Valencia Man Arrested in 1999 Killings of His Parents

A Valencia man was charged Wednesday with murder in the deaths of his parents in Northern California nearly two years ago.

Investigators of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jeffrey L. Duvardo, 43, Tuesday at his job in Long Beach.

The stabbed and bludgeoned bodies of Don and Mary Ann Duvardo were found in their home in the small community of Nice on April 6, 1999, after a neighbor who had not seen them for several days went to check on them, Hopkins said.

“These are little towns here. It just sent a shock wave through people that some kind of homicidal maniac was going to break into their home and kill them,” Hopkins said. The couple, both in their 70s and former residents of Los Angeles County, had retired to the Clear Lake area in 1987.

At his arraignment Wednesday in Lake County, Duvardo was charged with two counts of murder with a special circumstance allegation of multiple murder.

Although that allegation makes him eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted, prosecutors have not decided whether to seek it, Lake County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jon Hopkins said.

Duvardo is being held without bail in Lake County and is expected to enter a plea on Monday.

Hopkins declined to release additional information about Duvardo or the slayings, saying he did not want to taint the county’s jury pool of 60,000 residents.

“We figure his arrest will trigger other information coming forward,” Hopkins said. He added that he expects that information may come from the Los Angeles area.