A Community Mourns-

Kidnapping/ Murder Story Impacts All of Us

Photo: GoFundMe.com

We are a little off our game this week. We hope you understand. Maybe we are not in the mood for a light-hearted feature, or a story about one of our communities celebrating a special event.

We are a community in mourning.

We lost four souls on October 3rd in what our Sheriff’s Department believes to be a greed fueled robbery and kidnapping.

A mother, father, infant child, and one other family member were killed. Two men are in jail facing a host of charges that will likely result in a lifetime of incarceration.

The Singh family worked their business, raised their children, and had every hope of a life filled with earthly blessings That came to a frightening end when the four family members were forcibly taken from their business. Within hours, the four were murdered.

Killed were Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36, and her uncle Amandeep Singh.

Suspect Jesus Manuel Salgado was arrested. His brother Albert was arrested a short time later.

There’s no doubt we’ll be living with this story for many years as the criminal justice system deals with these two.

Bob Hart Square on Main Street in Merced has been transformed to a community memorial for Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, and Jasdeep Singh, and her uncle Amandeep Singh. Photo: KCRA/YouTube

To date, over four-thousand families, individuals, and businesses have donated well over four-hundred thousand dollars to the surviving family members through a Go-Fund-Me solicitation.

According to the description on the Go Fund Me site, the family “worked tirelessly for 18 years to achieve safety, security, and community for themselves and their families. Aman and Jasdeep were the primary bread earners for the family, supported their elderly parents, and lived under one roof.”

Some of the images of the families impacted by the brutal deaths of Aroohi Dheri, her parents, and uncle. Photos: Go Fund Me

The page goes on to explain how Jasdeep (also known as JB) and Jasleen Dheri were married in India just three years ago in India. Jasleen joined her husband in the US one year after their marriage once Jasleen’s immigration was finalized. Baby Aroohi was just eight months old.

JB’s brother Aman was married and had two children ages six and nine.

The Go Fund Me page raising money for the Dheri and Singh families.

Local faith communities presided over four days of memorial services held in downtown Merced. The four nights of vigils represented the four victims of this crime. While there are four victims, that number is much higher when considering the surviving family members, the business associates, neighbors, friends, and others who were touched by the lives of the family.

And there’s the loss of whatever sense of security many of us feel about life in Merced County.

When a hard working family can be taken away (based on security cameras that captured the kidnapping) in broad daylight, many are within their rights to wonder whether the same thing could happen to them.

But underneath all of this is hope. With memorials springing up almost immediately, and an overwhelming response to a crowdfunding drive, it is clear our community is speaking with actions.

These actions include the messages on social media offering prayers and support for the Dheri family. As local citizen Raj Sidhu wrote: “That is a great example of a great community and the outpouring of love for the Sikh community. I will keep praying for Merced” Raj speaks well for how many feel during this troubling time.

Our community witnessed this incredible chain of events that resulted in the horrible deaths of this family.

But we also saw a community of compassion play out during the four memorial services for the victims. The response to a call for help for the surviving family members is nothing short of astounding. All of this originated in the same community where tragedy struck.

So we have had some bad in this community, but we have seen a lot of good as well. Maybe that bodes well for the future. We may be a little off our game right now, but we will be coming back soon to continue celebrating the good things about life in our community.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books on California are now available at the Merced Historical Society Gift Shop and on line at Lulu.com

The weblink to help the Dheri family is:

Fundraiser by Jaspreet Kaur : In Memory of The Dheri Family (gofundme.com)