When Rick Ralph left for Halifax last week for his father's funeral, he had no warning of the tragedies to come.

The FAN 590 sportscaster came home Monday to learn his girlfriend of a few months, Julie Crocker, 33, was dead. The lifeless body of his estranged wife Paula Menendez, 34, was found nearby.

Their bodies were strewn apart in Crocker's Markham home, but it's clear their lives were intertwined.

Ralph and Crocker had been dating for a few months.

Ralph and Menendez had just separated. Crocker had recently separated from her husband, Chris Little.

"The relationships play an important part in the homicides," said Insp. Bill Faulkner, head of the York Region police homicide bureau. "There were complicated relationships."

For Ralph, a first sign of trouble was when Crocker, whom he met at their workplace, didn't show up at the airport to greet him upon his return.

His BMW was still parked in the garage of her Markham home as officers scoured the crime scene.

York Regional police discovered Ralph's car, along with Crocker's silver Volvo parked in the driveway of her home, when they arrived at the Larkin Ave. house early Monday morning. Officers have since seized both vehicles as evidence.

A 911 call around 3:30 a.m. led police to the quiet, brick house and straight to the bodies of the two women. Crocker, a sales executive described by friends as a "tall, stunning brunette," was found stabbed to death inside.

Her two young daughters Madison, 4, and Mackenzie, 3, were believed to be found nearby. Some reports say the girls slept through the slayings.

Menendez, a Toronto physiotherapist, was found dead in the garage. An autopsy released yesterday said Menendez was strangled and Crocker was stabbed in the neck.

At first the story began to unfold like a grisly murder-suicide. Quickly, the plot turned to a double murder. Late Monday afternoon, police arrested Crocker's estranged husband, the father of her children, in connection with the homicides.

Little, 35, who works in the fibre optics industry, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

He is described by his wife's friends as an "exemplary" husband, who volunteered his time on committees to bolster the Markham Fair.

Police sources said the father of two maintains his innocence and remains tight-lipped.

However, they said Little claims that he arrived at Crocker's house in the wee hours of Monday morning and called 911 when he found the bodies.

Police investigators are also keeping quiet as they try to piece together details of the puzzling case. Among the mysteries they would like to dispel: how Menendez got to Crocker's two-storey house.

While officers won't confirm she was abducted from her house on Haliburton Ave. in the Kipling Ave.- Rathburn Rd. area, her car still sits in the driveway.

Her belongings are still inside her house.

Menendez left the home sometime between 8 p.m. Sunday and 3:30 a.m. Monday, police say.

"We feel that Ms. Menendez left her residence in a very hurried manner," said Faulkner of the York Region police.

Police couldn't identify the second body found at Crocker's home until they received a call from one of Menendez's co-workers at around 10:30 a.m. Monday reporting that the physiotherapist had not shown up for work.

Officers said three forensics teams scoured three crime scenes yesterday: Crocker's home, Menendez's home and the Graydon Hall apartment in Toronto where Little lives.

Police are appealing for witnesses. They're asking anyone who spotted Little's grey GMC Envoy, or saw something suspicious near any of the properties, to come forward.

"We're trying to track the movements of everyone involved in this," Faulkner said.

There are no reports that the two dead women knew each other. Crocker and Menendez led separate lives.

What the two 30-somethings have in common is that they were both recently separated from spouses and they had both been involved with Ralph.

Little made a video appearance in court yesterday.

Although he was said to be in the courthouse, his image was broadcast on a television at the front of the courtroom.

He stood impassively, wearing a white jailhouse jumpsuit and briefly answered questions, including his name, birthdate and whether he understood the charges against him.

Little, who is represented by noted defence lawyer John Rosen, remains in jail and will appear again on March 9.

With files from Jim Wilkes.