Ritu Jha-
There is a pall of gloom over Merced County and no one exemplifies it more than the local Sikh temple’s main priest or Gyaniji, as Sikh priests are called.
“The entire community is mourning,” he told indica over the phone on Thursday. “Who would have even eaten any dinner last night? No one. We all rushed to Amandeep’s home (as soon as we heard the news of his murder). We cannot explain the feeling, the pain, and the anger over this inhuman act. He shot all three adults and left the baby girl to die.”
On Monday, October 3, a family of four – two young parents, their eight-month-old daughter and another family member – was abducted from their place of business in Merced, around 101 miles south-east of San Jose in California. After an intense search that involved the local police, the FBI and the Department of Justice, their bodies were found on October 5 evening by a farm worker in a remote area near the intersection of Indiana and Hutchins roads, northeast of Dos Palos.
The abduction and killing has shocked both the United States and India, where family immigrated from.
“She must have died starving for milk,” the Gyaniji told indica. “Adults may survive for a few days but how can an eight-month-old baby.”
At around 9am on the fateful day, 36-year-old Jasdeep Singh, his 27-year-old wife Jasleen Kaur, their eight-month-old child and 39-year-old Amandeep Singh were taken against their will from newly opened office in Merced.
The Gyaniji said that he had performed the prayer at the inauguration of the new office on September 17. “It is the same place where they were abducted from,” he said. “I have no idea why Jesus Manuel Salgado would kidnapp the family and then kill them. He was indeed employed by Jasdeep and later fired from the job. It could be an act of vengeance.”
The head priest said that all that Salgado, 48, could have done is ask the community for money. “Killing the family was not the solution to anything.”
Meanwhile, Salgado, who was arrested and brought in to a hospital was categorized as critical. He is not cooperating with the police, the sheriff’s office said.
The Gyaniji said Amandeep and his entire family were model citizens – kind, compassionate and would regularly visit the gurdwara and offer service.
“Amandeep knew everyone and everyone knew him in the community,” he said. “He was a young man with two small children, a boy and a girl. The girl must be seven or eight, while the son must be five.”
He added that when Amandeep was abducted, he was on the phone talking to his father back in India.
Merced County Sheriff’s Office said in a press conference on Wednesday that Salgado had a criminal history dating back to 2005. In 2007, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for first-degree robbery, attempted false imprisonment, and dissuading a witness. He spent eight years in prison and three years on probation until 2018.
The 2005 victim of Salgado’s crime spoke to a local media house KSEE/KGPE.
The man, who owned Central Valley trucking company, said Salgado worked for him for two years. After he fired Salgado, the man said, his former employee came to his home wearing a ski mask one night in December 2005.
The family told KSEE/KGPE that Salgado threatened to kill the family if they informed the police, but they did. Salgado had pulled out a gun and held it to the back of the man’s head, and duct-taped his hands and those of his wife, his 16-year-old daughter and his daughter’s friend before he “stole all the money we had, rings, that kind of stuff.”
Salgado took the ring off of his wife’s finger, and money and before he left, he “made the girls jump in the pool and tried to push him in the pool.”
According to the police, they first learned about this current case while searching for Amandeep’s burnt truck. At approximately 11:39 am on October 3, teams of California Highway Patrol and Cal Fire were dispatched to Buhach Road and Oakdale Road in Winton for a report of a vehicle on fire. The vehicle was later identified to be a black 2020 Dodge Ram truck.
Later, the California Highway Patrol – Merced arrived on the scene to start the investigation. At approximately 12:35 pm, California Highway Patrol requested the assistance of Merced Police Department in an attempt to contact the registered owner of the vehicle, Amandeep Singh.
When the Merced Police Department arrived at the residence, they were not able to make contact with Amandeep however, they were able to reach another family
member.
“The family members attempted to contact Jasleen Kaur, Jasdeep Singh, and Amandeep Singh. When they were not able to reach their family members, they called the Merced County Sheriff’s Office to report Jasleen, Jasdeep, Amandeep, and 8-month-old, Aroohi missing,” MHP said.
“At approximately 1:04 pm, our Office was notified and responded to a business on South Highway 59. During the primary investigation, Detectives determined that the individuals were kidnapped.”
Pall of gloom over Merced County, CA after Sikh family’s killing
