An eight-month-old baby girl, her parents and uncle, who were kidnapped at gunpoint at their California business on Monday, have been found dead.
Sheriff Vern Warnke of Merced County said "worst fears" had been confirmed after a farmworker found the bodies close together at around 5.30pm on Wednesday.
The family were found in an "extremely" rural orchard, according to police.
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Authorities released surveillance footage of a man kidnapping 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri; her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, in the hopes of finding the family.
The video showed the suspect first walking by the property before talking to one of the men.
Later, he can be seen 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 Jasdeep Singh, carrying her baby in her arms, out and into the truck before the suspect drove away.
Officers said the kidnapping was conducted by a convicted robber who had attempted to take his own life after taking the family hostage.
"There's no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident," Warnke said. "I said it earlier: There's a special place in hell for this guy."
Investigators, including crime lab technicians from the California Department of Justice, continued to process the crime scene overnight as investigators tried to piece together the motive behind the killings.
Sheriff Warnke said: "We have a whole family wiped out, and for what? We don't know yet."
Relatives had been notified of the deaths, the sheriff said.
He added: "We're hoping that they can now at least have some kind of closure.
"It's not the closure we were hoping for; it's not the closure they were hoping for."
Family members said nothing was stolen from the trucking company but that their relatives were all wearing jewellery.
Sheriff Warnke said after the kidnappings, an ATM card belonging to one of the victims was used in Atwater, about 14 kilometres north of Merced, but the kidnapper made no ransom demands.
Relatives of the suspect Jesus Salgado, 48, contacted authorities after he reportedly admitted to them that he was involved with the kidnapping.
He then tried to take his own life before police arrived at a home in nearby Atwater, and he has since been hospitalised.
Sheriff Warnke said Salgado had spoken to investigators, but he didn't provide details.
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