The man accused of kidnapping and murdering a California family of four was seeking revenge after being fired from the family’s business, according to authorities – as it was revealed that the suspect previously held another former employee at gunpoint.
Jesus Manuel Salgado, 48, drove for trucking business Unison Parking in Merced but was let go sometime last year, Merced County Sheriff Vernon Warnke said in a press conference on Thursday.
Over the next year, he allegedly harboured a grudge against the family, with investigators uncovering a trove of “nasty” text and email exchanges and neighbours reporting seeing him prowling around the business shouting at people in recent months.
On Monday, the vendetta reached a head when Salgado allegedly kidnapped eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27, father Jasdeep Singh, 36, and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39.
Chilling surveillance footage captured a man sporting a face mask leading the victims restrained with zip ties out of their business at gunpoint.
Their bodies were found in a remote almond orchard two days later by a farm worker.
On Thursday, Salgado was charged with four counts of murder and four counts of kidnapping over the brutal slayings.
He was booked into Merced County Jail after being transferred from hospital, where he was recovering after trying to kill himself one day on from the murders.
On Friday, the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of Salgado’s brother as an accomplice in the brutal crimes.
Alberto Salgado was arrested on Thursday night on charges of criminal conspiracy, accessory, and destroying evidence and booked into the same jail housing his brother.
Investigators previously said that they were seeking at least one more perpetrator they believed helped Salgado carry out the heinous abductions and murders, but had stopped short of naming any suspect on their radar.
It is currently unclear exactly what role authorities believe Alberto Salgado played but investigators said earlier this week that an individual – different to the man in the footage of the kidnapping – was captured on surveillance footage using one of the victim’s bank cards after the murders.
Officials have not revealed how the family died but said they believe they were killed where their remains were discovered not long after the abduction.
Sheriff Warnke said that there is a “special place in hell” for the accused killer as it was revealed that Salgado carried out an eerily similar attack on another past employer.
Salgado worked for a different family-owned trucking company for around two years but was fired for unknown reasons.
Then, one night in December 2005, he turned up at the owner’s family home dressed in a ski mask and armed with a gun.
The victim told CBS47 that Salgado held the gun to his head and forced his way into the home where his wife, 16-year-old daughter and his daughter’s friend were also present.
He used duct tape to tie the hands of all four victims before robbing them of money and jewellery including pulling the ring off his wife’s finger.
Salgado then forced all the victims into the pool and threatened to kill them if they called the police, before leaving the home.
The family managed to get out of the pool and called the police.
In 2007, Salgado was convicted of first-degree robbery with a firearm, attempted false imprisonment, and dissuading a witness.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. One month later, he was also sentenced to eight months for possession of a controlled substance.
In 2015, he was released – after serving eight years of his sentence.
Seven years on from his release, Salgado is accused of following a similar pattern with the Singh family – but this time leaving behind no survivors.
Sheriff Warnke compared the two cases on Thursday as he voiced his anger over the senseless killings.
“He kept his boss and family at gunpoint over money he thought he was owed,” he said of the 2005 case.
“I think this is the same kind of thing.”
The sheriff described his actions as “pure evil” in an emotional press briefing.
“The circumstances around this, when we are able to release everything, should anger the hell out of you,” he said.
“We’re talking about dealing with evil here. I can understand robbing a bank. But this?... This is pure evil.”
Salgado became a prime suspect in the case even before the victims’ bodies were found.
On Tuesday, his family alerted police that he had confessed to killing the family-of-four and attempted to take his own life.
He was taken into police custody that day.
The next day – the same day the farm worker made the grim discovery – investigators released surveillance footage capturing the moment the four family members were kidnapped.
In the footage, Jasdeep is seen arriving at the business at 8.30am on Monday morning, followed by Amandeep nine minutes later.
Just before 9am, Jasdeep is confronted by a man outside the business who appears to pull a gun from a white trash bag he was carrying.
Around 10 minutes later, Jasdeep and Amandeep are seen being led out of the building with their hands tied behind their backs and placed in a truck.
The truck drives off but returns minutes later, with the footage capturing the suspect entering the business again – this time leading Jasleen out at gunpoint.
The mother is cradling her eight-month-old baby daughter in her arms.
The horrifying quadruple kidnap and murder has sent shockwaves through the close-knit Sikh immigrant community where the Singh family had not long begun their new life after moving from Punjab, India.
Neighbours and employees said the family bought the large gravel lot for the trucking business last year and had dreams of expanding the company to rent spaces to boat owners and RVs.
Trucker Blas Peña sobbed as he told theSF Chronicle about the “very nice” family who were more “like friends — not like bosses” to him.
“They treat all the drivers like a family. This thing that happened is a complete surprise to us,” his wife Noemi Alcala added.
“Nobody knows this guy [Salgado]. There was no reason to do this to such a nice family.”
