5 burned bodies could be bad drug deal

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the killing of five people found burned beyond recognition Saturday morning in an SUV in the Vekol Valley area in the western part of the county.

“This could have been a drug deal gone bad, or done for revenge or retaliation,” Sheriff Paul Babeu said.

Authorities found the vehicle and its dead occupants in the desert near milepost 151 of Interstate 8.

About 8:30 a.m., a Border Patrol officer using binoculars saw a vehicle smoldering from a distance.

When authorities located the SUV, it was completely burned with one person in the rear passenger seat and the other four bodies laying down in the back, Babeu said.

There were no bodies in the driver’s seat or front passenger seat. Babeu said it is possible the driver may have left the vehicle.

“This is significant,” he said.

Though the investigation is just beginning, Babeu said “a significant number of clues” indicate the deaths are connected with drug trafficking and not human trafficking.

“Human smugglers leave them (people traveling in the group who are too slow) behind but don’t kill them,” Babeu said. “This has none of those clues.”