31 Campanilla: Sea Pointe Estates Murder Mystery

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- Sea Pointe Estates. As reported by KNBC, An investigation continued Monday into the deaths of five adult family members whose bodies were found in a home in a San Clemente gated community, authorities said. Click here to see Video.

Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said relatives had asked for welfare checks at the home prior to the discovery of the bodies, but authorities had checked only the outside of the home previously. Sheriff's Lt. Erin Guidic said the bodies were discovered Sunday by a relative who went to the home at about 3:50 p.m. and then called 911.Sheriff's deputies arrived about 4 p.m., Sunday, at 31 Campanilla St., in Sea Pointe Estates, and found the bodies of five adults.The victims, all members of the same family, had been shot, the Orange County Register reported. They may have been dead for two to three weeks, according to the newspaper.KNBC reported that the stench from the decomposing bodies was so bad that workers wore masks as they removed them.The hillside neighborhood has large homes worth $1.5 to $2 million, according to the real estate Web site Zillow.com.Amormino would not speculate on whether the deceased were victims of a murder or murder-suicide, but judging from evidence at the scene, the deaths were "definitely foul play," he said.Authorities would not say if they believed the killer or killers were among the dead, but Lt. Guidic told the Register, "I don't think there is any reason for the community to be fearful."The dead, all found in a first-floor bedroom by a relative Sunday afternoon, were described as a couple in their late 40s or early 50s, an older woman and twin sisters in their 20s.Two handguns found in the house were taken into custody as evidence, authorities said.Autopsies on the bodies were under way Monday, and results were expected on Tuesday.

According to True Crime Web Blog, 31 Campanilla was the San Clemente address for accident reconstruction specialist Dr. Manas Ucar. Ucar's expertise was in vehicle fires, explosions, and seat belts.At one time Dr. Ucar was a professor at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. Several newspaper articles about Dr. Ucar were published in the Syracuse Post-Standard in the 70s and 80s. Interesting in light of this story was a small announcement published in that paper in October, 1986. It told of twin daughters being born on September 6 that year to Mr. and Mrs. Manas Ucar of 734 Westscott St.

The OC Register reported today that Fingerprint experts are expected to help identify the badly decomposed bodies of five family members who were discovered in a house here over the weekend, Sheriff’s officials said Monday.The bodies could have been in the house for two to three weeks, said Sheriff’s officials, who believe the deaths resulted from an isolated incident and that there is no danger to the community.Two handguns were found in the house on Campanilla Street in the gated Sea Point Estates neighborhood overlooking the ocean, officials said. The bodies were discovered late Sunday afternoon after relatives went to the house.Sheriff’s Lt. Erin Giudice declined to give the exact street address for the house, but neighbors said it was 31 Campanilla. That house is owned by Manas Ucar, property record show. Ucar is listed as a consulting engineer and an expert witness for accident investigations, according to ca-experts.com – an online California database of expert witnesses.Property records also list a Margaret or Margrit Ucar at the address.The neighborhood, set on a hillside, has large homes worth between $1.5 million and $2 million, according to Zillow.com.Found dead in the house were a man and a woman in their 40s or 50s, twin sisters in their 20s, and an older woman in her 70s or 80s, Giudice said.The middle-aged man and woman were found near a closet off a first-floor bedroom, each with a handgun nearby. One of the guns was registered to the woman, Giudice said; she did not know to whom the second was registered, or whether either gun had been fired.The two younger women and the older woman were found nearby, in the first-floor bedroom. Giudice said there was no sign of a struggle and nothing else in the bedroom appeared to be amiss.The man appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, Giudice said. One more of the dead might also have been shot, she said, but the bodies were so badly decomposed that investigators were not certain.Autopsies of the five bodies began on Monday morning, but Giudice said it would likely take until Tuesday to get any results, including the identities of the dead. Fingerprint experts are expected to arrive Tuesday to help identify the bodies.The family that owned the house, the Ucars, had twin daughters in their early 20s, said Roxie Weaver, a neighbor.In an interview with KDOC-TV’s Daybreak OC news show, to be aired Tuesday, Weaver said “You could hardly tell (the twins) apart because they always dressed exactly alike.”Grace and Margaux Ucar were 2004 graduates of San Clemente High School, according to a yearbook Weaver showed to KDOC. A Grace and Margo Ucar studied human biology at UC San Diego, where they were due to graduate this year, according to a list posted on the university’s Web site.The twins’ mother had a jewelry store at the atrium in Fashion Island, Weaver said. She said the family had lived in the gated neighborhood for 17 or 18 years and were “very private.”Three relatives – at least two of them brothers – found the bodies on Sunday afternoon after breaking a window to get into the house, Giudice said. The smell was so overwhelming that investigators had to wear Scuba-like breathing masks when they entered.The relatives had called the Sheriff’s Department a few days earlier, asking that deputies swing by the house and make sure everything was all right. The relatives said they thought the family was on vacation.Deputies visited the house on Saturday and checked the doors and windows, but found nothing out of the ordinary, Giudice said. They even called a tow truck to help them get into a car parked outside, but did not find keys or a garage-door opener. The relatives asked them not to force their way into the house.It was the second time this month that deputies had visited the house, Giudice said. On May 14, a neighbor had called to say the family appeared to be away on vacation, and asked that deputies check on the house.Giudice described the people who lived in the house as a “very, very quiet family.”