On January 23, 2024, 47-year-old Narcisco Sandoval was found dead in a remote desert area near Adelanto, California, one of six people discovered at the scene. All six victims suffered fatal gunshot wounds; four of them, including Sandoval, were also partially burned. Deputies located the scene after a 911 call from 22-year-old Franklin Noel Bonilla, who said he had been shot; phone tracking led officers to Lessing Avenue and Shadow Mountain Road, where five bodies were found and Bonilla’s body recovered shortly after.

Investigators say the victims had arranged to meet at that location for a marijuana transaction. Five suspects arrived and opened fire; the suspects were identified as Toniel Baez-Duarte, 34; Mateo Baez-Duarte, 24; Jose Nicolas Hernandez-Sarabia, 33; Jose Gregorio Hernandez-Sarabia, 34; and Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, 26. Law enforcement executed search warrants on January 28, 2024, in Apple Valley, Adelanto, and Pinon Hills and arrested all five. Each was charged with six felony counts of murder and six counts of robbery, with special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders; four face additional firearm-use allegations. All are held without bail and the investigation is ongoing.

Did anyone know Sandoval or recognize him from the Adelanto area or the marijuana transaction scene?