California Sikh family kidnap case: All 4 found dead in Orchard, cops say

By Team Newsable | First Published Oct 6, 2022, 10:23 AM IST

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said the bodies of the four were found on Wednesday evening in an orchard near Indiana Road and Hutchinson Road. According to the police, a farm worker near the orchard found the bodies before contacting the authorities.

Four members of an Indian-origin family in the United States, including an eight-year-old girl, who had been missing for days, have been found dead in an orchard in California, reports said.

An 8-month-old baby, Aroohi Dheri, and her parents, 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur and 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, were kidnapped at a business, a trucking company, from Merced County in Northern California on Monday. Merced County police said that the baby's uncle, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh, was also kidnapped.

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Also read: 8-month-old baby among 4 Indian-origin people kidnapped in California

"There are no words to describe the anger I feel," Sherrif Warnke said during a press conference Wednesday evening, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Also read: California Sikh family kidnap case: Person of interest in custody, 4 victims still missing

A day after the family was kidnapped, the police took a suspected kidnapper - 48-year-old Jesus Manuel Salgado - into custody. "There's a special place in hell for this guy," Sherrif said about Salgado.

Before law enforcement's involvement, the suspect identified as Jesus Manuel Salgado "attempted to take his own life," and is currently in "custody, receiving medical attention and in critical condition."

According to reports, a vehicle owned by one of the family members was found on fire late Monday, which led law enforcement to determine that the four had been kidnapped.

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Jasdeep and Amandeep's parents - Dr Randhir Singh and Kirpal Kaur - were in a state of shock when they heard about the kidnapping. Randhir and Kirpal retired from the health and education departments, respectively. Randhir returned to India from abroad on September 29.

He then left for a pilgrimage in Uttarakhand. When he reached Rishikesh, he received a call from his daughter-in-law Jaspreet Kaur from the US who told him about the incident of kidnapping of her husband Amandeep and other family members.

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