Fountain Valley Slaying Suspect Remains at Large : Manhunt: Police say the man accused of shooting his sister-in-law and a co-worker at their embroidery business may be armed and dangerous and on his way to Wyoming.

Police on Friday continued a nationwide manhunt for Douglas Frederick Stanley, 57, a suspect in the fatal shootings of his sister-in-law and a co-worker inside a small embroidery business here Thursday.

Police said the Westminster man may be armed and dangerous and on his way to Wyoming, where he once lived, or to Ensenada, Mexico, where he traveled to frequently to buy heart medication.

“We are still looking for him,” said Fountain Valley Police Sgt. Darryl Nance. “We’re looking anywhere and everywhere where we think he may have gone or may be hiding.”

Police said Stanley--who is said to have an obsession with guns--fired a .38-caliber revolver inside Design-It, a custom embroidery business at 11577 Slater Ave., killing 52-year-old Joyce Lucille Stanley of Westminster and employee Terry Marie Vasquez, 41, of Santa Ana.

The victims, who had been shot several times in the upper torso, were found at 11:42 a.m. Thursday by the suspect’s brother, Charles Stanley, who owned the business with his wife, Joyce.

A warrant seeking Douglas Stanley’s arrest on two murder charges and for stealing a car was issued late Friday, police said. If convicted of all the charges, he could face the death penalty, the district attorney’s office said.

Stanley family members said they thought he might return to southwestern Wyoming because the former ranch worker is familiar with the area and worked and lived near the small towns of Lyman and McKinnon, Uinta County Sheriff Forrest Bright said Friday.

Bright said Douglas Stanley had run into trouble with law enforcement officials there in the past. In 1989, he said, Douglas Stanley pointed a shotgun at two security guards who were patrolling a festival. The guards reported the incident to sheriff’s deputies, but later dropped the charges. Sheriff’s officials did not meet with Douglas Stanley again until 1991, when he came to the sheriff’s station to reclaim his shotgun, which had been held as evidence.

Bright said that his office received word Friday morning from Fountain Valley police alerting them that Douglas Stanley was the suspect in a double homicide in Orange County. Bright alerted surrounding counties and the highway patrol to watch for Stanley, or the car he is believed to be driving: Joyce Stanley’s 1992 silver Buick Le Sabre with a California license plate of 2ZTR347.

Since moving to Orange County, Douglas Stanley reportedly had threatened to harm family members many times.

The suspect had lived with Charles and Joyce Stanley in their Westminster home on Dalewood Lane since having heart surgery more than a year ago and had done odd jobs at the embroidery business since then.

A dozen police investigators have been assigned to the case, but Nance would not give details about their investigation Friday. He said police have yet to determine the motive for the shootings.

Nance said police have not ruled out the possibility that Douglas Stanley is still in the area, but by Friday night only one caller reported a possible sighting.

“Since he had open-heart surgery, he could be seeking medical attention somewhere, so we would like hospitals and pharmacies to be on the lookout,” Nance said.

Co-workers and neighbors interviewed after the shootings described Stanley as hostile and angry. They said he owned numerous guns and talked about them often.

A former Design-It employee, Walter Dawkins, 20, who was once engaged to Douglas Stanley’s daughter, Lisa, said he is afraid.

Yvonne Green said Stanley threatened her son’s life over Christmas dinner in 1991, which led the couple to end the engagement. Green said it partially had to do with race: Dawkins is black and Stanley white.

“He said: ‘I’m going to kill you,’ ” Green said.

Dawkins declined to talk about the incident but acknowledged that he was once engaged to Lisa Stanley. He said he last talked to her about three months ago by phone from Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri, where she is serving in the Army. A base spokeswoman said Friday that Lisa Stanley is not stationed there now but would not say where she had been transferred.

Green said that Lisa Stanley, 21, lived with her family several years ago and on occasion, when her father would call from out of state, she would hang up the phone, shaking, and would cry for days afterward.

“She got real scared and cried whenever he called,” Green said. After the threat to her son during Christmas dinner, Green said, Douglas Stanley ordered Walter and his brother, Jamaal, to leave Design-It and not return.

Charles and Joyce Stanley reportedly were planning to move to Arkansas and had a for-sale sign outside their home.

An employee at the business, which embroidered insignias on Boy and Girl Scout uniforms, said the couple were planning to hold a meeting at the shop to discuss the impending move the day the shootings occurred.

Mourners on Friday left several bouquets of flowers in front of the business, located in an industrial center between Newhope Street and the Santa Ana River.

Fred Mayer, who owns the building, said the Stanleys had not officially notified him that they were planning to leave. He said they had rented the 4,000-square-foot space about five years ago and always paid their rent on time.

“They were the finest people you’d ever want to meet,” Mayer said of the couple. “They were super, super people.”

Douglas Stanley is described by police as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Fountain Valley Police Department at (714) 965-4483.

Times staff writers Rene Lynch, Mark Platte, De Tran, Jodi Wilgoren and Eric Young contributed to this story.