A baby girl, her parents and her uncle were found dead in an orchard just days after being kidnapped at gunpoint in central California.
Eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur and Jasdeep Singh, and her uncle Amandeep Singh were kidnapped by a man from their business in Merced, San Joaquin Valley, on Monday.
Their bodies were found in a Merced County orchard about 140 miles southeast of San Francisco.
“Our worst fears have been confirmed,” Sheriff Vern Warnke said.
On Monday, firefighters found Amandeep Singh’s truck on fire and a farmer found a phone belonging to one of the victims on a street in Dos Palos, a town 30 miles southwest of Merced.
Authorities earlier said the four were taken by a convicted robber who attempted suicide a day after the kidnapping.
He did not ask for a ransom, but the sheriff said he believed it was a financially motivated crime and that he may have had accomplices.
Relatives of the suspect, Jesus Salgado, 48, contacted authorities, saying he had admitted to them that he was involved, the sheriff told KFSN-TV on Tuesday.
Mr Salgado attempted suicide before police arrived at a home in Atwater.
He is being sedated in the hospital.
“I have every confidence that there are at least other people involved,” Mr Warnke said.
“My guess is it’s financial.”
The FBI, the California Department of Justice and other local law enforcement agencies are assisting the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.