands, California.
I don't know exactly. It's I think to the east
of Los Angeles. People are probably screaming, no, no, no,
it's in California somewhere. Okay, okay, it's near it's near
(01:21):
the San Jacinto Mountains in the foothills, Okay, I know
that much. We're going to Thursday, October twenty ninth, twenty
twenty four at the Olive Dell Ranch RV Park and Resort, Okay,
(01:43):
which is a long, fancy, not really descriptive title of
al A Dell because it really was what we usually
call a nudist colony, Okay, where people I.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Would hope that's on the second line of their brochure
so people like me don't make our reservations and find
out surprise.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, you've never camped in a nudist colony never.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
No, yeah, well not even.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
On the short list for me, I didn't know they existed.
You can have a mobile home and park it there
essentially and lived there for years. Or you can spend
the night, you know, bring your trailer in or whatever
and spend the night. So it's yeah, it's an all
service nudist colony for short term or long term. Okay. Then,
(02:42):
so the local newspaper that day says police are asking
for help in locating an elderly couple who live on
the nudist ranch in Redlands with their dog and disappeared
over the weekend. Okay, so this came out on Thursday,
So the previous weekend was when this couple disappeared. Friends
(03:06):
noticed that they missed church service on Sunday, which was
very unusual for them. And I'm sorry, but I have
to think, I hope they wear clothes in church, and I.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Would think the church is sitting on the grounds.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Of sitting on the church pews.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And of course, the way my mind works, the first
thing I'm thinking of is we don't have a clothing description,
but carry on.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, all right then, so a friend reported the people
that were missing were seventy three year old Stephanie Menard
and seventy nine year old Daniel Minard, her husband. He
had diabetes and dementia. I would assume a seventy nine
(03:52):
year old diabetic needed medication, So not a good situation
if they're missing their meds. And also missing was their
little shitsu called Cuddles. So we have Stephanie, Daniel and
Cuddles missing. So they were last seen in their home
(04:16):
at Kisel Road k E I S. S E. L
about ten am probably that Friday. Their car was found.
The police, you know, came to the all of Dell
that must have as a police officer. Have you ever
been called to a nudist colony to investigations yet? Okay,
(04:43):
So that the Menard's car, which was a Chrysler Sea Bring,
was found down the street from their house, unlocked with
the key in the ignition not not a good sign.
They went inside the Menard's home. Stephanie's purse was there
(05:05):
and both of their cell phones, so you could see
maybe Daniel with his dementia, might have wandered off, but
both of them leaving their cell phones their car with
the sounds like foul play, something suspicious. One of their friends,
(05:26):
Tammy Wilkerson, said they were They were very active in
the community. They're very sweet people. There's not a mean
bone in their body at all, which makes this all
very confusing. So, you know, really sweet people, helpful, why
should they go missing? So they contact the red Lands
(05:51):
Police Department and Detective Thomas Williams sends people into the
community to start cam to sing, talking to neighbors, friends,
and it's it's, you know, Thursday after they go to
so what is that five days now gone without his meds?
(06:15):
Every not not looking good, so you would it doesn't
sound like it would be an accident either, right, sounds
like foul play. So they're they're completely baffled until the
police department gets a call. But let's take our first break.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You're doing it again, Hudson River Radio dot com. Hudson
River Radio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And yes, I left you all in a cliffhanger because
that's what I do, building the tension here.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Okay, So, as a police officer combing the newdest colony
and you have no clue, what do you do next?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, you just interview as many people as you can.
If there's family, if there's friends, their activities that they do,
Like you mentioned church they didn't show up for. But
what else do they do? Searching the area? You know,
you would see if you could get a canine anyway,
even though it's been a couple of days, it's it's
worth it if if it's available, right, Yeah, good point.
(07:38):
You just try to make as many leads as you can.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And seeing the pictures of these two people, they weren't
going to wander far. Definitely not so. This call caller
to the police department says a relative confessed to killing
two people and and is threatening to shoot himself. Okay,
(08:04):
So this is somebody armed and already dangerous. Didn't say
who the two people were, but guess who he was.
