Merced, Calif. (KFSN) — A chilling new video released Wednesday by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office shows the moment a family of four, including an 8-month-old, is kidnapped.
All four family members have not been located.
The family was kidnapped at gunpoint at a Merced business on Monday, authorities said.
During a news conference Wednesday, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video showing the moments before the kidnapping.
The video shows two of the family members – Jasdeep Singh, 36, and Amandeep Singh, 39 – walking out of the business with their hands folded.
Moments later, the video shows the kidnappers walking out of the building with Jasleen Kaur and her 8-month-old baby Aroohi Dheri and into a truck.
“We continue to seek the public’s help with any information that may help us locate the family,” the Merced County Sheriff’s Office said.
The person involved, Jesus Manuel Salgado, was taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon and remains in a critical condition after attempting suicide.
Delegates learned that one of the victim’s ATM cards had been used at a bank in Atwater, a city about nine miles north of Merced, authorities said.
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Detectives received information that Salgado was a man of interest who attempted to kill himself before police arrived, a statement from the authorities said, without specifying where he was being detained.
The sheriff’s office said his own family contacted authorities and reported that Salgado had admitted to them that he was involved in the family’s kidnapping.
Merced County Sheriff Fern Warnke said the kidnappers took the child, its mother, father and uncle.
Warnke said the kidnappers did not demand a ransom and did not contact any of the children.
“If you have any helpful tips or videos, please give them to the sheriff. They are doing everything they can, but we need the public’s help right now,” a relative of the missing family member told a news conference on Wednesday. “Please help us to get my family home safely.”
Detectives believe the kidnappers destroyed unspecified evidence in an attempt to cover his tracks, the sheriff said.
The FBI, the California Department of Justice and other local law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
Warnke said his investigators still had no motive for the kidnapping, but said it was not the first time Salgado had detained victims against their will.
A similar incident occurred in December 2005, according to the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. Salgado was jailed for burglary at gunpoint, witness intimidation and attempted false imprisonment. The victim was not injured. He was released in June 2015.
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