Photos of the victims killed at the Aguanga marijuana farm in 2020 at right as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco discuss the investigation of the slayings during a news conference at the Riverside County Sheriff Department in Riverside on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The scene at the massacre of seven sleeping workers at an illegal marijuana operation in Aguanga in 2020 was so grisly that one deputy who viewed the carnage retired.
The threat of similar violence, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, has kept those with knowledge of the crime silent.
But now that investigators have identified three “persons of interest” — members of a Laotian criminal street gang from the San Diego area — Bianco on Friday, Jan. 3, issued a plea for that silence to be broken. Bianco said at a news conference that he believes some people can provide the crucial information that would definitively link the three to firing the shots or planning the robbery.
The sheriff declined to identify the trio by name.
“You must help us so we can help you,” Bianco said. “We are pleading with you to do the right thing for these victims, their families and to protect the community from being victimized by these criminals who prey upon us.”
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks with Lieutenant Saykham Iemsisanith, left and Central Homicide Sgt. Jarred Bishop, right during a news conference at the Riverside County Sheriff Department in Riverside on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Deputies responding to a report of a shooting around 2 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2020, found six people dead and a seventh who died at a hospital. Several people escaped. Bags of marijuana were left untouched, Sgt. Jarred Bishop said Friday, leading investigators to conclude that the motive was the robbery of an unknown amount of cash.
The workers were Laotian, some having entered the country illegally and some coming from elsewhere in California. Some were there voluntarily, Bianco said, and others were forced labor and victims of human trafficking.
Friday’s news conference was held in Laotian and Spanish as well as English.
Investigators have followed hundreds of leads and interviewed scores of people, Bianco said, but they still need help.
The case “highlights a major obstacle that law enforcement routinely encounters when investigating crimes committed against people who are in this country illegally, especially those who we believe are victims of human trafficking,” Bianco said.
Riverside County Sheriff Lieutenant Saykham Iemsisanith raises his hands before speaking with Sheriff Chad Bianco, right discuss the investigation in the slaying of seven people at an Aguanga marijuana farm in 2020 during a news conference at the Riverside County Sheriff Department in Riverside on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
“When these immigrants come to our country, that fear of law enforcement makes them easy targets of crime because the suspects know that the victim will be reluctant to cooperate with criminal investigators or may be reluctant to report the crime,” the sheriff said.
It’s not surprising, Bianco said, that a Laotian gang would be aware that other Laotians were working with large amounts of cash in rural Aguanga.
“The Laotian community across the country is extremely tight and is relatively small,” Bianco said. “They all know. They all know everything about their community and what happens.”
The Sheriff’s Department asks anyone with information on the attack to call Investigator Victor Magana at 951-235-7336.
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