Authorities Tuesday identified the third of three Bakersfield men whose bodies were found in an SUV parked in an industrial area of Burbank, and said he had been shot in the head, as had the two other victims.
The bodies were discovered about 7 a.m. April 17 in a Jeep parked in the 1300 block of south Varney Street, said Burbank police Sgt. Derek Green.
According to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, the bodies were those of Carlos Lopez, 32, and brothers Jan Amiama, 21, and Lucas Josh Amiama, 23, whose names had been released earlier. All three men had been listed as missing out of Bakersfield.
The homicide investigation led Burbank detectives last Thursday to a property in the Riverside-area community of Jurupa Valley, Green said.
During a search at the location in the 5200 block of Stone Avenue in Riverside, “investigators determined there was sufficient evidence to suggest the deceased men found in Burbank were the victims of a crime, and that the crime likely occurred under the jurisdiction of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department,” the sergeant said.
At that point, the Riverside County sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit took over as the lead agency in the investigation. A Riverside County sheriff’s official said Tuesday morning that the investigation was continuing, and no new information was available for release.
Reports from the scene had indicated that the Jeep was registered to someone in Tennessee. It matched the description of the vehicle in a missing persons flier, circulated on social media, that said three men heading to Riverside in a Jeep Patriot with Tennessee plates went missing. One post said the men disappeared April 13.
It’s unclear how the bodies were positioned in the vehicle, though officials said no one was in the driver’s seat. Because the area is secluded and close to the freeway, Green said the bodies may have been moved to Burbank.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Riverside County Central Homicide Unit at (951) 955-2777.