"He Said He'd Kill Us": For Suspect In Indian Family's Murder In California, Not The First Crime

The 48-year-old man arrested for kidnapping and murdering four members of an Indian-origin family in California committed a similar crime 17 years ago, victims of which have now spoken to a local news network. 

Local officials shared Jesus Manuel Salgado's record that included the 2005 robbery for which he served eight years in jail, reported CBS47.

The victims in that robbery owned a trucking business in Merced town — as did the murder victims, an Indian-origin Sikh family who'd migrated from Punjab.

"I was shutting the front door of my home when pulled out a gun and held it to the back of my head," the 2005 robbery victim, who did not want to be identified, told the channel.

Using duct tape, Salgado tied the hands of this man, his wife, their 16-year-old daughter and her friend before he "stole all the money we had, rings, that kind of stuff", CBS47 reported.

Salgado was possibly upset as the man was his employer and had recently fired him from a job he'd held for two years. 

The man told CBS47 that Salgado even took a ring from his wife's finger before he "made the girls jump in the pool, and tried to push me in the pool too".

"He told us, 'If you call the cops, I will kill you'. And then he just walked out," the man said.

The family called the cops who arrested Salgado the next morning.

He got an 11-year sentence, of which eight he served in jail and three on probation, that is, released with the promise of good behaviour.

It's not yet clear what his motive was behind killing the Indian-origin family.

Earlier today, local authorities showed a security camera video of Salgado kidnapping the family -- Jasdeep Singh, 36, his wife Jasleen Kaur, 27, their eight-month-old daughter Aroohi Dheri, and the child's uncle, Amandeep Singh, 39 -- at gunpoint from their business on Monday.

Their bodies were found in an orchard last evening.

The family was originally from Harsi Pind near Dasuya town in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district.

The suspect, Jesus Manuel Salgado, was arrested on Tuesday and is in hospital after he tried to kill himself.

His family had reported him after he allegedly confessed that he was involved in the kidnapping.

"There's a special place in hell for this guy," said Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke.

Merced is a city of fewer than 90,000 people, about 200 kilometres from the city of San Francisco, in a valley that's considered California state's farming hub.