Sheriff’s deputies in central California confirmed their “worst fears” had come true this week when a mother, father, eight-month-old baby and her uncle were found dead two days after being kidnapped.
On Wednesday night, Merced County Sheriff Vernon H Warnke said that the bodies of eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27, father Jasdeep Singh, 36, and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, had been found in a remote orchard near Indiana Road and Hutchins Road in Merced County.
“There’s no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident,” said the sheriff. “I said it earlier, there’s a special place in hell for this guy, and I mean it”.
Authorities had been tipped off by 48-year-old Jesus Salgado’s family that he was likely involved in the kidnapping. Before he was taken into custody, Salgado attempted to take his own life, the Merced County Sheriff’s office said.
On Thursday, Salgado was charged with four counts of murder and four counts of kidnapping over the brutal slayings.
Investigators are seeking a second perpetrator who is believed to have helped the accused killer in carrying out the kidnapping or murders.
Officials have not revealed how the family died but said they believe they were killed where their remains were discovered not long after the abduction.
Here’s everything we know so far about the suspect:
Who is Jesus Manuel Salgado?
The 48-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday as a “person of interest” in the case, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook, while the family remained missing at that time.
Salgado’s arrest came after his family informed sheriff’s deputies that he admitted to being involved in the kidnapping of the family of four.
The sheriff’s office said Salgado was receiving medical care and critical attention after “attempting to take his own life” prior to being arrested. He was transported to the hospital in an ambulance.
The family have since been found dead.
On Thursday morning, he was in hospital in critical condition with deputies unable to speak with him, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Later that day, authorities announced that Mr Salgado had been transferred from hospital and booked into the Merced County Jail.
“He was arrested for four counts of murder and four counts of kidnapping,” the Merced County Sheriff’s Office said in an update shared on their Facebook page. “Our Detectives, alongside investigators from assisting agencies, will continue to follow up on any leads of additional people who may have been involved in this horrific incident.”
What is the motivation?
On Thursday, authorities said that Salgado was seeking revenge on the family after being fired from their business.
Salgado, 48, drove a truck for trucking business Gateway Parking Company in Merced but was let go sometime last year, Merced County Sheriff Vernon Warnke said in a press conference.
It is not clear when he was fired or why.
However, Salgado carried out an eerily similar attack on another past employer back in 2005.
He worked for a different family-owned trucking company for around two years but was fired for unknown reasons.
Then, one night in December 2005, he turned up at the owner’s family home dressed in a ski mask and armed with a gun.
The victim told CBS47 that Salgado tied him up, as well as his wife, 16-year-old daughter and his daughter’s friend before robbing them.
Salgado then forced all the victims into the pool and threatened to kill them if they called the police, before leaving the home.
In 2007, Salgado was convicted of first-degree robbery with a firearm, attempted false imprisonment, and dissuading a witness over the incident.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. One month later, he was also sentenced to eight months for possession of a controlled substance.
In 2015, he was released – after serving eight years of his sentence.
Sheriff Warnke compared the two cases on Thursday saying: “I think this is the same kind of thing.”
At an earlier press conference on Wednesday, the sheriff’s office suggested that Salgado could have been motivated by financial gain.
“So far my speculation is that its financial,” the sheriff said. “Until we prove otherwise, and again we don’t believe there’s a hate crime involved.”
He continued: “We just think that this guy, because of his history, he’s a robber, a thief, he needs to be in prison, ok? That’s where he needs to be, and hopefully we can get him to communicate with us”.
Is anybody else invovled?
Investigators are searching for another individual in connection to the family’s kidnapping and killings.
“Seeing everything that’s gone on, I fully believe that there is at least one other person involved but we don’t have any evidence to support that,” the Merced County sheriff said on Wednesday. “It’s just the circumstances surrounding this”.
Despite the remarks, no other persons have been identified.
On Tuesday, sheriff’s deputies said they received an alert from a bank in the City of Atwater, about 10 miles northeast of Merced, where a bank card belonging to one of the kidnapping victims had been used at an ATM.
While an image of a man deputies believed to be Salgado was shared on its Facebook page, the sheriff’s office said the man pictured on CCTV using the bank card was not Salgado.
How did the kidnapping occur?
The family of four– including the eight-month-old baby – were taken against their will from their business in Merced on Monday on Monday morning.
Surveillance footage captured the moment on camera.
In the footage, Jasdeep is seen arriving at the business at 8.30am on Monday morning, followed by Amandeep nine minutes later.
Just before 9am, Jasdeep is confronted by a man outside the business who appears to pull a gun from a white trash bag he was carrying.
Around 10 minutes later, Jasdeep and Amandeep are seen being led out of the building with their hands tied behind their backs and placed in a truck.
The truck drives off but returns minutes later, with the footage capturing the suspect entering the business again – this time leading Jasleen out at gunpoint.
The mother is cradling her eight-month-old baby daughter in her arms.
On Wednesday, a farm worker found the remains of all four victims in a nearby orchard.
Sheriff Warnke has described the assailants actions as “pure evil” saying there is “a special place in hell” for the killer.