He was sixty two year old Michael Royce Sparks, the
Minard's next door neighbor. I think we might be able
(08:25):
to put two and two together. Two people are missing.
He confesses to killing two people, and he's armed, and
he's claiming he's going to shoot himself. Okay, So as
wonderful as the Minards were, just about everybody loved them,
(08:46):
love except the next door neighbor. I mean, how many
times do we hear this that tensions build up over
the course of years over stupid little things, you know,
a shared drive way or heaven.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Forbid, little yippie dog that doesn't stop barking.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, there's that, cuddles, uh huh uh huh. So he
hated them. One of the things that drove him crazy
was there was a pepper tree on the property line.
You never want shared trees are excuse me, you never
(09:28):
want trees dropping leaves and limbs on somebody else's property.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
People the same thing. Do not plant a tree as
a marker for a property line. Pick who's going to
own the tree. And that's where you plant it near, Yes,
the property line.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yes. I knew someone who was about to close on
a house and there was a storm and the neighbor's
tree came down on their house. They did not know
it did a lot of damage, which they didn't know
the exact time the tree fell, so they didn't know
(10:06):
was it the insurance of the people who sold the
house or was it the insurance of the people. They
don't know when was the contract signed. Did the tree
fall at three point fifty eight pm and the contract
was signed at four pm? It was. It was a
huge mess. So don't do it, and if there is
(10:27):
a tree there, get it taken care of before it
turns deadly. So Daniel had asked Sparks to trim the
tree branches because apparently they were causing a problem on
his property. He refused, so uh oh, Daniel trimmed the
tree branches himself that were hanging over his yard. Well,
(10:53):
he didn't like that. And apparently the Minards also had
a backup generator that he thought was way too loud.
I don't know how many times you need to use
a backup generator, but whenever he did, that drove him crazy.
So the police already were at the Olive dell, you know,
(11:13):
searching for clues witnesses, so they immediately put the entire
place on lockdown. And since the guy's armed and threatening
to shoot himself and has already killed two people, I
love this, they broke a window in the house and
sent in a drone to look for him. Right, do
(11:35):
you have that capacity at yours?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You do not.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
That's pretty damn good. Rather than sending.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, it's an increasing thing, you know, you see that
more and more, but yeah, we don't have that.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, I mean that's a that's a great idea, rather
than risking a canine or a person.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
We do have a fax machine in case anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh right then, yeah, yes, this is the police. We
have a fax machine. Yeah, come out with your hands up.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, we're gonna throw it at you. That's about as
useful as it is.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh well, well you have something to aspire to now.
So on a loud speaker, they're saying, you know, come
out with your hands up. Bah bah bah bah. They
can't find anything, uh in the drone. They don't see
him in the house, but people in the neighborhood tell
that he had built a concrete bunker under the house. Yes,
(12:37):
so this is you never want a neighbor who's building
a bunker round here. And now we have silence of
the lambs, so they don't want to send anybody in there,
so they they take it up a notch. This is
very impressive. They have an armored vehicle that has a
hydraulic battering net ram. They knock the front of the
(13:02):
house down and pull the wall off. Well, that's one
way to gain entry.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
They apparently had reason to suspect this man had booby
trapped the house, So you don't want a person with
a battering ram knocking down the house and then it
blows up. So they just tore the whole front of
this mobile home off. They gain entry, but he's not there.
(13:32):
He's not in there, so they're like, oh crap, he's
got to be in in the bunker. Okay, So they're
still hoping maybe this is a hostage situation, Maybe he's
just holding in the minards, maybe they're just wounded. So
they yell down. They see the entrance to the bunker.
(13:56):
They yell down and say where are the menas cards
and sparks answers in pieces.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Comments Wow, Okay, First off, building a bunker under a
mobile home is pretty impressive with I guess people did
he tell them that he was doing it or people
just saw it. I mean, I don't even know how
he got about doing that. Go through the door and
then dig I don't even.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Know unless he moved the home dug and put it
in and then moved a home back.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
They call it a mobile home, but once it's in,
it's in. It's anchors.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, yeah, that's you know, wow, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Number one and number two, that's kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yes, in pieces, So they're like, okay, then probably not
a hostage situation. So he does have a rifle and
as they are going in to get him, he tries
to shoot himself with the rifle and the gun missfires.
