GUILTY CA - Yolanda Holtrey, 59, and Michelle Luke, 49, slain, Westminster, 1 Jan 2017 *Arrest*

JoeFromLB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
4,002
Reaction score
5,512
Westminster, California.

The bodies of the two women were later found in a field in Newport Beach. A fire was set at the home where the murders allegedly occurred in an apparent attempt to cover up the crime. One of the bodies was possibly mutilated in some way. Not many details released so far.


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/l...-Women-409679055.html?_osource=taboola-recirc

January 4, 2017

Murder charges were filed Wednesday against a 37-year-old Huntington Beach man accused of killing two acquaintances and then dumping the women's bodies in Newport Beach following a New Year's Eve party in Westminster.

Christopher Ken Ireland, who listed his occupation as real estate agent, was being held without bail pending arraignment. Ireland faces two counts of murder with a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, which makes him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, as well as felony counts of arson and aggravated mayhem.
 
...and from the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-0105-ireland-charges-20170104-story.html

A Huntington Beach man has been charged with murder in the deaths of two of his wife's co-workers, whose bodies were found Monday in Newport Beach.

Christopher Ireland, 37, a real estate agent, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one felony count of arson in connection with a fire at the Westminster home of one of the women and one felony count of aggravated mayhem in connection with the "permanent disability, disfigurement and deprivation of a limb, organ and body member" of one of the victims.
 
...and from the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-0105-ireland-charges-20170104-story.html

A Huntington Beach man has been charged with murder in the deaths of two of his wife's co-workers, whose bodies were found Monday in Newport Beach.

Christopher Ireland, 37, a real estate agent, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one felony count of arson in connection with a fire at the Westminster home of one of the women and one felony count of aggravated mayhem in connection with the "permanent disability, disfigurement and deprivation of a limb, organ and body member" of one of the victims.

Holy......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Oh my word. Opposite coast, but another real estate agent.
 
It gets more bizarre. The suspect's wife says he may have been sleepwalking that night. She claims they went home together after the party, and she doesn't remember him leaving after that.

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/christ...ngs-of-yolanda-holtrey-and-her-friend-7790511

A man may have been sleepwalking the night he allegedly killed two women, dumped their bodies in Newport Beach and possibly set fire to the Westminster home of one victim to cover up the murders, according to the suspect's wife.
Michelle Luke, 49, was the woman who was killed along with her friend Yolanda Holtrey, according to Samantha Ireland, who worked with the women at Stein Mart in Huntington Beach and is the wife of the man accused of killing them. Christopher Ireland's wife has provided the media with more details about her husband and his relationship to the dead women. The 37-year-old suspect was licensed as a real estate agent in August, is facing no disciplinary actions by state real estate regulators and was working with Realty One Group in Rancho Cucamonga, where he was helping Holtrey sell her Westminster home. "I don't know any Realtors that would kill their clients," Samantha Ireland reportedly told NBCLA. "That's stupid—why would he do that?" The suspect's wife added that she and her husband attended a New Year's Eve party at Holtrey's home and had a good time.*"There were no fights, [no] arguments," she said, adding that after the couple left the party and returned to their Huntington Beach home, she did not recall Christopher leaving again afterward. "He doesn't remember anything," Samantha said of the lone suspect in the killings of Holtrey and Luke. He was arrested after he arrived with his wife to supposedly help Holtrey with the fire at her home. But Westminster homicide detectives are investigating whether Christopher Ireland set the fire to cover up the murders. He was apparently linked to the crimes through neighborhood surveillance video. Ireland, who has had no prior run-ins with law enforcement in Westminster, was being held without bail in Orange County Jail heading into his scheduled arraignment Wednesday.
 
It gets more bizarre. The suspect's wife says he may have been sleepwalking that night. She claims they went home together after the party, and she doesn't remember him leaving after that.

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/christ...ngs-of-yolanda-holtrey-and-her-friend-7790511

