PE.com

(clockwise from top left): Kesuan Sykes, Tyrone Miller, Kevin Cox and Emrys John

Four former Marines will stand trial for the slaying of a sergeant and his wife in the couple’s French Valley home last year, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, were found bound with duct tape and shot to death, execution style, in their living room Oct. 15. Jenkins-Pietrzak had been sexually assaulted and someone had tried to set fire to the home.

Although racist words were painted at the crime scene, investigators concluded that robbery, not race, was the motive. All four defendants are black, as was Jenkins-Pietrzak. Jan Pietrzak was white. Two of the men charged with the crime were assigned to his unit.

Emrys John, 19, Tyrone Miller, 21, Kevin Cox, 21, and Kesaun Sykes, 22, are each charged with two counts of murder. John is charged as the shooter. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor is seeking the death penalty.

During the fifth and final day of the preliminary hearing, Investigator Gary LeClair of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department testified Wednesday that Sykes told investigators Pietrzak answered the door that night holding a knife.

Cox told investigators that when Pietrzak saw the men armed with guns, he said, "What the (expletive)? What the (expletive)? Are you guys serious?"

The four men then forced their way inside and ransacked the home but were unable to find anything of great value, LeClair said.

While the husband was being held in another room, Sykes told investigators, the men cut off the wife’s nightgown with a knife and commented on her body, LeClair said.

Sykes said it was Miller’s idea to "dance her around" in front of "Sgt. P," hoping it would be his "breaking point" and that he would tell them where money and valuables were hidden, LeClair testified.

Sykes said they took Jenkins-Pietrzak to the living room and raped her with an object while her husband — who had been beaten, bound and gagged — watched, LeClair testified.

Finally, they forced the couple to their knees in the living room and shot them both multiple times in the head, investigators said.

Sykes told investigators that they were in the house about 30 minutes.

On the ride home afterward, the men discussed whether the two were dead and joked and laughed, LeClair said.

Ultimately, just a few pieces of jewelry, including the couple’s wedding rings, were stolen, along with some other items of little value and an ATM card that was used to withdraw a few hundred dollars. Investigators recovered many of the stolen items from the defendants’ homes.

Sykes described the haul to investigators as "petty," LeClair said.

Pietrzak was a helicopter airframe mechanic based at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Miller and John were assigned to his unit.

A trial date has not been scheduled.

NY Daily News

Race may have been the motive for the brutal murders of Brooklyn-raised Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana.After insisting for months the Pietrzaks were slain by four other Marines for their money, a key prosecution witness dropped a bombshell Friday – racist remarks were spray-painted in the couple’s California home. The words "N—– Lover" were found on the wall near the master bedroom and on a bathroom mirror, Riverside County Homicide Investigator Benjamin Ramirez testified. Pietrzak, 24, was white, his 26-year-old wife was black, and the four accused Marines are black. Ramirez’s revelation came at the start of a two-day hearing to determine if the Camp Pendleton Marines should stand trial – and plunged the victims’ heartbroken mothers into tears. "We’re going to visit our children at the grave," Henryka Pietrzak-Varga of Bensonhurst said later. "That’s all we have left after this." Pietrzak’s mother and Quiana’s mother, Glenda Faye Williams-Jenkins, have said from the moment their children were found tortured and murdered in October that this was not just a robbery gone bad. Riverside County Prosecutor Dan DeLimon refused to explain why they were silent about the racial angle. "That will be addressed when the preliminary hearing continues on May 8," he said. The accused Marines – Pvt. Emrys John, 18; Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 20; Pvt. Kesuan (Psycho) Sykes, 21, and Pvt. Kevin Cox, 20 – have all pleaded not guilty. They face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors say the Pietrzaks were murdered after the shotgun-toting Marines burst into their home in Temecula, Calif. The killers tied up and tortured the couple. They violated Quiana repeatedly. Then John shot them both in the head, prosecutors say. Ramirez gave a horrific description of the scene he encountered when he arrived at the Pietrzaks’ ransacked home. As he testified, the victims’ mothers cried quietly while the accused Marines sat stone-faced. Quiana was found leaning against a couch with red duct tape covering her eyes and gunshot wounds to her head and right side, Ramirez said. Pietrzak was found leaning against his wife, his face, wrists and ankles bound with red duct tape. He had been shot in the right cheek and there was blood "almost covering his entire face," Ramirez said. Ramirez said police found two sofa cushions that they believe were used to muffle the gunshots – as well as evidence the killers tried to cover their tracks by setting a small fire. They left behind footprints that tied them to the crime, the investigator said. Also, a day after they questioned Miller, detectives found a dozen firearms and three apparently stolen passports in his quarters.

They also found two check cards in Quiana Pietrzak’s name, a bracelet with the victim’s names engraved inside in Polish – and Pietrzak’s blue military dress uniform, complete with medals, hanging in Miller’s quarters.

NY Daily News: Suspects in torture-murder of Brooklyn marine Pawel Pietrzak and wife, drank beer after murder When they were done torturing and killing Brooklyn-raised Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak and his wife, they broke out the beers.The girlfriend of one of the four Marines charged with the brutal crimes said on a taped police interview played in court Friday that the suds came out after the men came back to her apartment from the Pietrzaks’ home, dressed in black and reeking of gunpowder. "They cracked [open] some beers and were drinking beer," said Melissa Buck. The accused triggerman, 19-year-old Pvt. Emrys John, was carrying a shotgun, said Buck. "Good job, E," one of the accused killers said, Buck told an investigator. "You earned your stripes tonight." Buck, who is dating accused Pvt. Kevin Cox, testified on the second day of a two-day hearing to determine if the Camp Pendleton Marines should stand trial. As Buck’s words echoed through the court, some of the suspects – dressed in civvies – appeared to be smiling. "They’re smiling," Pietrzak’s horrified mother, Henryka, said. "They’re like celebrities sitting there in their ties. It’s hard to see that." John, Cox and the other Marines, Pvt. Kesuan (Psycho) Sykes and Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, have pleaded not guilty. They face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors insist the Pietrzaks were slain for their money, but a homicide investigator has said the Marines spray-painted racist remarks in the couple’s California home before they split. Polish-born Pietrzak, 24, was white. His 26-year-old wife, Quiana, was black. Both were tied up, and Quiana Pietrzak was sexually assaulted before John executed them last October, prosecutors said. On the stand, Buck testified that this was not the first burglary for Miller, Cox or Sykes, who are all 21. "I went one time" with them on a heist a month or two before the Pietrzak job, she admitted. Buck, 25, said she did not see the Marines divide the loot they allegedly took from the Pietrzaks, some of which was found later at Miller’s quarters at Camp Pendleton.