How many times have we covered cases where murderers they
(15:07):
can kill dozens of people, they try to kill themselves.
They can't do it something goes wrong. It's it's uncanny.
So he tries to kill himself, the gun missfires. They
get and apparently the ceiling in this bunker is very
low and they still don't know could this be booby trapped?
(15:27):
So they do have a cadaver dog who signals, oh yeah,
something's in here, and then they use a camera that
it was used for the city's sewer system. They would
put this camera into the sewers to look for blockages.
So they sent that camera down and this I'm getting
(15:50):
the idea this was a.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Cram optic kind of thing that I'm assuming they washed
before they eyes.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
It probably didn't matter because because they found something pretty bad.
But I have to I have to. You know, I
was using the term booby trap, and I'm like, where
the heck did that come from?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Do you know? I don't.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
In the sixteen hundreds, sailors would set traps to catch
booby birds, so they were, you know, the birds, they
were literally booby traps.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So see, we're a full service educational podcast here, so you've.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Interesting facts, inappropriate comments, all blood and guts. We got
it all.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
We've got it all. So the camera found I loved this,
bags of something, Okay, bags of something. They figured most
like you know, with the cadaver dog signaling most likely
human remains. Now, the minards were very large people, so
(17:03):
these had to be a lot of So.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
We're back to our hefty bags that we haven't talked
about in along.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I would think they were hefty steel sacks. They would
have to be. And the police didn't go in and
get them. They sent the fire department in. Is that
odd the fire department went in to retrieve the bags.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I don't know. That's I have had the fire department
come for like a lifticist for somebody who's really large,
just for extra manpower, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So, but sending them in for unless, wouldn't you want.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
To if they had equipment to move something that was
that heavy, maybe out a bunker like an I'm assuming
it was like a ladder kind of bunker, not like
a beautiful hand crafted staircase that brought you down. You
want to you know, you're lifting something out of a hole.
The fire department's going to have like a tripodage. Oh
that's things up, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
But anyway, they were bags and bags of the dismembered
bodies of Daniel and Stephanie. That is a lot of
anger going on there, but no dog remains. Hold that
thought with poor Cuddles. We will get to cuddles. The
corner determined both of the Minards died of blunt force trauma.
(18:26):
To the head and it was determined that a rake,
a garden hoe, and a hammer were used. Those are
a hammer and a garden hoe. That's some pretty brutals
to beat them to death, probably crushing their skulls, then
(18:48):
cut them into pieces and put the bags in the bunker.
Now you're at the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains,
maybe not store the body parts in your under your house.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, well, we obviously have somebody not working with a full.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Day, that's for sure. So friend Michelle Reese said they
had a great little home for the two of them
and their dog. They were somebody you wanted to hug.
They were just wonderful people. Again, I must add, hopefully
hug you with their clothes on. But that's my personal
(19:30):
prejudice there.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Remember that is it had a nest dance cheek the cheek.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh okay, well, we can't help ourselves with a nudist
colony murder. But I mean, I just feel horrible for
them and the sweet people, and because they have this
bat crap crazy neighbor. Who wait till I tell you
what really set him off? But what did Sparks have
(20:00):
have to say and what happened to poor cuddles. Why
don't we take our second break. This is Hudson River
Radio dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And we are back and disturbing case.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No, yeah, it's still the bunker under a mobile home,
is what's.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Really that's what you're fixating on.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I yes, you would never think, but okay, he.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Was planning something or preparing for something and obviously armed
and uh, very dangerous.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Put some fat this.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So early September twenty twenty four, Sparks is charged with
two counts of murder and two special circumstances. Is that
because of the dismemberment? What it could? Special circumstances cover
a variety of things.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I don't know California law. So yeah, that's a good question.
