Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 2 Bodies Dumped in Canyon Had Been Killed Days Before : Crime: The unidentified men had been stabbed and shot. Drugs are found on one victim, but authorities are still seeking a motive for the slayings.
CANYON COUNTRY — Two black men, believed to be in their 30s, were stabbed, shot and killed days before their bodies were found by a jogger over the side of Soledad Canyon Road in a rural portion of Canyon Country, according to sheriff’s officers.
Authorities don’t know the motive behind the crime and are further puzzled by a sandwich bag containing about an ounce of rock cocaine found in the underwear of one of the dead men. They are awaiting fingerprinting results from the coroner’s office to learn the dead men’s identities.
“Once we get the IDs, we can try to determine the motive,†said Lt. Ray Peavy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide bureau.
One man was shot in the head and both arms and stabbed in the upper body, while the other was shot and stabbed in the upper body.
Investigators are unsure if the killings were over drugs.
“It was concealed in his underwear, which had been pulled down. It makes you wonder if they (the attackers) were looking for it,†said Peavy. “It’s doubtful that the shooter would leave the drugs with the body unless he was trying to send a message, because of how valuable the stuff is to those guys.â€
The bodies were discovered Wednesday afternoon near Soledad Canyon and Capra roads by a jogger, who then called the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
“He (the jogger) smelled a foul odor. In a ravine about 20 feet down the embankment off Soledad Canyon Road, he found a body,†said Deputy Irma Becerra of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. “While the jogger was waiting for the deputies to arrive, he found another body 15 feet to the east.â€
No shell casings were found at the scene, causing investigators to believe that the attacks occurred somewhere else.
“It’s common for someone to do this sort of deed and then drop them somewhere else,†Peavy said.
This is the second time in two weeks that a corpse was found along Soledad Canyon Road. The earlier incident occurred west of Camp Plenty Road, where the strangled body of a Canyon Country woman was found.
Veronica Estrada, 29, was a second-degree black belt who taught at a local tae kwon do studio. Authorities believe she was the victim of a random attack.
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