The California family of four that has been missing since Monday was found dead in Merced County, officials said Wednesday.
The dead include 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents — Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36 — and her uncle, Amandeep Singh, 39, according to Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke.
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“Tonight our worst fears have been confirmed. We found the four people from the kidnapping and they are, in fact, deceased,” Warnke announced. “There are no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident. There’s a special place in hell for this guy.”
Video surveillance released Wednesday showed the suspect walking by a property before talking to one of the men. The suspect then allegedly used zip ties and a gun to abduct the family members and place them in the back of Amandeep Singh’s truck. The footage was released one day after a suspect, 48-year-old Jesus Manuel Salgado, was arrested and two days after the truck was discovered on fire, according to Fox News.
Salgado, a convicted robber, was located and apprehended after he used the credit card of one of the victims in the nearby town of Atwater, officials said. No ransom order was made in the abduction, but Warnke said he believed the crime was still financially motivated, the outlet reported.
“On October 4, 2022, in the morning hours, Merced County Sheriff Detectives received information that one of the victim’s ATM cards was used at an ATM located at a bank in the City of Atwater,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Investigators obtained the surveillance photo of a subject making a bank transaction where the person is similar in appearance to the surveillance photo from the original kidnapping scene.”
Salgado was reportedly in bad condition at the time of the arrest after attempting to take his own life. He has not been charged yet.
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An investigation into the kidnapping and murders is underway. The FBI and the California Justice Department are also investigating.