I don't know if he was trying to hide evidence
or maybe the dismemberment, maybe just the method that he used.
I don't know, especially cruel. Yeah, I honestly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So he was arraigned on Wednesday, September fourth, and they
were thinking of seeking the death penalty. I didn't think
California had the death penalty, but anyway, he was being
held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga,
(21:40):
which is one of the coolest names of a place ever,
Rancho Cucamonga. Well, just last week from when we are
recording this June of twenty twenty five, they had a
hearing and Detective Williams testified that a jailhouse snitch had
(22:03):
told him what Sparks had said. What was the thing
that set him off? You are not freaking going to
believe this quote, Sparks told him. The incident started over
a hot dog that Daniel Minard purchased for him. He said.
(22:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
The neighbor bought him a hot dog, right, I assume
it's some event in their community, and I that is
the twist that he put on it.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That was it. That was he felt like he was
only worth a dollar hot dog. That's what Daniel Minard
was saying to him by giving him a hot dog.
You're only worth not Hey, maybe we can patch things over.
We're nice people here, have a hot dog. No, that
(23:19):
was the trigger.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So if he brought the coleslaw, it would have been fine.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Maybe maybe he wanted a hamburger. I don't I don't know,
I don't know. But that was the insult. That was
the final straw that caused him to cause double homicide
and dismemberment and Cuddles poor this, I mean, the whole
(23:43):
case is sickening, but this. Anytime someone hit hurts a
defenseless animal, it's just it's just a different level of depravity.
He grabbed little Cuddles, the shits who drown him in
a sink of water, then threw his body in the
woods for the coyotes to eat him, and the remains
(24:07):
of Cuddles were never found. Do you have to really,
did you have to kill the dog?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Take?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I yeah, So animal cruelty charges were added to that.
During this one hearing. There were eleven witnesses, lots of evidence.
I mean, there were bags of body parts. That's pretty
strong evidence. And they also showed a message that Sparks
(24:40):
wrote to a friend of his. He actually apparently had
a friend. He wrote to the friend quote, chopped up
my neighbors didn't know I had it in me, snapped.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
That's pretty concrete right there.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yes, didn't know I had it in me. Chopped up
my neighbors. He is currently being held without bail. Fortunately,
there was supposed to be a trial date set at
this point. There's been some delay, but we will keep
on top of this. The judge is Alexander Martinez, and
(25:23):
he denied the motion to keep cameras out of the courtroom.
You think a few people will be watching this trial
when it's uh, my pair of eyes will be on
it if it's if it's broadcast. So I don't see how,
(25:43):
other than pleading insanity, how he's going to get out
of this one. I think, pardon the pun. This is
a cut and dried case of double homicide, dismemberment, killing
the dog.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He lived alone in his house, right, so he was
sparks Sparks, Yes, lived alone.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, yeah, I wonder why nobody lived with him.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
We have a third basement underground. You just need a
ladder to get there.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wow. Wow, all over these So that is the newdest
hot dog murders.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
I didn't know how and when the hot dog was
going to come into play, because you could think of
many alternative endings.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And in the newist colony.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, none of them. So good job.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, and again this is something ongoing, so keep your
eyes out for this case, and whenever the trial does
take place, will be on top of that one.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
See what, wow, see what. I love to hear some
testimony from Sparks this one. So that's it. Would you
care to take us out?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah? Good job. As always. Not only did you leave
us in suspense twice during the show, the whole show
is now ending in suspense because now we have to
see how this plays out and spark. All right, we'll
return to this at a later date. So great job, Linda,
and thank you all for joining us here on Murder
in the Hudson Valley. We will see you next time.
Unless you are a victim of murder in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Listen to Hudson River Radio dot Com at work. We
won't tell the boss.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman, I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this is Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio dot Com.
