Boyfriend of Denise Duerr Held in Death : Lover Is 2nd Suspect in Garden Grove Woman’s Slaying

The live-in boyfriend of Denise Duerr, the Garden Grove woman whose body was found dumped last week near Corona, was arrested Sunday and booked on suspicion of murder.

Robert Clyde Spontak, 22, was taken into custody at his Garden Grove apartment four days after his girlfriend’s partly clad body was found in a ravine on the south side of the Riverside Freeway.

Spontak is the second man arrested in Duerr’s death. Cameron Charles Seaholm, 22, a longtime friend of Spontak and Duerr, was arrested Thursday after he was found with Duerr’s car at his stepfather’s Lake Elsinore home, 20 miles southeast of Corona.

Seaholm had arrived at the house on Monday, driving Duerr’s car. Sandra Sandor, his stepfather’s wife, alerted authorities after hearing a radio broadcast Thursday describing the car and missing woman.

$250,000 Bail for Both

Both suspects are being held in the Riverside County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Seaholm is scheduled to be arraigned today in Corona Municipal Court. Spontak is expected to be arraigned Wednesday, authorities said.

Riverside Sheriff’s Sgt. David Weiss said that, although the case is still under investigation, he believes that Spontak and Seaholm are involved together. “As of now, who actually did the killing is not clear, but we’re sure they are both linked together in this thing,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies searched Spontak’s home late Saturday and found evidence that they said linked him to the killing.

“We got some evidence out of (Duerr’s) vehicle and found some more evidence in (Spontak’s) apartment that tied it together for us,” Weiss said.

Deputies said they took from the apartment several articles of Duerr’s clothing and bedding that appeared to be stained with blood. Traces of blood were also found in Duerr’s car.

Weiss said there were also several inconsistencies in the stories Spontak told Riverside deputies and Garden Grove police, who were also investigating the slaying.

Weiss said Duerr, who was stabbed 20 times in her upper body, was killed elsewhere and her body was dumped in the freeway ravine.

Mary Ellen Ducharme, Duerr’s mother, said Monday that she cannot believe Spontak could have killed her daughter.

“I have a hard time believing that he did it, unless it was an accident,” Ducharme said. “They had a stormy six-year relationship on and off, but this time when Denise went back to live with Robert, it was different. He treated her well and they didn’t fight at all.”

Ducharme said that Spontak and Duerr had had several problems. “He was very jealous. . . . He didn’t like her wearing short skirts and wanted her to call him whenever she went somewhere. But she promised me that he had changed, and I think he did,” she said.