Vigil planned Saturday for slain Merced family
Oct. 14—Earlier this month, four Merced County family members were allegedly kidnapped and killed south of Merced off South Highway 59 and on Saturday, a candlelight vigil will be held in Yuba City to "remember and honor" the "Sikh Punjabi" family members that were lost.
"The investigation into the disappearance of the family began Oct. 3 after police found Amandeep Singh's Dodge Ram truck on fire in the town of Winton," the Los Angeles Times reported this week. "When family members couldn't locate Amandeep or his brother, sister-in-law or their baby, they reported the family as missing. The search led investigators with the Merced County Sheriff's Office to the family business, Unison Trucking, where video surveillance showed a suspect abducting the family at gunpoint and leading them away in the truck."
Two days later, the bodies of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36, and her uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, were found in an area northeast of Dos Palos. They were found by a farm worker in a remote area near the intersection of Indiana and Hutchins roads, northeast of Dos Palos, the Merced Sun-Star reported.
A suspect in the case, Jesus Manuel Salgado, 48, of Merced was arrested Oct. 4.
On Monday, Salgado was charged with four counts of first-degree murder for each life lost. The Merced County district attorney's office said in a statement that it will not make a determination this year on whether to pursue the death penalty in the case.
"Violence like this tears a hole into our hearts," local civil rights activist Valarie Kaur told the Sacramento Bee during the last day of a four-day vigil recently held in Merced. "And that hole is like a black hole. It sucks in all language and meaning and sense. There are no words in the face of horror as unspeakable as this. ... When we are looking into that abyss, it becomes so easy to let that darkness swallow us. The only way we don't fall into the hole is if someone is holding our hand, keeping us steady. That is what I saw in the Dheri family home today."
Taran Dhillon, a relative of the victims, said the family, like many Sikh immigrants in the Yuba-Sutter area, came to Merced County from the Punjab region of India, seeking a better future for their children, the Sacramento Bee reported.
"These brothers and this family were building the American dream," Dhillon said. "They did not know the American dream would be the American nightmare today."
On Saturday, a vigil will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. outside of City Hall in Yuba City, 1201 Civic Center Blvd., to honor the family. Elected officials expected to attend include U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, State Assemblyman James Gallagher, Yuba City Mayor Dave Shaw, Yuba City Councilmember Grace Espindola, Sutter County Sheriff Brandon Barnes and Sutter County supervisors.