And just when you think it's safe to go back
to Murder in the Hudson Valley, we have the Newdest
Hot Dog Murders.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yeah. All I know about this is the title. My
mind is already spinning. I don't know which direction this
is going to go.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's going to spin even further into the depths
of depravity. So we are this is a case that
is having some current ramifications. It has not yet gone
to trial at the time of us recording. At the
end of June, the trial date was supposed to be set,
but there's been a delay. So we might have an
(00:56):
update on the Newdest hot Dog Murders. But let's give
you what we have so far. We are going to Redlands, California.
I don't know exactly. It's I think to the east
of Los Angeles. People are probably screaming, no, no, no,
it's in California somewhere. Okay, okay, it's near it's near
(01:21):
the San Jacinto Mountains in the foothills, Okay, I know
that much. We're going to Thursday, October twenty ninth, twenty
twenty four at the Olive Dell Ranch RV Park and Resort, Okay,
(01:43):
which is a long, fancy, not really descriptive title of
al A Dell because it really was what we usually
call a nudist colony, Okay, where people I.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Would hope that's on the second line of their brochure
so people like me don't make our reservations and find
out surprise.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, you've never camped in a nudist colony never.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
No, yeah, well not even.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
On the short list for me, I didn't know they existed.
You can have a mobile home and park it there
essentially and lived there for years. Or you can spend
the night, you know, bring your trailer in or whatever
and spend the night. So it's yeah, it's an all
service nudist colony for short term or long term. Okay. Then,
(02:42):
so the local newspaper that day says police are asking
for help in locating an elderly couple who live on
the nudist ranch in Redlands with their dog and disappeared
over the weekend. Okay, so this came out on Thursday,
So the previous weekend was when this couple disappeared. Friends
(03:06):
noticed that they missed church service on Sunday, which was
very unusual for them. And I'm sorry, but I have
to think, I hope they wear clothes in church, and I.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Would think the church is sitting on the grounds.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Of sitting on the church pews.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And of course, the way my mind works, the first
thing I'm thinking of is we don't have a clothing description,
but carry on.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, all right then, so a friend reported the people
that were missing were seventy three year old Stephanie Menard
and seventy nine year old Daniel Minard, her husband. He
had diabetes and dementia. I would assume a seventy nine
(03:52):
year old diabetic needed medication, So not a good situation
if they're missing their meds. And also missing was their
little shitsu called Cuddles. So we have Stephanie, Daniel and
Cuddles missing. So they were last seen in their home
(04:16):
at Kisel Road k E I S. S E. L
about ten am probably that Friday. Their car was found.
The police, you know, came to the all of Dell
that must have as a police officer. Have you ever
been called to a nudist colony to investigations yet? Okay,
(04:43):
So that the Menard's car, which was a Chrysler Sea Bring,
was found down the street from their house, unlocked with
the key in the ignition not not a good sign.
They went inside the Menard's home. Stephanie's purse was there
(05:05):
and both of their cell phones, so you could see
maybe Daniel with his dementia, might have wandered off, but
both of them leaving their cell phones their car with
the sounds like foul play, something suspicious. One of their friends,
(05:26):
Tammy Wilkerson, said they were They were very active in
the community. They're very sweet people. There's not a mean
bone in their body at all, which makes this all
very confusing. So, you know, really sweet people, helpful, why
should they go missing? So they contact the red Lands
(05:51):
Police Department and Detective Thomas Williams sends people into the
community to start cam to sing, talking to neighbors, friends,
and it's it's, you know, Thursday after they go to
so what is that five days now gone without his meds?
(06:15):
Every not not looking good, so you would it doesn't
sound like it would be an accident either, right, sounds
like foul play. So they're they're completely baffled until the
police department gets a call. But let's take our first break.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You're doing it again, Hudson River Radio dot com. Hudson
River Radio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And yes, I left you all in a cliffhanger because
that's what I do, building the tension here.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Okay, So, as a police officer combing the newdest colony
and you have no clue, what do you do next?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, you just interview as many people as you can.
If there's family, if there's friends, their activities that they do,
Like you mentioned church they didn't show up for. But
what else do they do? Searching the area? You know,
you would see if you could get a canine anyway,
even though it's been a couple of days, it's it's
worth it if if it's available, right, Yeah, good point.
