Members of a nudist resort outside of Los Angeles said their once idyllic community has dissolved into a “nightmare” after the neighbor of a California couple was charged with their murder.

“It’s a nightmare,” Tony Wiley, 69, told People. “You hear stuff like this on the news, but you never imagine in a lifetime that it would be one of your friends, and in such a bizarre way.”

Laurie Riffel, 69, said residents of the store feel “on guard” after the double murder.

“There is a dark cloud over us,” she said. “There’s just a sense of being on guard all the time, a fear of not being safe here.”

CALIFORNIA NUDIST RESORT NEIGHBOR CHARGED WITH MURDER AFTER COUPLE DEFENDED

The sense of concern came after the Redlands Police Department announced the Aug. 30 arrest of 62-year-old Michael Sparks following the deaths of Stephanie and Daniel Menard at the Olive Dell Ranch in Colton. He was later charged with two counts of murder.

The Menards were last seen on Aug. 24, police said. (Redlands Police Department)

In a press conference following the discovery of Menard’s remains, City of Redlands spokesman Carl Baker said Sparks was found hiding under his home Thursday night after not responding to police for several hours.

He had been hiding in a 5-foot-deep concrete space under the home, forcing officers to remove the home’s front wall, police said.

Baker said the suspect tried to commit suicide when the police first discovered he was hiding.

“He had a rifle, and he tried to kill himself when the police spotted him, but the rifle misfired,” Baker said.

The next morning, a cadaver dog was used to search for the couple’s bodies at Sparks’ home. Baker said “the dog alerted, indicating the presence of a body somewhere under the house.”

Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was charged with two counts of murder. (Redlands Police Department)

Members of the clothing-optional community told PEOPLE that tensions between Menards and Sparks reached breaking point over the trimming of a tree that shaded their properties.

“I’ve talked to them, and I know they had a problem with a tree being cut down because of branches going over to the Menards,” Tony Garrett, 63, told People. “But I can’t say it’s all. I can’t say it’s just one thing.”

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“When I first got here, he’d tell me which neighbors he liked, which neighbors he could do without, and then he’d point in their direction. He’d say, ‘And I hate those f—ers,'” Tammie Wilkerson, 61, told People.

“I’m like, ‘Damn, Sparky, that’s kind of rough.’ And that’s when he told me that hating somebody was a lot. I don’t know.

“I don’t know if that’s what caused this or if he just snapped one day. I really don’t know.”

The Redlands Police Department says Menard’s dog, Cuddles, has not been found. (Redlands Police Department)

Residents remembered the couple for their warm personalities.

“They had a great little home for the two of them and their dog,” the couple’s friend, Michelle Ann Archambault Reese, told People. “They had a beautiful patio to sit back on. They were just somebody you wanted to hug. They were just wonderful people.”

Neighbors said Sparks seemed to be more of a loner.

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“You’d see him now and then, but mostly he liked his hot tub,” Garrett said. “He wasn’t a bad guy. He wasn’t any different from the other residents. Just a little quieter, a little more reserved.”

“He said he hated the ‘textile world’ and had always been a nudist for as long as he could remember,” Wilkerson told the paper.