Four Marines are held in slayings

Four Marines from Camp Pendleton have been arrested in the slaying of a Marine and his wife at their home in the Winchester neighborhood of Riverside County, military and civilian authorities said Tuesday.

The four have confessed in the killing of Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quianna Jenkins Pietrzak, 26, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. The motive allegedly was robbery. Items from the house were found in the defendants’ possession, authorities said.

Pietrzak and the four suspects were assigned to a helicopter squadron.

Pvt. Kesuan Sykes, 21, is being held in a Riverside jail. Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 20; Pvt. Kevin Darnell Cox, 20, and Pvt. Emrys John, 18, are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton and are scheduled to be turned over to Riverside authorities today.

Pietrzak and his wife were found bound, gagged and shot to death in the family room of their home Oct. 15.

The home had been ransacked and a fire had allegedly been set in an attempt to destroy evidence, investigators said.

All four suspects will face murder charges with special circumstances, which can bring the death penalty, the Sheriff’s Department said. The case will be filed by civilian prosecutors in Riverside County Superior Court.

Pietrzak immigrated to the U.S. from Poland with his family when he was 10 years old. He enlisted in 2003. His wife worked for the Riverside County Public Health Department’s black infant care center. The couple reportedly met at a Marine party and married in August.

Pietrzak, John and Miller were airframe mechanics. Sykes was an administrative clerk, and Cox was an aircraft communication and navigation electronics technician. Only Pietrzak had served an overseas deployment.

-- Tony Perry