(07:38):
You just try to make as many leads as you can.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And seeing the pictures of these two people, they weren't
going to wander far. Definitely not so. This call caller
to the police department says a relative confessed to killing
two people and and is threatening to shoot himself. Okay,
(08:04):
So this is somebody armed and already dangerous. Didn't say
who the two people were, but guess who he was.
He was sixty two year old Michael Royce Sparks, the
Minard's next door neighbor. I think we might be able
(08:25):
to put two and two together. Two people are missing.
He confesses to killing two people, and he's armed, and
he's claiming he's going to shoot himself. Okay, So as
wonderful as the Minards were, just about everybody loved them,
(08:46):
love except the next door neighbor. I mean, how many
times do we hear this that tensions build up over
the course of years over stupid little things, you know,
a shared drive way or heaven.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Forbid, little yippie dog that doesn't stop barking.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, there's that, cuddles, uh huh uh huh. So he
hated them. One of the things that drove him crazy
was there was a pepper tree on the property line.
You never want shared trees are excuse me, you never
(09:28):
want trees dropping leaves and limbs on somebody else's property.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
People the same thing. Do not plant a tree as
a marker for a property line. Pick who's going to
own the tree. And that's where you plant it near, Yes,
the property line.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yes. I knew someone who was about to close on
a house and there was a storm and the neighbor's
tree came down on their house. They did not know
it did a lot of damage, which they didn't know
the exact time the tree fell, so they didn't know
(10:06):
was it the insurance of the people who sold the
house or was it the insurance of the people. They
don't know when was the contract signed. Did the tree
fall at three point fifty eight pm and the contract
was signed at four pm? It was. It was a
huge mess. So don't do it, and if there is
(10:27):
a tree there, get it taken care of before it
turns deadly. So Daniel had asked Sparks to trim the
tree branches because apparently they were causing a problem on
his property. He refused, so uh oh, Daniel trimmed the
tree branches himself that were hanging over his yard. Well,
(10:53):
he didn't like that. And apparently the Minards also had
a backup generator that he thought was way too loud.
I don't know how many times you need to use
a backup generator, but whenever he did, that drove him crazy.
So the police already were at the Olive dell, you know,
(11:13):
searching for clues witnesses, so they immediately put the entire
place on lockdown. And since the guy's armed and threatening
to shoot himself and has already killed two people, I
love this, they broke a window in the house and
sent in a drone to look for him. Right, do
(11:35):
you have that capacity at yours?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You do not.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
That's pretty damn good. Rather than sending.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, it's an increasing thing, you know, you see that
more and more, but yeah, we don't have that.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, I mean that's a that's a great idea, rather
than risking a canine or a person.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
We do have a fax machine in case anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh right then, yeah, yes, this is the police. We
have a fax machine. Yeah, come out with your hands up.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, we're gonna throw it at you. That's about as
useful as it is.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh well, well you have something to aspire to now.
So on a loud speaker, they're saying, you know, come
out with your hands up. Bah bah bah bah. They
can't find anything, uh in the drone. They don't see
him in the house, but people in the neighborhood tell
that he had built a concrete bunker under the house. Yes,
(12:37):
so this is you never want a neighbor who's building
a bunker round here. And now we have silence of
the lambs, so they don't want to send anybody in there,
so they they take it up a notch. This is
very impressive. They have an armored vehicle that has a
hydraulic battering net ram. They knock the front of the
(13:02):
house down and pull the wall off. Well, that's one
way to gain entry.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
They apparently had reason to suspect this man had booby
trapped the house, So you don't want a person with
a battering ram knocking down the house and then it
blows up. So they just tore the whole front of
this mobile home off. They gain entry, but he's not there.
(13:32):
He's not in there, so they're like, oh crap, he's
got to be in in the bunker. Okay, So they're
still hoping maybe this is a hostage situation, Maybe he's
just holding in the minards, maybe they're just wounded. So
they yell down. They see the entrance to the bunker.
