Salvadorans’ Dreams End in Slayings : Crime: The brothers came to U.S. with the hopes of supporting their family and buying a farm back home. Their bodies were found along a Malibu trail last week.

Mauricio Molina came to Northridge from El Salvador six years ago at the age of 17 with the same dreams as so many of his countrymen: to make enough money to send some home to his mother, seven younger brothers and a younger sister.

His brother Luis followed him with the same intentions more than a year ago. The two toiled as day laborers, hoping to eventually make enough money to return home and buy their family a farm.

But on Friday, hikers in the Santa Monica Mountains stumbled upon bodies now known to be those of the brothers. They were sprawled in the brush along the Backbone Trail near a popular swimming hole. Mauricio Molina, 23, and Luis Molina, 19, were only wearing black swim trunks.

Although police believe that the brothers knew their assailants, relatives said they have no clues.

Their single-minded goal of taking care of their family kept them from the distractions that often occupy the lives of other young men, relatives said. The two did not speak English and did not have many friends, preferring to spend time with relatives, especially their 13-year-old cousin, Eddie Molina.

“They went everywhere together and weren’t into drugs or anything,” said Molina, speaking in the Spanish-style house on Aura Avenue where the brothers lived. “They only wanted to raise enough money to return to El Salvador so they could buy a farm and some crops.

“My cousins were the kind of people, who, if they saw someone’s car broken down, they would get out of their car to help push.”

Police suspect that the brothers were executed on the trail and dragged 10 feet or so to the creek bed where the hikers found them at Malibu Creek State Park near Piuma and Malibu Canyon roads, said Lt. Ray Peavy of the sheriff’s homicide bureau.

Each had been shot once in the head at close range with a small-caliber handgun, Peavy said. One was also shot in the back.

“There was no evidence of a struggle,” Peavy said. “It’s almost like they were taken by surprise, almost like by someone they were with. That’s the assumption we’re going on now and that could be wrong.”

On Monday, police released the victims’ names after they were identified by Elsa Garcia, an aunt who recognized media descriptions of the jewelry found on the bodies, including a religious medallion and a silver scorpion-shaped ring. At first, Garcia had been convinced that the bodies could not be those of her missing relatives because police and the corner’s office had estimated that the clean-cut, youthful-looking men were between the ages of 14 and 16.

Police believe that the killer may still be driving the brothers’ missing brown, 1981 two-door Chevrolet Chevette.

When the brothers came to this country, they lived with their uncle, Effreim Molina, a weekend gardener. But a falling out two months ago sent them to Garcia and her Northridge home.

“I’ve treated them like my own children for as long as I’ve known them,” Garcia said. “They always made me happy.”

During the week, just after 8 a.m., the two brothers would drive to Fallbrook Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, where they waited for people in passing cars to stop and offer them a day’s work, Garcia said.

On the same barren street corner Tuesday afternoon, a few men still waited for work underneath a Ventura Freeway overpass. Only one of them remembered the brothers, vaguely, but all knew much of the life they lived: standing on the street hoping for the good jobs, the ones that pay $6 to $8 an hour.

“This is a good corner for work,” one said.

Antonio Olivo is a Times correspondent and Abigail Goldman is a Times staff writer.