LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Arrests have been made in connection with the slayings of six people whose bodies were found last week strewn in a desolate patch of California’s Mojave Desert, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said on Monday.
The agency said in a press advisory that no additional information would be made available before a news conference set for 5 p.m. PST (0100 GMT).
Sheriff’s deputies responding to a call discovered the bodies last Tuesday night in a remote area of high desert scrub off Highway 395 near the community of El Mirage, some 60 miles(97 km) northeast of Los Angeles, officials said.
Neither the gender, nor ages of the victims were immediately disclosed, and authorities said at the time said they had yet to determine the manner or cause of deaths, the circumstances of the killings or a possible motive.
Local news media reported then that the victims, found at the intersection of two dirt roads, had been shot. Los Angeles television station KTLA-TV said aerial footage from the scene showed bloodied bodies on the ground with dozens of evidence markers and bullet casings surrounding them. Some of the victims also appeared to have been burned, the TV station said.
Two vehicles – an SUV and a van – were also left at the scene. KTLA said the SUV was riddled with bullet holes and appeared to have some of its windows blown out. One of the bodies was found in one of the vehicles.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)
Comments