LIVE: Authorities give update on kidnapped Central Valley family; person of interest in custody

MERCED, Calif. — An individual of curiosity within the kidnapping of 4 relations in Central California’s Merced County was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon, authorities introduced.

The 4 relations, together with an 8-month-old toddler, haven’t been discovered. The household was kidnapped Monday at gunpoint from a enterprise in Merced, the sheriff’s workplace stated, with out offering additional particulars.

“We proceed to ask for the general public’s assist with any info that will help us in finding the household’s whereabouts,” the Merced County Sheriff’s Workplace stated.

The sheriff’s workplace says 48-year-old Jesus Manuel Salgado, the individual of curiosity, is within the hospital in vital situation after he tried to kill himself.

Authorities say deputies had been knowledgeable that one of many sufferer’s ATM playing cards was used at a financial institution in Atwater, a metropolis about 9 miles north of Merced.

4 relations kidnapped from Merced enterprise, image launched of suspect

Detectives acquired info that recognized Salgado as an individual of curiosity and that he tried to take his personal life earlier than police arrived, a press release from authorities stated, with out specifying the place he was taken into custody.

The sheriff’s workplace stated his family contacted authorities reporting that Salgado had admitted to them he was concerned with the kidnapping of the household.

The sheriff’s workplace will maintain a information convention Wednesday to offer extra particulars.

The kidnapper took the infant, Aroohi Dheri; the kid’s mom, Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, stated Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke in a video revealed Monday on Fb.

Warnke stated the kidnapper made no ransom calls for or contact of any form.

Members of the family instructed KXTV-TV that the household, which has a trucking firm, was taken from an workplace that they’d solely opened a couple of week earlier.

“My husband could be very peaceable and calm individual. We have no clue why they kidnapped them,” stated Jaspreet Caur, spouse of the kidnapped uncle.

The sheriff’s division on Monday launched two nonetheless pictures from surveillance footage of a potential suspect and requested for the general public’s assist in figuring out the person. He is seen carrying a darkish hooded sweatshirt, darkish shorts and a lightweight blue disposable face masks.

The sheriff stated detectives consider the kidnapper destroyed unspecified proof in an try to cowl his tracks.

The sheriff’s workplace stated in a press release Tuesday that Amandeep Singh’s car was discovered on fireplace Monday round 11:40 a.m. Merced police and relations had been unable to contact him or the couple. Shortly after, the Merced County Sheriff’s Workplace responded to the enterprise and decided they’d been kidnapped.

The sheriff’s workplace stated the FBI, the California Division of Justice, and different native legislation enforcement companies are serving to with the investigation.

Warnke says his investigators nonetheless do not have a motive for the kidnapping, however he says this is not the primary time that Salgado has held victims in opposition to their will.

In line with the Merced County District Lawyer’s Workplace, there was an identical incident in December 2005. That landed Salgado in jail for expenses of dwelling invasion theft with a gun, witness intimidation and tried false imprisonment. The victims weren’t damage.

He was launched in June 2015.

In the meantime, relations of the kidnapped victims are praying their family members will probably be discovered alive.

“Please, I’ve a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old child, and they’re ready for his or her dad,” Caur stated. “Please, please ship my household again. Please return my household.”

KFSN-TV and the Related Press contributed to this report.