Raymond Reand Muchache, 47, is named among the 25 farm laborers killed in a series of connected homicides near the Feather River and Yuba City, California, in 1971.

The victims were discovered after a peach grower noticed a freshly dug, man-sized hole on May 19, 1971; excavations in surrounding orchards and river property soon uncovered multiple shallow graves. Muchache’s body was identified among those recovered. Investigators reported similar wounds across victims — deep stab or puncture wounds to the chest and severe head injuries from a machete or similar weapon — and a consistent burial pattern that linked the killings.

Labor contractor Juan Vallejo Corona quickly became the central suspect. Evidence recovered from graves and from searches of Corona’s property included documents bearing his name, knives with human blood, and other items that prosecutors used to connect him to the series. Corona was convicted in 1973 of all 25 counts, the convictions were overturned on appeal in 1978, and he was reconvicted at a retrial in 1982; Muchache’s death was prosecuted as part of that group of homicides.