Police Release Identities of 2 Slaying Victims Found in Truck
Authorities Monday used fingerprint comparisons to identify three men found dead in Hawthorne on Sunday, their bodies bound and deposited in a pickup truck that was parked in front of a church.
Sheriff’s deputies released the names of two of the men, identified as Ignacio Soto, 23, and Jose Ramirez, 40, both of Sun Valley. The name of the third victim, a 30-year-old man, was not released pending notification of his family, said Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Hellmold.
A deputy called the slayings, in which the men’s hands and feet were tied and their heads covered with plastic trash bags, “your basic execution.”
The three were discovered when the Rev. LaMonte King arrived for services at the Del Aire Baptist Church and noticed a foul smell coming from a white, 1973 GMC truck. Inside, two badly decomposed bodies were wrapped in duffel bags and a third was rolled into a blanket.
“Now that we know who they are, it’s going to help us a lot to backtrack and figure out what happened,” Hellmold said.
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