A man may have been sleepwalking the night he allegedly killed two women, dumped their bodies in Newport Beach and possibly set fire to the Westminster home of one victim to cover up the murders, according to the suspect's wife.
Michelle Luke, 49, was the woman who was killed along with her friend Yolanda Holtrey, according to Samantha Ireland, who worked with the women at Stein Mart in Huntington Beach and is the wife of the man accused of killing them. Christopher Ireland's wife has provided the media with more details about her husband and his relationship to the dead women. The 37-year-old suspect was licensed as a real estate agent in August, is facing no disciplinary actions by state real estate regulators and was working with Realty One Group in Rancho Cucamonga, where he was helping Holtrey sell her Westminster home. "I don't know any Realtors that would kill their clients," Samantha Ireland reportedly told NBCLA. "That's stupid—why would he do that?" The suspect's wife added that she and her husband attended a New Year's Eve party at Holtrey's home and had a good time.*"There were no fights, [no] arguments," she said, adding that after the couple left the party and returned to their Huntington Beach home, she did not recall Christopher leaving again afterward. "He doesn't remember anything," Samantha said of the lone suspect in the killings of Holtrey and Luke. He was arrested after he arrived with his wife to supposedly help Holtrey with the fire at her home. But Westminster homicide detectives are investigating whether Christopher Ireland set the fire to cover up the murders. He was apparently linked to the crimes through neighborhood surveillance video. Ireland, who has had no prior run-ins with law enforcement in Westminster, was being held without bail in Orange County Jail heading into his scheduled arraignment Wednesday.
Wonder if he takes Ambien....

Sent from my LGLS675 using Tapatalk
 
So Ambien would make someone walk in their sleep, drive several miles in the middle of the night, kill two women and mutilate one of them, set a fire in the house, drive 14 miles to Newport Beach with the bodies, leave them in a field, then drive back home to your wife who is asleep in bed??

Far too much to ask.
 
The sleep-murdering defence worked for Kenneth Parks in 1988.



http://articles.latimes.com/1988-05-28/news/mn-3400_1_murder-law-mother

That man regained consciousness at the scene and then went right to the police station.

In our case here, he would have had to remain asleep for an hour at least, just to have the time to do all the things he is alleged to have done.

It's 14 miles from Westminster to Newport Beach by the most direct route. He has to carry or drag two bodies out to his car, then do the same when he arrives at the place where he left them. Not to mention setting the fire and mutilating one of the women (we don't know yet how extensive that was). Then he has to drive home to Huntington Beach and get back in bed while asleep the entire time, and have no memory of what he did.

That's crazy.
 
May he sleep in general population and cause havoc to all murderers and rapists.
 
So Ambien would make someone walk in their sleep, drive several miles in the middle of the night, kill two women and mutilate one of them, set a fire in the house, drive 14 miles to Newport Beach with the bodies, leave them in a field, then drive back home to your wife who is asleep in bed??

Far too much to ask.
Yes. I have friends that have gotten in trouble with the law sleep walking on Ambien. I have never taken it myself so I don't have personal experience with the drug, but I have one friend that will get up and cook complete meals in the presence of family, about 4 hours a not remember a thing. I have another that got a DUI going to Dairy Queen, a hop stop, to get an ice cream and has no recollection of any of the events and woke up in jail. Just putting it out there. Is it possible. I have no idea. Have I heard of people doing things and not remembering hours while appearing to be lucid.

Sent from my LGLS675 using Tapatalk
 
I don't believe his wife at all, and the fact they were her coworkers makes me think she put him up to it. JMO
 
We don't even know if he took Ambien, let's not give him any ideas. Lol.

Hey, his wife said he was sleepmurdering! Obviously not his fault. (Sarcasm.) But if her hubsy wubsy kills in his sleep, shouldn't SHE be nervous? :waitasec:

He and his wife went to a New Year's eve party at Yolanda Holtrey's house, then he and his wife go home together. He waits until his wife falls asleep, then he goes back over, kills (and mutilates) them, sets the house on fire, dumps them, and sneaks back home. Too bad he's caught on surveillance camera. Dun.
 
I agree there is something about her body language, and choice of words in the interview.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/l...-Suspicion-of-Killing-2-Women--409444145.html

I don't think a person would say, "I don't remember him leaving the house in the middle of the night", in that situation. Wouldn't you say? I don't think he left the house, or He didn't leave the house in the middle of the night. "I don't remember him leaving the house" just strikes me as odd.
 
2d9wi7n.jpg

Victims Yolanda Holtrey, left, and Michelle Luke


2iqfqqu.jpg

Christopher Ireland

This is a really bizarre case.

http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-0106-homicide-folo-20170105-story.html
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/christ...ngs-of-yolanda-holtrey-and-her-friend-7790511
 
I recall a dateline or 48 hrs. show with Scott Falater who had stabbed his wife then dragged her to the pool to drown her while a neighbor witnessed this.He tried the sleep walking defense but a jury found him guilty because he tried to conceal the crime by putting the knife,gloves in a tupperware container inside his car.I believe setting the fire after the murders is also trying to cover his crime. Juan Martinez was the prosecutor.
 
