Merced Family Kidnapping Suspect Once Worked For Family | Grisly Details Released | LeakYou.com
Channel: Crimes and Investigations
Date: 2022-10-06

Grisly Details Released | Merced Family Kidnapping Suspect Jesus Salgado Once Worked For Family | LeakYou.com

#LeakYou #MercedFamilyKillings #JesusSalgado #JasdeepSingh #JasleenKaur #AmandeepSingh #AroohiDheri 

MERCED, Calif. - The suspect in the killing of a Merced family had worked for the victims at one point, according to a relative.

A loved one told KTVU that Jesus Salgado, 48, once drove a truck for the family's company.

The bodies of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36; and her uncle Amandeep Singh, 39., were found at an orchard in Merced County two days after they were kidnapped at gunpoint from their business, police said.

SEE ALSO: Body language analyzed while slain Merced family kidnapped

"Our worst fears have been confirmed," Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said at a Wednesday night news conference.

Warnke said the victims were close to each other when found by a farmworker tending to an almond orchard in a remote area near the town of Dos Palos, a town about 30 miles south of Merced where the family was kidnapped on Monday.

A source close to the investigation told KTVU that the two brothers were killed with a machete. The source said Kaur was then shot as she held her baby girl in her arms. The baby was then left to die.

Sheriff's officials said they believed the family was killed before their relatives reported them missing Monday.

The grim announcement of the family's death came after authorities earlier Wednesday released surveillance video of Salgado kidnapping the family Monday.

The video showed the suspect first walking by the property before talking to one of the men. Later, it shows him leading the men, who had their hands zip-tied behind their backs, into the back seat of Amandeep Singh’s pickup truck. The suspect then went back to the trailer that served as the business office and led Jasleen Kaur, who was carrying her baby in her arms, out and into the truck before the suspect then drove away.

Warnke said the kidnapper made no ransom demands but that he believed it was a financially motivated crime.

"We’re hoping that they can now at least have some kind of closure," Warnke said, adding: "It’s not the closure we were hoping for; it’s not the closure they were hoping for."

Authorities said Salgado, already a convicted robber, tried to kill himself a day after the kidnappings. He was im critical condition when taken into custody but has been talking to police, Warnke said.

Family members said nothing was stolen from the trucking company but that their relatives were all wearing jewelry. Warnke had said that after the kidnappings, an ATM card belonging to one of the victims was used in Atwater. Public records show the family owns Unison Trucking Inc. and family members said they had recently opened an office for it in a parking lot the Singh brothers also operated.

Family members on Wednesday asked anyone who owns a convenience store or gas station in the area to check their surveillance cameras for images of the suspect or those missing. They said they were worried the baby wasn’t being fed because the family didn’t have any baby food with them at the time of the kidnapping.

Relatives of Salgado contacted authorities and told them he had admitted to them he was involved with the kidnapping, Warnke told KFSN-TV on Tuesday. Salgado tried to take his own life before police arrived at a home in nearby Atwater, and he has since been hospitalized.

Efforts to reach Salgado’s family were unsuccessful Thursday.

Salgado was previously convicted of first-degree robbery with the use of a firearm in Merced County, as well as attempted false imprisonment and an attempt to prevent or dissuade a victim or witness. He was sentenced to 11 years in state prison in that case, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He was released from prison in 2015 and discharged from parole three years later. He also has a conviction for possession of a controlled substance, the corrections agency said.