5 Arrested After 6 Bodies Found in California Desert

UPDATE Jan 30, 2024 1:00 AM CST

Five suspects have been arrested in the deaths of six people found dead in a remote part of southern California's Mojave Desert last week. Sheriff's deputies served search warrants Sunday, and the arrests followed, the AP reports. "We are confident that this appears to be a dispute over marijuana," San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Warrick says.

Jan 25, 2024 8:58 AM CST

Police in California are investigating a gruesome mystery in the Mojave Desert. San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies found six bodies at a remote crossroads after a request for a wellness check Tuesday, the New York Times reports. The sheriff's department says five bodies were found Tuesday night and a sixth was found Wednesday morning. The AP reports that TV stations blurred images captured by helicopters because the scene was so grisly. Authorities haven't confirmed how the six died, though KTLA reports that it appears they were shot and some of the bodies were burned.

An SUV with Oregon plates at the scene was riddled with bullet holes, while a second vehicle appeared undamaged. Sheriff's spokesperson Mara Rodriguez said the site is so remote that the department needed help from the California Highway Patrol's Aviation Division to locate it. The dirt crossroads is around 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles and 20 miles northwest of Victorville. "It is incredibly desolate. I cannot bring home that point enough," says KTLA reporter Annie Rose Ramon. "There's no buildings, that I saw. No businesses or anything like that," said sheriff's spokesperson Gloria Huerta, per the Times. "So, that's the best I could describe it. It's just an open area."

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Authorities say they haven't yet identified the victims—or any suspects. The sheriff's department's specialized investigations division has been called in. "It's going to be heartbreaking no matter what they discover out there as far as the circumstances, so our investigators will do their best to wrap this up quickly and get all the info possible to bring justice to those folks out there," Rodriguez said, per NBC Los Angeles. (More California stories.)