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Investigators have released shocking surveillance video showing a family of four, including an 8-month-old girl, being kidnapped at gunpoint from their trucking company in central California.
The Sikhs in California disappeared Monday and are still missing, despite police taking a suspect into custody.
Jesus Salgado, 48, was arrested Tuesday in Merced, California, after using one of the victim’s ATMs.
Police have not yet revealed a motive for the kidnapping and they do not yet know where the family is.
Jasleen Kaur, 27, was abducted from their newly opened trucking company along with her husband Jasdeep Singh, 36, their eight-month-old daughter Aroohi Dheri and her 39-year-old brother-in-law Amandeep Singh on Monday morning.
Newly released surveillance footage shows the suspect walking past and the moment a family of four was abducted at gunpoint from their truck company in central California
Jesus Salgado, 48, was arrested Tuesday in Merced, California, after using one of the victim’s ATMs.
The video released on Wednesday shows the suspect walking past the property before talking to one of the men.
He is later seen leading the men, who had their hands tied behind their backs, to the back seat of Amandeep Singh’s pickup truck.
The suspect then returned to the trailer that served as the office and led Jasdeep Singh, who was carrying her baby in her arms, outside and into the truck before the suspect drove off.
Relatives said nothing was stolen from the transport company, but their relatives were all wearing jewelry.
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said that after the kidnappings, a debit card belonging to one of the victims was used in Atwater, a town about 14 kilometers north of Merced.
Warnke said the kidnapper did not demand a ransom for what he believed was a financially motivated crime.
Relatives of the victims asked anyone who has a supermarket or gas station nearby to check their surveillance cameras for images of the suspect or the family.
“Please help us, come forward so my family gets home safely,” Sukhdeep Singh, a brother of the victims, said in a broken voice.
They said they were concerned that the baby would not be fed because the family did not have any baby food with them at the time of the abduction.
Jasleen Kaur (pictured left), 27, her husband Jasdeep Singh (pictured center) and their eight-month-old daughter Aroohi Dheri (pictured right) are all still missing
Video footage shows the suspect leading the men, who had their hands tied behind their backs, to the back seat of Amandeep Singh’s pickup.
The men, with their hands tied behind their backs, are then led to the truck
Relatives of Jesus Salgado, 48, contacted authorities who reported that he admitted to being involved in the kidnapping, Warnke told KFSN-TV on Tuesday.
Salgado attempted suicide before police arrived at a home in Atwater, and he has been hospitalized since then, he said.
Warnke said detectives have not been able to talk to Salgado, who has been under medical sedation at the hospital, but they hope to do so on Wednesday with the help of doctors.
“I can tell you he’s been violent every time he’s even regained consciousness,” Warnke said.
Warnke said he hopes Salgado decides to cooperate with the police and lead them to the family.
“First of all, we want the family back,” he said. “I’m not worried about the court right now, we’ll deal with the court later.”
This video image released by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office shows a stakeholder in a surveillance photo of a person making a bank transaction at an ATM at a bank
Earlier this week, police released these images of the suspect, who are now believed to be Salgado. is
Salgado had previously been convicted of first-degree theft using a firearm in Merced County, as well as attempted false imprisonment and attempting to prevent or deter a victim or witness. He was sentenced to 11 years in state prison in that case, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
He was released from prison in 2015 and released on parole three years later. He has also been convicted of possessing a controlled substance, the corrections agency said.
Investigators have found no connection between Salgado and the family indicating that they knew each other before the kidnapping.
“As of now, we think it was random,” Deputy Alexandra Britton said. “We have no evidence to prove otherwise.”
Family members told KXTV-TV that the office of Unison Trucking Inc., the family-owned company, had only opened about a week earlier.
‘My husband is a very peaceful and calm person. We have no idea why they kidnapped them,” said Jaspreet Caur, the wife of the kidnapped uncle.
The sheriff said detectives believe the kidnapper destroyed unspecified evidence in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Officials have not yet revealed a motive for the kidnapping and the family is still missing
The sheriff’s office said firefighters set fire to Amandeep Singh’s truck on Monday. Merced Police officers went to Amandeep Singh’s home, where a relative tried to reach him and the couple.
When they couldn’t reach their relatives, they called the Merced County Sheriff’s Office to report them missing, the office said.
Merced County Undersheriff Corey Gibson said a farmer found a phone belonging to one of the victims on a street in Dos Palos, a town 30 miles southwest of Merced, and answered it when the family called him.
Warnke said while detectives have not identified a motive or determined whether Salgado worked with accomplices, he believes the suspect was driven by money and colluded with someone else.
“I am fully convinced that at least one other person was involved,” the sheriff said, pointing out that he has no evidence to back that up.
He added: “My speculation is that it is financial.”
The sheriff’s office said the FBI, the California Department of Justice and other local law enforcement agencies are assisting with the investigation.