More than four years after the shooting deaths of seven Laotian workers at an illegal marijuana farm in Southern California, authorities pleaded for people to come forward with any information that can lead them to the suspected gang members behind the killings.
Investigators believe the suspects were gang members of Laotian descent from the San Diego area. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said the agency faces a “major obstacle” obtaining information because at least some witnesses and victims entered the U.S. illegally and may have been victims of human trafficking.
Migrants who were working at the farm may fear retribution and distrust law enforcement, Bianco said. Many are from countries where law enforcement is “corrupt and further victimize the victims,” he added.
“When these immigrants come to our country, that fear of law enforcement makes them easy targets of crime because the suspects know that the victims will be reluctant to cooperate with the criminal investigation, or they may not report the crime at all. This case has been an example of that," Bianco said.
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“We know there are people out there who have additional information about these murders and the identity of the suspects,” he added.
Investigators have identified a mid-size, dark-colored SUV that was believed to be used during the killings in the remote community of Aguanga, the sheriff's department said in a news release.
Bianco described the killings as a part of a “home-invasion type robbery” carried out to obtain money. He noted that a significant amount of cannabis was left behind.
California
Six people were found dead on the property, and a woman who was shot there died later at a hospital.
The male victims were identified as Khampout Nanthavongdouangsy, 53, and Vikham Silimanotham, 64. The women were identified as Phone Chankhamany, 54; Khamtoune Silimanotham, 59; Souphanh Pienthiene, 48; Thongpath Luangkoth, 47; and Samantha Sourignask, 44.
More than 20 people lived on the property, which had makeshift dwellings and a nursery. Authorities found more 1,000 marijuana plants and several hundred pounds of processed marijuana.
Partially eaten pizza sat in boxes in a circular dirt driveway of the dilapidated two-bedroom house where the shootings occurred. Three cars were parked outside — one with its front doors open.
Cases of bottled water were stacked on the front porch, which was strewn with clothing and plastic bags. A black tarp was stretched atop poles in the fenced backyard, indicating a small growing operation. Unlike many neighboring homes, it had neither a gate nor a “no trespassing” sign at the entrance.
Aguanga is a small mountainous community about 50 miles northeast of San Diego with horse ranches along dirt roads.
Residents move to Aguanga for “peace and solitude," Dunn said. “People live here because it’s not in the city.”
Aguanga's isolation, however, may have made it prone to illegal marijuana sales and cultivation. The sheriff said almost every marijuana operation in the mountainous communities is illegal.
The state broadly legalized recreational marijuana sales in January 2018. But the illicit market continued, partly because hefty legal marijuana taxes sent consumers looking for better deals in the illegal economy.
Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, a cannabis industry group, said in 2020 that the shootings were a reminder that the sprawling illegal marketplace remains largely unchecked.
Anyone with information about the case is being urged to call Riverside Sheriff's Department at (951) 955-2777 or by sending an email to Central Homicide Unit Master Investigator Victor Magana at vmmagana@riversidesheriff.org. Tips can also be sent in digitally here.
