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H.B. man pleads not guilty to charges of murdering 2 women

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A Huntington Beach man accused of murdering two women in a Westminster home while his family was outside pleaded not guilty Friday, prosecutors said.

Christopher Ken Ireland, 37, was charged this month with two counts of special-circumstances murder with possible sentencing enhancements for multiple murders, one felony count of arson of an inhabited property and one felony count of aggravated mayhem, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

If convicted, he would face a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Ireland, a real estate agent, is being held without bail.

Authorities said Ireland had been at a party on New Year’s Eve at the home of Yolanda Holtrey, 59.

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Prosecutors allege that around 1:20 a.m. New Year’s Day, with his family waiting outside the home, Ireland killed Holtrey and her friend Michelle Luke, 49, of Huntington Beach by hitting them with a “sharp instrument.”

According to prosecutors, Ireland left and then returned around 3 a.m. to grab the women’s bodies and put them in his vehicle. Authorities believe he then set fire to the house before dumping the bodies in a field near Bonita Canyon Drive and Ford Road in Newport Beach.

Ireland, who authorities said was going to help Holtrey sell her home, was linked to the slayings through neighborhood surveillance video, KNBC-TV/4 reported. He was arrested Jan. 2.

“I don’t know any Realtors that would kill their clients,” Ireland’s wife, Samantha, told KNBC. “That’s stupid — why would he do that?”

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint

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