Updated Nov. 4

Four Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton were arrested on suspicion of murdering a fellow Marine and his wife at their French Valley.

Jan Pawek Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, were bound, gagged, then killed by the four men on Oct. 15 for financial reasons, authorities said in a press release Monday evening. Two of the men served in the same unit as Jan Pietrzak.

Three of the men – Pvt. Emerys John, 18, from Maryland; Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 20, of North Carolina; and Pvt. Kevin Darnell Cox, 21, of North Carolina – were arrested by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and are in the brig at Camp Pendleton. A fourth man, Pvt. Kesaun Sykes, 21, was booked into the Southwest Detention Center on two charges of first degree murder, home invasion robbery, felony use of a firearm and sexual penetration with a foreign object.

The Pietrzaks were found dead inside their home on Oct. 15.

When Jan Pietrzak did not show up for work at Camp Pendleton his employer at the base alerted the sheriff’s office.

Deputies pulled up to the home along Bermuda Street in a tract home in French Valley and noticed the front door wide open. Deputies found the couple shot to death inside the home and signs that the suspects had tried to burn the evidence.

Authorities said the couple had been bound and gagged and that it appears the suspects ransacked the home.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Central Homicide Unit took over the investigation and witnesses told investigators the couple was last seen alive in the early evening hours on Oct. 14. The Pietrzak’s bought the foreclosed home about four months before their death.

Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak was a health assistant at Riverside County Public Health’s Black Infant Care Center in Perris. She helped expectant African-American mothers give birth to healthier babies.

Jan Pietrzak, born in Poland, was a helicopter airframe mechanic with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, according to a news release.

The sergeant joined the Marines in March 2003 and was deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom from July 2005 to February 2006. He was currently stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Investigators found evidence at the crime scene that was sent to crime labs for DNA and fingerprint testing.

Investigators talked to co-workers, family and friends and could not come up with a possible motive. Because of the evidence at the crime scene, investigators believed they were looking for more than one suspect and started to look at Jan Pietrzak’s connection to Camp Pendleton.

Investigators worked with the NCIS to find any motives in the murder. The two agencies began serving search warrants across Camp Pendleton and they collected a number of items tying the suspects to the murders, the press release states.

In individual interrogations, the four men arrested confessed to their involvement in the murders, authorities said in a press release.

Previous Story

The house along Bermuda Street is now quiet.

Gone is the yellow police tape wavering in the mild Santa Ana winds. The blinking sirens on fire engines and police cars have been replaced by the occasional unmarked police car. And the fear that crept over the newly developed tract homes has slowly dissipated.

On Oct. 15, deputies found the homeowners – Jan Pawek Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26 – dead from gunshot wounds to their heads. For the next two days, residents lived in fear as investigators released little information from the crime scene.

Some homeowners stayed up all night with an eye to the street; others refused to let their children go to the neighborhood park.

Three days after the double homicide, investigators publicly eased fears when they released a few details of the murder, including the names and cause of death. Questions still abound as investigators work to determine who committed the double homicide and why.

Bermuda Street

The street where the Pietrzaks lived is a carbon copy image of most southwest Riverside County communities. The homes were built three to four years ago during the apex of the housing market.

The tract home is near heavily traveled Winchester Road and row after row of two- and one-story buildings. Some of the homes sold for as much as $600,000 and the community park became a gathering point for neighborhood kids and friendly families.

Then the housing crisis hit and the neighborhood was not immune.

The home on Bermuda went into foreclosure and the Pietrzaks bought the five-bedroom, three-bathroom, 3,171-square-foot home in May for $287,000, according to realty Web sites.

Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak was a health assistant at Riverside County Public Health’s Black Infant Care Center in Perris. She helped expectant African-American mothers give birth to healthier babies.

Jan Pietrzak, born in Brooklyn, was a helicopter airframe mechanic with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, according to a news release.

The sergeant joined the Marines in March 2003 and was deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom from July 2005 to February 2006.

Unrelated to recent crimes

Neighbors said the area has seen property crime rise since the foreclosures started popping up.

Lately, neighbors have started up their own Neighborhood Watch program after a string of car break-ins and home burglaries.

Doreen Caouette, 42, had her laptop stolen from her home and a big-screen TV stolen from her husband’s van parked in front of the home.

On New Year’s Eve she said police were going house to house looking for someone who stabbed another in a nearby house because of an argument.

An employer calls

When Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak didn’t show up for work on Oct. 15, authorities were asked to drop by the home and check in on her.

Deputies arrived shortly after 9 a.m. and found the door to the home wide open.

When deputies approached they found the Pietrzaks dead immediately inside the home with gunshot wounds to their heads.

Cal Fire Arson investigators were called out after deputies found evidence that the suspect(s) tried to cover up evidence by lighting a fire, according to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department press release.

Investigators collected evidence and have sent it for fingerprints and DNA analysis.

Rumors abound

The streets in the neighborhood were shut down and, with police cars and fire engines lining the blocks, residents were left in the dark.

On the day of the murder, authorities said the deaths weren’t caused by a murder-suicide but had no more information to give.

Residents gathered on street corners, surfed news Web sites for updates and called neighbors who were away at work.

Neighbors didn’t know the Pietrzaks other than polite talk along the street. But the murder put residents on edge that continued another two days before more information came out that the murder was not random.

