Four Members of California Family Are Found Dead Two Days After kidnapping

Combined photos show 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her mother Jasleen Kaur and her father Jasdeep Singh, left, and her uncle Amandeep Singh, right. The family was reported missin/g on Oct. 3.Credit...Merced County /Sheriff's Office

Four members of a California family, including a baby, were found dead two days after authorities said they were kidnapped at gunpoint in an incident.

The bodies of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur and Jasdeep Singh, and her uncle Amandeep Singh were recovered by authorities Wednesday evening after a farmworker alerted them to remains in an orchard in central California’s Merced County, authorities said.

The family was kidnapped at gunpoint from their trucking business Monday morning in Merced, a city between Modesto and Fresno in central California, authorities said. Investigators learned they were missing after a family vehicle was found abandoned and on fire that morning, authorities said.

Jesus Manuel Salgado, 48, who had been named as a person of interest in the investigation, was taken into custody on Tuesday after he attempted to die by suicide at a home in Atwater, Calif., about 8 miles northwest of Merced, the authorities said earlier on Wednesday.

“There’s no word right now to describe the anger I feel, and the senselessness of this incident,” Sheriff Warnke said. “I said it earlier: There’s a special place in hell for this guy, and I mean it.”

He said the authorities had not determined a motive for the kidnapping.