(13:56):
They yell down and say where are the menas cards
and sparks answers in pieces.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Comments Wow, Okay, First off, building a bunker under a
mobile home is pretty impressive with I guess people did
he tell them that he was doing it or people
just saw it. I mean, I don't even know how
he got about doing that. Go through the door and
then dig I don't even.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Know unless he moved the home dug and put it
in and then moved a home back.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
They call it a mobile home, but once it's in,
it's in. It's anchors.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, yeah, that's you know, wow, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Number one and number two, that's kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yes, in pieces, So they're like, okay, then probably not
a hostage situation. So he does have a rifle and
as they are going in to get him, he tries
to shoot himself with the rifle and the gun missfires.
How many times have we covered cases where murderers they
(15:07):
can kill dozens of people, they try to kill themselves.
They can't do it something goes wrong. It's it's uncanny.
So he tries to kill himself, the gun missfires. They
get and apparently the ceiling in this bunker is very
low and they still don't know could this be booby trapped?
(15:27):
So they do have a cadaver dog who signals, oh yeah,
something's in here, and then they use a camera that
it was used for the city's sewer system. They would
put this camera into the sewers to look for blockages.
So they sent that camera down and this I'm getting
(15:50):
the idea this was a.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Cram optic kind of thing that I'm assuming they washed
before they eyes.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
It probably didn't matter because because they found something pretty bad.
But I have to I have to. You know, I
was using the term booby trap, and I'm like, where
the heck did that come from?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Do you know? I don't.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
In the sixteen hundreds, sailors would set traps to catch
booby birds, so they were, you know, the birds, they
were literally booby traps.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So see, we're a full service educational podcast here, so you've.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Interesting facts, inappropriate comments, all blood and guts. We got
it all.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
We've got it all. So the camera found I loved this,
bags of something, Okay, bags of something. They figured most
like you know, with the cadaver dog signaling most likely
human remains. Now, the minards were very large people, so
(17:03):
these had to be a lot of So.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
We're back to our hefty bags that we haven't talked
about in along.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I would think they were hefty steel sacks. They would
have to be. And the police didn't go in and
get them. They sent the fire department in. Is that
odd the fire department went in to retrieve the bags.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I don't know. That's I have had the fire department
come for like a lifticist for somebody who's really large,
just for extra manpower, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So, but sending them in for unless, wouldn't you want.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
To if they had equipment to move something that was
that heavy, maybe out a bunker like an I'm assuming
it was like a ladder kind of bunker, not like
a beautiful hand crafted staircase that brought you down. You
want to you know, you're lifting something out of a hole.
The fire department's going to have like a tripodage. Oh
that's things up, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
But anyway, they were bags and bags of the dismembered
bodies of Daniel and Stephanie. That is a lot of
anger going on there, but no dog remains. Hold that
thought with poor Cuddles. We will get to cuddles. The
corner determined both of the Minards died of blunt force trauma.
(18:26):
To the head and it was determined that a rake,
a garden hoe, and a hammer were used. Those are
a hammer and a garden hoe. That's some pretty brutals
to beat them to death, probably crushing their skulls, then
(18:48):
cut them into pieces and put the bags in the bunker.
Now you're at the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains,
maybe not store the body parts in your under your house.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, well, we obviously have somebody not working with a full.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Day, that's for sure. So friend Michelle Reese said they
had a great little home for the two of them
and their dog. They were somebody you wanted to hug.
They were just wonderful people. Again, I must add, hopefully
hug you with their clothes on. But that's my personal
(19:30):
prejudice there.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Remember that is it had a nest dance cheek the cheek.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh okay, well, we can't help ourselves with a nudist
colony murder. But I mean, I just feel horrible for
them and the sweet people, and because they have this
bat crap crazy neighbor. Who wait till I tell you
what really set him off? But what did Sparks have
(20:00):
have to say and what happened to poor cuddles. Why
don't we take our second break. This is Hudson River
Radio dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And we are back and disturbing case.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No, yeah, it's still the bunker under a mobile home,
is what's.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Really that's what you're fixating on.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I yes, you would never think, but okay, he.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Was planning something or preparing for something and obviously armed
and uh, very dangerous.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Put some fat this.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So early September twenty twenty four, Sparks is charged with
two counts of murder and two special circumstances. Is that
because of the dismemberment? What it could? Special circumstances cover
a variety of things.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I don't know California law. So yeah, that's a good question.
