Chilling CCTV reveals family's final moments alive before brutal killings

Two men have been arrested after the kidnapping and horrific killings of four family members, whose last moments were captured on CCTV.

The bodies of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri; her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, were found by a farm worker late on Wednesday in an almond orchard in a remote area in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

The discovery sent shockwaves through the community and around the world, with a sheriff describing the slayings as “pure evil”.

The family ran a trucking business in the city of Merced, a two hour drive east of San Jose, where one suspect, Jesus Salgado, used to work.

Surveillance video from outside of the business on Monday showed Salgado leading the Singh brothers – who had their hands zip-tied behind their backs – into the back seat of Amandeep Singh’s pickup truck.

He drove the brothers away and returned to the office several minutes later to lead Jasleen Kaur to the truck. She was carrying her baby in her arms.

The last vision of the family members alive was recorded just before 9.30am.

Hours later, firefighters found Amandeep's truck on fire in the town of Winton, 16 kilometres north of Merced.

Police officers went to Amandeep's home, where a family member tried to reach him and the couple. When they were not able to reach their family members, they called the sheriff’s to report them missing.

They were likely already dead.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said he believes the family was killed within an hour of the kidnapping.

Suspect’s brother allegedly involved

On Thursday evening (local time) Salgado’s brother was arrested in connection to the crime.

Alberto Salgado, 41, was taken into custody for criminal conspiracy, accessory, and destroying evidence.

Before his arrest on Tuesday, Jesus Salgado attempted to take his own life and was under medical care for two night before being booked into the county jail.

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Jesus Salgado had worked for the family’s trucking business and reportedly had a longstanding feud with them dating back a year, the sheriff said.

The situation “got pretty nasty” in text messages or emails. Other details about Salgado’s employment and the nature of the dispute were not immediately available.

GoFundMe raises almost $200,000

Relatives and fellow members of the Punjabi Sikh community have been shocked by the killings.

“Right now, I’ve got hundreds of people in a community that are grieving the loss of two families, and this is worldwide. These families are across different continents,” Mr Warnke said.

“We’ve got to show them that we can give them justice.”

A GoFundMe page set up to help the surviving family members, including Amandeep's children, has raised US$125,500 (A$197,129) in just one day.

Earlier, Mr Warnke called for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The sheriff called it one of the worst crimes he has seen over his 43 years in law enforcement.

“There’s some things you’ll take to the grave. This to me was pure evil,” he said in an interview Thursday.

He refused to discuss the condition of the adults’ remains in the orchard but said it was unclear how the baby died. He said the child had no visible trauma and an autopsy will be conducted.

- with The Associated Press

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