PCSO updates Vekol Valley burned-bodies case

The Pinal County Sheriff's Department is working with Tempe police to see if there is a connection between a missing Tempe family and the burned vehicle found Saturday in Vekol Valley with five dead bodies inside.

On Monday, according to PCSO, Tempe police advised the sheriff's office it was working a case in which a husband, wife and their three children were confirmed missing along with the family’s full-sized Ford SUV.

Additionally on Monday, an autopsy was conducted on the five bodies by the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office. Chief Medical Examiner Gregory Hess said the bodies were badly burned and it may be difficult to determine whether they were killed before the vehicle was set on fire.

Hess added the victims’ identities only can be determined by dental records. It is not known yet if the bodies are male or female.

PCSO 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 Saturday.

Authorities found the vehicle and its dead occupants in the desert near milepost 151 of Interstate 8 after 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 in the back, Babeu said. There were no bodies in the driver’s seat or front passenger seat.