I don't know if he was trying to hide evidence
or maybe the dismemberment, maybe just the method that he used.
I don't know, especially cruel. Yeah, I honestly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
So he was arraigned on Wednesday, September fourth, and they
were thinking of seeking the death penalty. I didn't think
California had the death penalty, but anyway, he was being
held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga,
(21:40):
which is one of the coolest names of a place ever,
Rancho Cucamonga. Well, just last week from when we are
recording this June of twenty twenty five, they had a
hearing and Detective Williams testified that a jailhouse snitch had
(22:03):
told him what Sparks had said. What was the thing
that set him off? You are not freaking going to
believe this quote, Sparks told him. The incident started over
a hot dog that Daniel Minard purchased for him. He said.
(22:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
The neighbor bought him a hot dog, right, I assume
it's some event in their community, and I that is
the twist that he put on it.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That was it. That was he felt like he was
only worth a dollar hot dog. That's what Daniel Minard
was saying to him by giving him a hot dog.
You're only worth not Hey, maybe we can patch things over.
We're nice people here, have a hot dog. No, that
(23:19):
was the trigger.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So if he brought the coleslaw, it would have been fine.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Maybe maybe he wanted a hamburger. I don't I don't know,
I don't know. But that was the insult. That was
the final straw that caused him to cause double homicide
and dismemberment and Cuddles poor this, I mean, the whole
(23:43):
case is sickening, but this. Anytime someone hit hurts a
defenseless animal, it's just it's just a different level of depravity.
He grabbed little Cuddles, the shits who drown him in
a sink of water, then threw his body in the
woods for the coyotes to eat him, and the remains
(24:07):
of Cuddles were never found. Do you have to really,
did you have to kill the dog?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Take?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I yeah, So animal cruelty charges were added to that.
During this one hearing. There were eleven witnesses, lots of evidence.
I mean, there were bags of body parts. That's pretty
strong evidence. And they also showed a message that Sparks
(24:40):
wrote to a friend of his. He actually apparently had
a friend. He wrote to the friend quote, chopped up
my neighbors didn't know I had it in me, snapped.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
That's pretty concrete right there.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yes, didn't know I had it in me. Chopped up
my neighbors. He is currently being held without bail. Fortunately,
there was supposed to be a trial date set at
this point. There's been some delay, but we will keep
on top of this. The judge is Alexander Martinez, and
(25:23):
he denied the motion to keep cameras out of the courtroom.
You think a few people will be watching this trial
when it's uh, my pair of eyes will be on
it if it's if it's broadcast. So I don't see how,
(25:43):
other than pleading insanity, how he's going to get out
of this one. I think, pardon the pun. This is
a cut and dried case of double homicide, dismemberment, killing
the dog.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He lived alone in his house, right, so he was
sparks Sparks, Yes, lived alone.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, yeah, I wonder why nobody lived with him.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
We have a third basement underground. You just need a
ladder to get there.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wow. Wow, all over these So that is the newdest
hot dog murders.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
I didn't know how and when the hot dog was
going to come into play, because you could think of
many alternative endings.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And in the newist colony.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, none of them. So good job.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, and again this is something ongoing, so keep your
eyes out for this case, and whenever the trial does
take place, will be on top of that one.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
See what, wow, see what. I love to hear some
testimony from Sparks this one. So that's it. Would you
care to take us out?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah? Good job. As always. Not only did you leave
us in suspense twice during the show, the whole show
is now ending in suspense because now we have to
see how this plays out and spark. All right, we'll
return to this at a later date. So great job, Linda,
and thank you all for joining us here on Murder
in the Hudson Valley. We will see you next time.
Unless you are a victim of murder in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
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