El Mirage murders: 6th man found dead in San Bernardino County desert identified

PREV. COVERAGE: 5 arrested for El Mirage murders

Five people were arrested for the killings of six people in the El Mirage area of San Bernardino County, deputies announced.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. - Authorities have identified the 6th and final victim who was found dead in the small desert community of El Mirage in San Bernardino County back in January 2024.

Back on January 23, 2024, authorities found the bodies of six men in a remote part of the Mojave Desert just off Highway 395. Their bodies were found about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles and about 20 miles off Victorville.

On Friday, February 9, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department announced 41-year-old Adrian Ochoa-Salgado was the sixth and last victim identified in a series of murder believed to have stemmed from a marijuana deal gone bad.

Prior to the news of Ochoa-Salgado's death, the other five men killed in El Mirage back were identified as 25-year-old Kevin Dariel Bonilla, 22-year-old Noel Bonilla, 34-year-old Baldemar Mondragon-Albarran, 45-year-old Jose Ruelas-Calderon and 47-year-old Narcisco Sandoval.

6 bodies found in San Bernardino County

Deputies in San Bernardino County are still investigating after six people were found dead in the desert in El Mirage, more than a dozen miles outside Adelanto.

Since the shooting, five people have been arrested in the deaths of the six men. The suspects were identified as Toniel Baez-Duarte, Mateo Baez-Duarte, Jose Nicolas Hernandez Sarabia, Jose Gregorio Hernandez Sarabia and Jose Manuel Burgos Parra.

At the time of the investigation, deputies said Bonilla told authorities he had been shot, but couldn't give his location. The manner of their deaths left some members of the public wondering if the murders were cartel-related, but authorities did not confirm when the news of the five arrests was announced back in January.