4 Slain People Found in SUV in Fresno

The bodies of four adults were found Wednesday slumped in the back of an SUV parked along a street of manicured lawns and single-family houses in southeast Fresno.

The three men and a woman -- all in the rear of the vehicle and “in close proximity” -- were found after a resident called police to report what appeared to be transients sleeping in the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been parked at the curb since the previous evening.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the slaying victims did not appear to be transients, although they may have been from outside Fresno County. He declined to disclose how they died.

“This is not a suspicious death, it’s definitely a homicide,” Dyer told reporters. “All four people were killed.”

Police said there were indications -- which weren’t detailed -- that narcotics may have been involved as a possible motive.

The victims may have been killed elsewhere, then taken to Geary and Garden streets, where the vehicle was parked, Dyer said.

The Grand Cherokee -- which had not been reported stolen -- was registered outside Fresno County, though Dyer would not say where. He said the vehicle had been seen in the area over the past few days.

Dyer said the crime was “truly an aberration” in the “calm, well-established” neighborhood where the bodies were found.

The multiple slaying is Fresno’s worst crime since nine children were shot by their father in March 2004. Marcus Wesson is on San Quentin Prison’s death row after being convicted of those murders.