On February 4, 2024, at about 6:45 p.m., 20-year-old Jack Canchola and his cousin, 26-year-old Andres Chavita Garcia, both of Soledad, California, were fatally shot near the Salinas River in the 41000 block of Los Coches Road. The cousins had been by the river when they were confronted by at least two people in a light-colored, four-door sedan. Canchola and Garcia fled in their pickup while calling for help and reported being chased by guys with guns.

Their truck ran off the road into a vineyard, where the pursuers caught up and executed them beside the vehicle. Investigators say the suspects used a silver 2013 Kia Optima that had been reported stolen four days earlier, and that the attack was a case of mistaken identity; neither victim had criminal records or gang ties. The killings were described as execution-style, a detail that has shaken the Soledad community.

Does anyone have information about that stretch of Los Coches Road or the silver Kia Optima seen in early February?