2 Daughters of Slaying Suspect Are Found Dead

The bodies of two young girls found Saturday in a garbage dump in Northern California’s wine country were the daughters of Ramon Salcido, a winery worker suspected of killing his wife and four others, authorities said.

Another child, Salcido’s 3-year-old daughter, Carmina, was found alive--but with her throat slit from ear to ear, Sonoma County sheriff’s investigators said. She was in guarded condition after surgery at Petaluma Valley Hospital, where she was also being treated for exposure and dehydration, officials said.

“It appears her vital signs are stable, and she’s going to make it,” said Chuck Cowen, a hospital administrator.

Found in Nightgown

The surviving child, who was in her nightgown when found, told officers “that her father cut her throat . . . that they were attacked late last (Friday) night and thrown over the embankment and left there,” Sonoma County Sheriff Richard Michaelsen said.

“I can’t imagine these crimes being committed by one individual,” Michaelsen told a news conference late Saturday afternoon. “He (Salcido) has to be completely demented and out of his mind to do that to his children. He’s just a psychopath.”

The dead girls, apparently abducted by their father during Friday’s rampage, were Teresa, 1, and Sofia, 4, the sheriff said. Their throats also had been slashed, he said.

The girls were found in a landfill near California 116 between Petaluma and Sonoma, just a few miles from where Salcido, 27, is suspected of going on a rampage Friday that left his wife, an assistant wine maker at the winery where he worked and three in-laws--including two other little girls--dead.

Michaelsen, who is heading the investigation, told reporters that the bodies were first seen by a passer-by who thought he saw two “doll figures” lying in the dump. A third “doll” appeared to be walking about, he said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Chuck Smith said the three girls appeared to have been at the dump “for some time.”

Salcido, described by authorities as armed and dangerous, was still at large Saturday night despite a dragnet involving law enforcement agencies from throughout the state. Mexican authorities also were notified to be on the alert.

Salcido is a native of Mexico and there was speculation he would head for the border. He also has relatives in Los Angeles, Fresno, Stockton and other cities, authorities said.

Because of the particular brutality of Friday’s slayings--most of the victims appeared to be bludgeoned or stabbed to death--law enforcement officers had been especially fearful for the safety of the girls, whom Salcido is believed to have abducted after allegedly slaying his wife.

Sexually Assaulted

Two of Salcido’s other alleged victims, his wife’s 12- and 8-year-old sisters, were sodomized and sexually assaulted, authorities said.

Dr. H. Wayne Light, a psychologist who works with law enforcement agencies in Northern California, had warned officials after Friday’s slayings that he thought Salcido was deranged and capable of killing his daughters.

“When someone has a temper outburst like this, a hostile attack on family members, they depersonalize,” Light told The Times before the girls had been found.

“And when you depersonalize, even people close to you are not seen in the same way.”

Two journalists who staked out the home of Salcido’s former wife, Debra Ann, in Fresno reportedly saw a car that looked like Salcido’s on Friday afternoon; three young children appeared to be in the car.

That car, a brown 1979 Ford LTD, was found abandoned later Friday in the back parking lot of a sports equipment store in San Rafael, a city north of San Francisco and about 20 miles from where the killings took place.

Car Seen at Dump Site

Sheriff’s deputies originally thought Salcido had switched to another car he owns, a black 1982 Pontiac Firebird. But late Saturday, they said Salcido may be driving a brown 1967 Ford station wagon, because a vehicle of that description was seen near the dump site.

There was no immediate explanation for why Salcido would have gone to San Rafael. Police there were questioning members of the sizable Latino community for clues that might lead to Salcido.

Neighbors and friends described Salcido as a heavy drinker who was obsessively jealous of his young, attractive wife, a woman who aspired to a modeling career. He had a short temper and a love for guns, neighbors said.

Richard Clark, who lived near the Salcidos, said Salcido had threatened his wife often, once vowing to “blow off her head.” He was also said to have been resentful of his in-laws, a devoutly Roman Catholic, conservative family.

Investigators were still speculating on what might have set Salcido off. He had been served with court papers ordering him to pay his former wife $511 a month in child support for a 4-year-old daughter in Fresno.

And he reportedly had been warned he risked losing his job as a forklift operator at the Grand Cru Vineyards in Glen Ellen because of sloppy work.

Rampage Began Friday

The violent rampage, shattering the relative peace of the so-called Valley of the Moon, began Friday morning.

Investigators said Salcido drove to the vineyard where he was employed, shot and wounded a co-worker, then killed his boss, Tracy Toovey, with a shot in the face as he drove up to the vineyard, sheriff’s deputies said.

The wounded co-worker--Ken Butti, who was shot in the shoulder--called deputies, who went to the Salcido home in Boyes Hot Springs, where they found the body of Salcido’s wife, Angelia, 24.

Authorities alerted police in nearby Cotati. Officers went to the the home of Angelia Salcido’s parents. Her mother, Marian Louise Richards, 42, and two young sisters, Ruth, 12, and Maria, 8, had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death, according to authorities. The younger girl’s head had been partially cut off.

Investigators described the scene as a “slaughterhouse.”

Coroner’s officials in San Francisco conducted autopsies Saturday. Angelia Salcido’s mother and two sisters died of throat wounds believed inflicted with a knife, Michaelsen said.

Wife, Boss Were Shot

The sheriff said the examination confirmed that Angelia Salcido and Toovey had both been shot with a .22-caliber weapon. He said a .22-caliber pistol was recovered in the car that Salcido abandoned in San Rafael.

Despite what they called the urgency of the search for Salcido, law enforcement officials admitted progress was slow. They said they were tracking down dozens of tips and reported sightings from all over the state.

More than 24 hours after the slayings, police could only speculate on Salcido’s whereabouts and how or whether he had in fact left the wine country, an area of green hills, woods and remote back roads.

“There are numerous escape routes, out almost any way,” said one police official.

Late Saturday, heavy security was posted throughout the hospital where Carmina was recovering. Sheriff’s deputies stood at the doors of the intensive-care unit where the child rested.

After hearing that one child had survived, several area residents brought stuffed animals and boxes of candy to the hospital.

“I just heard about it and felt moved,” said Laura Herrington after depositing a pink stuffed elephant at the front desk. “I always wanted to adopt a little girl. I like children.”