All four Sikh family members, including an eight-month-old baby girl kidnapped in California earlier this week, have been found dead.
Local police authorities said the bodies of 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, 27-year-old Jasleen Kaur, their eight-month-old child Aroohi and the baby's uncle, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh were found on Wednesday evening in a rural and remote area of the Meced county- a city in California's agricultural heartland. All of the bodies were found close together by a farmer near the orchard.
Also watch: California: kidnapped Indian-origin family, including baby girl, found dead
The family which hails from Harsi Pind in Punjab's Hoshiarpur was kidnapped from their newly-opened trucking business in California's Merced County on Monday.
48-year-old convinced robber Jesus Salgado was taken into custody in connection with the crime. According to police authorities, Salgado tried to kill himself a day after the kidnapping.
Also watch: 'Dirty Hindu, disgusting dog': Indian-American charged for racist attack on another in USA's California
CCTV footage of the kidnapping, released earlier on Wednesday shows brothers, Jasdeep and Amandeep Singh arriving at their business nine minutes apart. The seven-minute-long surveillance video showed the suspect wearing a dark-coloured hoodie and a face mask walking around a parking lot with a white trash bag in hand. He then talked to one of the victims and followed him up to the office. A little later, the armed suspect is seen opening a side door and leading two men with bound hands identified by the police as Amandeep and Jasdeep outside the building and into the back seat of a truck. Moments later, the kidnapper returned with the gun, leading Jasleen and her 8-month-old baby, Aroohi, out of the building into a truck.
The motive for the kidnapping has not been found. Family members said nothing was stolen from the trucking company and that the kidnapper made no ransom calls. According to investigators, the ATM card of one of the victims was used at a bank in Atwater, California after they were kidnapped.