(NewsNation) — The bodies of four people, including an 8-month-old, who were kidnapped in central California this week have been found.
The Merced County Sheriff’s Office said 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur, 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh and 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri were found dead in an orchard field that officials called “very very remote” near Dos Palos on Wednesday evening, NewsNation affiliate KSEE reported.
A farmer called police around 5 p.m., alerting them they found the bodies, which were located near an area where deputies found the victims’ phones.
On Tuesday, police arrested Jesus Manuel Salgado, 48, in connection with the kidnapping. Prior to his arrest, the sheriff’s office said Salgado attempted suicide and has since been hospitalized.
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke told KSEE that Salgado has been talking with officials.
“There’s no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident,” Warnke said Wednesday night to reporters at the scene. “There’s a special place in hell for this guy.”
The family members were taken from their business in Merced, a city of 86,000 people about 125 miles southeast of San Francisco in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s agricultural heartland.
Relatives of Salgado contacted authorities reporting that he had admitted to them he was involved with the kidnapping, Warnke told KFSN-TV on Tuesday. 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.
Warnke said that while detectives have not established any motive or determined whether Salgado worked with any accomplices, he believes the suspect was driven by money and colluded with someone else.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.