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The brother of a man suspected of kidnapping and killing an eight-month-old baby, her parents and an uncle has been arrested on suspicion of helping his brother destroy evidence.
Alberto Salgado, 41, was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, accessory to and destruction of evidence, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office said. The suspect, Jesus Salgado, 48, is being held on kidnapping and murder charges.
The bodies of Aroohi Dheri; her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdip Singh, 36; 39 were found Wednesday by a farm worker in an almond orchard in a remote area of ​​California’s agricultural center San Joaquin Valley Uncle Amandeep Singh
Merced County Sheriff Fern Warnke said Jesus Salgado — a convicted criminal who attempted suicide a day after the kidnapping — worked for the family’s trucking business and had a long feud with them.
He was treated in hospital before being sent to prison.
Sheriff Vaughnke has said detectives are also looking for a person of interest believed to be his accomplice.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims and other members of the Punjab Sikh community were shocked by the killing.
At a vigil in Merced on Thursday night, hundreds of people, holding lit candles, formed a circle around photos of the victims. Religious leaders of different faiths pray for their families at the beginning of the ceremony.
“Tonight is the time for the community to come together to show the Singh family ‘we are with you, as long as you need us, we will be with you, and we will remember the names of those we lost,'” family friend Pugh said. Ria Rakiredi said.
The city of Merced, where the family lives and operates a trucking business, will hold an evening vigil in their memory until Sunday.
The elder Salgado was previously convicted in Merced County of first-degree robbery with a firearm, attempted false imprisonment and attempted to deter or dissuade a victim or witness.
Sheriff Warnke told KFSN-TV that Salgado’s relatives contacted authorities and told them he had admitted to them that he was involved in the kidnapping.
Salgado tried to kill himself before police reached a house in Atwater, about nine miles north of Merced, after the kidnapping using an ATM card belonging to one of the victims.
The victims were Punjabi Sikhs, a community that is heavily involved in the trucking business in central California, many of whom drive trucks, own trucking companies or other trucking-related businesses.
Public records show the family owns Unison Trucking Inc, and relatives said they had opened an office in the past few weeks in a parking lot also run by the Singh brothers. The sheriff said the altercation with Salgado dates back a year and has “become very nasty” in texts or emails.
He said he believed the family were killed within an hour of their kidnapping on Monday morning when they were taken from their business at gunpoint. Their bodies were found near the town of Dos Palos, about 30 miles south of Merced.
Sheriff Warnke said the child was the only one with no apparent trauma and an autopsy would be performed.
Surveillance video showed the suspect – later identified as Salgado – leading the Singh brothers, whose hands were tied behind their backs, into the back seat of Amandep Singh’s pickup. He drove the brothers away and returned a few minutes later.
The suspect then returned to the trailer, which served as the sales office, and loaded Jasleen Kaur with the baby in his arms into the truck, before the suspect drove them away shortly before 9:30 a.m.
A few hours later, firefighters found Amandeep Singh’s truck on fire Monday in the town of Winton, 10 miles north of Merced. Police went to Amandeep Singh’s home where a family member tried to contact him and the couple. When they could not reach the family, they called the sheriff’s office to report them missing.
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