It's been a bizarre and bloody few days in the North and East Bays, with five people dead and one still missing in a violent string of events culminating in a police showdown last night. The bodies of two missing women, Segundina Allen and her friend Marcaria Smart, were found last night in the home Allen shared with her husband, Charles Rittenhouse, age 72. Both women were in their 60s and Rittenhouse had reported Allen missing on Sunday. Authorities approached Rittenhouse as he arrived home from work, and ultimately discovered the bodies. One victim was found in the house, and the other in the backyard.

Also found in the house were chemicals consistent with the manufacture of explosives, and Rittenhouse is being held in connection with those. But the other prime suspect in the murders is 38-year-old Efren Valdemoro, a man who'd been driving Allen's Escalade, and was a suspect in the beating death of a 73-year-old Hercules man on Saturday. He was gunned down by police in a standoff last night at a Ranch 99 in Richmond. He was spotted, gave chase, and was finally shot because he refused to drop the meat cleaver he was holding.

Authorities say Valderomo had been staying at the house with Rittenhouse and Allen, and seems a likely candidate for the murder suspect -- however Rittenhouse's dissembling with the missing persons report makes things weirder.