Marine & Wife Found Together, Partially Clothed

Investigators describe scene inside victims' home

By R. STICKNEY

Updated 8:02 AM PST, Mon, Apr 6, 2009

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Pietrzak's mother, Henryka Pietrzak-Varga, prepared herself the possibility that her son could die in Iraq, but, in her words, "to die like this, in their own home? They were good kids. They didn't de

Four Camp Pendleton-based Marines, including one known as "Psycho," are in court, accused of the execution-style slayings of a fellow Marine and his wife

Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, were found gagged, tied and shot in the head in the living room of their Winchester home on Oct. 15, 2008. Investigators said the house had been ransacked and a fire had been set, an apparent effort to destroy evidence.

Not guilty pleas were entered in the case in November by Lance Cpl. Emrys John, 18, of Maryland; Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 20, of North Carolina; Pvt. Kevin Cox, 20, of Tennessee, and Lance Cpl. Kesaun Sykes, 21, of California. The Marines are charged with two counts of first-degree murder and special-circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders, committing the crime during a robbery and rape by instrument.

John, whom prosecutors believe shot the couple, is also charged with a special-circumstance allegation of using a firearm to inflict great bodily injury or death.

John and Miller worked for Pietrzak, who was a helicopter airframe mechanic.

Miller, Cox and Sykes, known as "Psycho," told police they went to the home to rob Pietrzak. All four said his wife was sexually assaulted, according to an investigator's affidavit.

In Friday's testimony, one of the Riverside county sheriff's investigators, Ben Ramirez, testified about what he saw inside the Pietrzaks' home.

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Marines Charged in Murder of Marine, Wife

Ramirez said Jenkins-Pietrzak was found nude and slumped against a couch, her husband's body was on the ground near his wife wearing only boxers and T-shirt according to our media partner the North County Times. The couple had their hands bound with red tape and Jenkins-Pietrzak had her eyes covered with the same red tape.

Ramirez also testified the words "n------ lover" were spray-painted on the wall in the couple's home.

A key piece of evidence in the case is a set of bloody footprints. Under questioning from defense attorneys, Ramirez told the court the shoes found in Miller's house which are believed to match the footprints had no blood residue and he wasn't sure if Miller's shoe was the same size as the print taken from the Pietrzak's home.

Prosecutors are expected to seek the death penalty.

Pietrzak was a native of Poland who later moved to New York, where his wife was also from. The couple met in San Diego through a mutual friend.