"It’s supposed to be a nice neighborhood," Caouette said, her voice trailing off. "This Advertisement

DMM Note Investors is it. I used to let my 15-year-old take my 7-year-old twins to the park. No more. Definitely no more."

She said the police haven’t told them anything other than what was in the newspapers.

"We are all scared," she said. "I had my kids lock all their doors. No one knows what is going on. My daughter is freaked out."

Jessica Guzman, 28, moved to the area from San Diego because she wanted a safer place for her child to live. When she saw the crime tape she was shocked and scared.

"I didn’t sleep at all last night," said Guzman the day after the murder as she watched her 3-year-old play at a park near the street. She clutched a tall Starbucks cup in one hand, her eyes red as if she had spent hours crying.

"Is there a murderer running loose?" she asked. "Did someone break in? Did the killer know these people? It’s too much for me."

The victims

Late Thursday night, Oct. 16, homicide investigators finally put residents at ease when they announced more details, including that the Pietrzaks were shot and that it did not appear to be a random crime.

Investigators are speculating that the couple may have known the person(s) who shot them.

Guzman said she can sleep at night but now feels pain for the family.

"We were so scared about our own safety we didn’t take time to think about the [Pietrzaks]," Guzman said earlier this week. "My God, they were my age. They were starting a life and this happens."

Newspaper Web sites have been flooded with posts from people who knew the couple and had been to their wedding in recent months. The comments say the two were in love and just beginning life.

Jan Pietrzak’s MySpace page has not been updated in a year but he has pictures with Quiana in which both are constantly smiling.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Inv. Josh Button at Sheriff’s Central Homicide at (760) 393-3500 or Inv. Jesse Martinez at the Southwest Station at (951) 696-3000.

A funeral service for the Pietrzaks will take place Friday, Oct. 24, at 10 a.m. at Imani Temple Christian Fellowship at 34590 Calle Arnaz in Temecula. Burial will follow at Riverside National Cemetery.

Previous Updates on this story:

Update Friday Oct. 17 at 9 a.m.

The victims have been identified as Jan Pawek Pietrzak, 24 and his wife, Quiana Faye Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26 by authorities. Investigators have not made any arrests or named any suspects.

Arson investigators had been called to the scene sources said because it appeared there had been an attempt to burn evidence.

Police believe the victims were not randomly targeted.

Jan Pawek Pietrzak was a U.S. Marine and his wife worked for the Riverside County Department of Health.

Update Thursday Oct. 16, 3:30 p.m.

Rocky Salmon

The police tape and crowds along Bermuda Street were all gone Thursday morning but the murder scene was still etched in the minds of those who live nearby.

On 9:21 a.m. Wednesday, police found a man and woman dead inside the two-story home on the new tract housing in this community.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s department has called it a homicide and has all but ruled out a murder-suicide. Those who live nearby are shocked and scared that this happened in their neighborhood.

"I didn’t sleep at all last night," said Jessica Guzman, 28, as she watched her 3-year-old play at a park near the street while clutching a tall Starbucks cup in the other hand, her eyes red as if she spent hours crying. "Is there a murderer running loose? Did someone break in? Did the killer know these people? It’s too much for me."

Authorities were asked to check on the home in the 31300 block of Bermuda Street by one of the victim’s employers. The sheriff’s department won’t say who the employer is or which victim the employer was concerned about.

When deputies arrived they found an open door to the two-story home. Deputies found the man and woman dead inside the home.

The streets near the home were shut down

There were clear signs of a homicide but would not elaborate, said Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela, spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators have evidence that "strongly rules out" a murder-suicide, she added.

Authorities have not released the names or relationship of the two victims. But neighbors around the home said the two lived together and they believed the man was a Marine, who recently came home from Iraq.

On Thursday afternoon, the street was quiet except for the occasional news vans rolling by and the unmarked car stationed nearby.

The home was listed on realty web sites as being sold in May. The community was built in the past five years and is near the border of Murrieta and French Valley. The homes are near Winchester Road and once sold for as much as $600,000.

Lately, neighbors have started up their own Neighborhood Watch program after a string of car break-ins and home burglaries.

Doreen Caouette, 42, had her laptop stolen from her home and a big screen TV stolen from her husband’s van parked in front of the home. On New Year ’s Eve she said police were going house to house looking for someone who stabbed another in a nearby house because of an argument.

"It’s supposed to be a nice neighborhood," Caouette said, her voice trailing off. "This is it. I used to let my 15-year-old take my 7-year-old twins to the park. No more. Definitely no more."

She said the couple were quiet and kept to themselves. She said the police haven’t told them anything other than what was in the newspapers.

"We are all scared," she said. "I had my kids lock all their doors. No one knows what is going on. My daughter is freaked out."

Guzman said she visits the park almost everyday but almost didn’t show up today.

"What’s happening to this place," she said. "I moved here because it was safe for my kids. How safe is this? I’m afraid to leave me home because I don’t know if my TV will be there when I get home or if someone is hiding in the bushes."

Wednesday 2 p.m.

A man and a woman were found dead inside a French Valley home Wednesday morning.

Sheriff deputies were called out to the 31300 block of Bermuda Street at 9:21 a.m. An employer for one of the victims called after the worker didn’t show.

Deputies arrived and found an open door and the two people inside, said Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela, spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

The area was immediately roped off and neighborhood shut down.

The relationship between the man and woman and their identities have not been released.

Authorities are investigating trying to determine how the two people were killed.