Ian Stuart Spiro

Gail Spiro had threatened to leave her husband before she and their three children were found shot to death in their Rancho Santa Fe home, reinforcing investigators' belief that Ian Stuart Spiro committed the murders and then killed himself, law enforcement sources said Tuesday.

For three years, the most persistent murder mystery in San Diego County has been: Who killed a mysterious Englishman named Ian Spiro, his wife and their three children? From the beginning, the evidence strongly suggested that Spiro, caught in the grip of financial problems, killed his family before taking his own life.

Traces of cyanide were found in a vehicle where a purported British spy died mysteriously, days after his wife and three children were fatally shot in the family's luxurious rental home, according to a published report. Law enforcement authorities who requested anonymity told the Blade-Citizen of Oceanside on Tuesday that sheriff's investigators found evidence of what they believe to be cyanide in the Ford Explorer where the body of Ian Stuart Spiro was found.

More than six months after discovering the bodies of shadowy British businessman Ian Stuart Spiro, his wife and their three children, San Diego County detectives say they are still far from solving the highly publicized but confounding case. "One of our first priorities in any murder case is to determine a motive for the crime," San Diego County Sheriff's Capt. James Marmack said.

Since moving to this cloistered upscale community last year, Ian and Gail Spiro and their attractive, redheaded children maintained an active, outgoing and prosperous lifestyle. Sara, 16, and Adam, 14, rode horses and skateboards. Gail, 41, served on the local Welcome Wagon when she wasn't playing tennis or bridge at a tony country club.

Authorities have recovered two suitcases and a briefcase belonging to Ian Stuart Spiro, who was found dead of cyanide poisoning several days after his wife and three children were found shot to death last month in their Rancho Santa Fe rental home.

A purported British spy likely was murdered because he threatened to reveal details of the British government's secret deals to secure the release of Beirut hostages, a newspaper reported Sunday. Ian Stuart Spiro also had vital information about the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270, the Sunday Telegraph said.

Ian Stuart Spiro, a 46-year-old commodities dealer, was officially listed Saturday as a suspect in the murders of his wife and three children, who were killed as they lay sleeping in their Rancho Santa Fe home last week. Sheriff's deputies warned that Spiro, a British national, might be armed, and that he might have altered his appearance by not shaving for a few days.

Cyanide poisoning caused the death of a purported British spy who investigators suspect committed suicide after killing his wife and three children, the county medical examiner said Friday. As investigations into the deaths continue, an Oceanside newspaper reported Friday that bloody fingerprints belonging to suspect Ian Stuart Spiro were found on the wall of his son's bedroom at the posh Rancho Santa Fe home the family rented.

A body and the vehicle owned by a man being sought in the shooting deaths of his wife and three children were found by hikers Sunday in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, authorities said, but it remained unclear whether the body was that of the suspect. Hikers came across the truck--a white Ford Explorer--about 4 p.m. off county Highway S22 in northeast San Diego County, between dry Clark Lake and the Imperial County line, San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy Phil Brust said.

Set in a glorious profusion of eucalyptus, this lush community just inland from Del Mar is entangled in the drama of a whodunit that has captured the imaginations of those who live, work and visit here. Everyone, it seems, has solved the mystery of the guilt or innocence of Ian Stuart Spiro.

Relatives of a British woman who was found shot to death in Rancho Santa Fe along with her three children have turned to the office of Lawrence E. Walsh, the independent counsel investigating the Iran-Contra case, to air their contention that U.S. government agents were responsible for the family's murder. Gail Spiro, 41, and her children--Sara, 16; Adam, 14, and Dina, 11--were found Nov.

Gail Spiro had threatened to leave her husband before she and their three children were found shot to death in their Rancho Santa Fe home, reinforcing investigators' belief that Ian Stuart Spiro committed the murders and then killed himself, law enforcement sources said Tuesday.

Financial records and a cassette audiotape apparently recording the ramblings of Ian Stuart Spiro are leading investigators to believe more firmly that the British businessman's worsening money troubles may have caused him to kill his family and then take his own life. San Diego County sheriff's officials said Monday that the cassette was recovered earlier this month along with documents stuffed in two suitcases and a briefcase belonging to Spiro.

Two dust-covered green-and-gold suitcases and a battered black briefcase found in a heap in a desert ravine lend substance to the theory that mysterious British businessman Ian Spiro killed his wife and three children and then killed himself, authorities said Monday.

Authorities have recovered two suitcases and a briefcase belonging to Ian Stuart Spiro, who was found dead of cyanide poisoning several days after his wife and three children were found shot to death last month in their Rancho Santa Fe rental home.

FBI agents will assist local sheriff's homicide investigators to determine if five members of a Rancho Santa Fe family were killed by international terrorists, or if Ian Stuart Spiro killed his wife and three children and later committed suicide by swallowing cyanide. San Diego County sheriff's officials announced the FBI's involvement in a brief written statement.

A body found in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was identified Monday as that of British businessman Ian Stuart Spiro, suspected by sheriff's investigators of killing his wife and three children. The 46-year-old Rancho Santa Fe resident was found slumped over the steering wheel of his white 1992 Ford Explorer by campers in the popular hiking area Sunday at 3:57 p.m.

Since moving to this cloistered upscale community last year, Ian and Gail Spiro and their attractive, redheaded children maintained an active, outgoing and prosperous lifestyle. Sara, 16, and Adam, 14, rode horses and skateboards. Gail, 41, served on the local Welcome Wagon when she wasn't playing tennis or bridge at a tony country club.

FBI agents will assist local sheriff's homicide investigators to determine if five members of a Rancho Santa Fe family were killed by international terrorists, or if Ian Stuart Spiro killed his wife and three children and later committed suicide by swallowing cyanide. San Diego County sheriff's officials announced the FBI's involvement in a brief written statement.