Christopher Ireland. I know this person. I've been feeling sad about it all day since I accidentally discovered the story. I've had a strange day today. While walking my dogs at the park this morning I had three interesting things happen. First I found a cell phone at the park. It was dead. I put it in my pocket. I continued walking. On the sidewalk I saw some graffiti. It said something about R.I.P. Austin. I continued my walk and came to see next to the sidewalk a memorial with candles, photos, a skateboard words written on it from a friend of his, cards etc., you know. There was a laminated sheet with photos of two 18 year olds. With there names and the date of the death. I memorized one of the names of the boys, Austin Colby Mitchell. So I went home and did some research and found out that these two 18 year old best friends for there entire life had died in a car accident on 12/5/15. I read about them. They had died at around 2:00 am. All that the story said was that they believe that the boys were driving at a high rate of speed and lost control of the car and crashed into a pole. The two boys were found dead. There was a third in the car in critical condition. I believe he survived.
So I was reading that story online. I believe it was maybe a Huntington Beach local news site. Anyway right next to this story was the story of Christopher Ireland. I had not heard of the story yet. I first saw the name Christopher Ireland in the story. I knew the name. I read the story and it shocked me. I became saddened. I just couldn't believe it.
All through the day I guess I can say it has sorted haunted me. What I mean is, every few minutes it comes to my head, all day.What I feel so bad about is that I have seen him in his relationship with his little boy. I have a son about his son's age. I believe he is about 11 years old. They had what I think was a beautiful relationship. It hurts me to know the effect that his father's decision is going to have on him. I'm so sad for that boy. He will never be able to play with his dad again. I even feel for Christopher Ireland. He will never be able to play with his beautiful child again. His decision has devastated his son. He has devastated the women's families and friends.
I know people think that he is a monster and I guess he is, but I'm telling you he had a great father son relationship from what I saw. He was a loving father. This part of his life was normal. His relationship with his son. I'll even say better than normal. He obviously has a sick side too. I know that this guy is feeling horrible pain about the loss of his son. It kills me that this boy is having to deal with this. He will never be the same beautiful boy that he was.
Well those were the three interesting things that happened to me today on this strange day. It feels like for some reason, God, wanted for me to know about this situation, because like I said, I only found this story on accident. I am only an acquaintance of this man. Which is a whole other story in itself but I don't feel I should get to personal about it, so I won't. I did try to text his phone to reach out to whoever may receive the text to offer my support to their son. But for some reason his phone was blocking messages. I may actually call the number and see if maybe his wife answers. I know this probably seems strange since I have already stated that I thought that her interview was odd. Just because I thought her statements seemed odd doesn't mean that she is lying though. She could just be in shock and acting what appears to be strange.
So again, the "strange day", I found the phone, the boys killed in the car accident, lead me to the story of this horrible murder.
I brought the phone home with me. I assumed it was dead and broken but my charger fit it so I charged. It worked. So in trying to figure out the mystery of this phone I came to realize that this phone belonged to a drug dealer. There was also a single photo in the gallery. A selfie. Her name is Julie. From the messages with her contacts I figured out that she seemed to be some kind of I think almost a possibly smalltime drug trader. I should say that I know she was a small time drug trader, the homeless part I'm pretty sure about.
A Strange Day. Has anybody ever heard the song, A Strange Day, by The Cure. It's actually one of my all time favorites. It is beautiful. One that probably not to many of you have heard. [video=youtube;c4mym0EFKM8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4mym0EFKM8[/video]
This strange day is what brought me to sign up at this site. A Strange Day.
 
Welcome, ShamRocker, you've had quite a day. What you are feeling is normal! You just found out today what your friend allegedly did and you're still trying take it all in. Your mind must be going in a million different directions. You only know the good side of him, so of course it is difficult and confusing for you.

Unfortunately most murderers don't walk around frothing at the mouth, dragging their knuckles on the ground, and mumbling incoherently. If they did that would be great, because nobody would get murdered. Nobody would ever go anywhere with a freak like that. Sure, some of them are weirdos, but a great deal of them aren't.

Scariest of all, they can be very good at coming across as the average Joe. They will gain your trust, blend in with society, and even appear to be a pillar of their community. They are fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. They coach football. They go to parties with their wives or girlfriends. They love their mothers. They are somebody's neighbor and somebody's best friend.

I hope you feel better and are able to somewhat come to terms with everything. We're here if you need to vent.
 
He has supposedly committed his first major felonies at age 37? If he is the one who committed this crime, I'd be looking at what else he has been doing for the past 20 years.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
158
Guests online
997
Total visitors
1,155

Forum statistics

Threads
589,937
Messages
17,927,915
Members
228,006
Latest member
Suesleuth
Back
Top