Mojave mystery: 6 dead bodies found at remote crossroads in Calif. desert

globalnews.ca:

Police in southern California discovered a gruesome scene at a remote dirt crossroads in the Mojave Desert: six dead bodies. Details are still scant as investigators try to determine what happened, but the scene was so grisly that TV stations blurred some of the images captured by their helicopters overhead.

Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office were called to the area to do a wellness check off Highway 395 outside the community of El Mirage around 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

Police initially found five bodies on Tuesday night. Another body was found Wednesday morning.

The circumstances of the deaths are unconfirmed, but Victor Valley News Group reported the victims were fatally shot.

Footage from media helicopters showed two vehicles — a dark-coloured SUV and a light-coloured minivan — at the grisly scene with dozens of evidence markers laid out surrounding them.

The SUV was riddled with bullet holes and appeared to have some of its windows blown out, KTLA reported.

Some of the bodies appeared to have been burned. It’s unclear how long the bodies have been there.

Details about the victims’ identities, including sex and age, were not made available by police.

The area, about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is so remote that the San Bernardino police called in help from the California Highway Patrol’s Aviation Division, sheriff’s spokesperson Mara Rodriguez said.

“It’ll be several hours still before we are ready for any body to be removed from the scene,” she said, adding that the coroner’s investigators will be called in then.

Members of the department’s specialized investigations division were brought in to conduct a homicide investigation, according to an email from sheriff’s spokesperson Gloria Huerta.