Huntington man charged with murder in deaths of 2 of his wife’s co-workers
A Huntington Beach man has been charged with murder in the deaths of two of his wife’s co-workers, whose bodies were found Monday in Newport Beach.
Christopher Ireland, 37, a real estate agent, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one felony count of arson in connection with a fire at the Westminster home of one of the women and one felony count of aggravated mayhem in connection with the “permanent disability, disfigurement and deprivation of a limb, organ and body member” of one of the victims.
Ireland was expected to be arraigned Wednesday in an Orange County Central Jail courtroom in Santa Ana, but the arraignment was postponed to Jan. 20. He is being held without bail.
Firefighters were called to a house fire in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way in Westminster at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and called arson investigators and Westminster police detectives to the scene because of “suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire,” according to police.
The homeowner, Yolanda Holtrey, 59, was nowhere to be found.
By Monday morning, detectives had information that led them to the bodies of Holtrey and her friend Michelle Luke, 49, of Huntington Beach in a field off Bonita Canyon Drive and Ford Road in Newport Beach.
Friends said both women worked with Ireland’s wife, Samantha, at the Huntington Beach location of Stein Mart, a department store.
Evidence at Holtrey’s house led police to Ireland, who was arrested Monday, authorities said.
Police have not released how the women died and said a motive for the crime is under investigation.
Samantha Ireland told KNBC-TV/4 this week that she and her husband attended a New Year’s Eve party at Holtrey’s house. When they arrived home around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, she and her husband went to sleep, she said.
“I don’t remember him leaving the house in the middle of the night; he doesn’t remember anything,” she told the station, adding that her husband may have been sleepwalking.
Samantha Ireland said her husband had planned to help Holtrey sell her home.
A fundraising page to help Holtrey’s family restore her damaged home and pay other expenses has been set up at Gofundme.com. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised $3,285 toward a $15,000 goal.
Police asked that anyone with information about the case call Westminster police Det. Jim Wilson at (714) 898-3315 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS (847-6227).
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Nuran Alteir is a contributor to Times Community News.
Twitter: @whatnuransaid