A 39-year-old Turlock man has been arraigned on murder charges in the killing of a California DoorDash driver whose body was found in the trunk of a Tesla.
Manuel Salceda entered a Merced County Superior Court courtroom on Oct. 20 to face charges that he beat Javier Becerril Jr., 42, of Hollister, before stashing the victim’s body in the electric sedan. The arrest came three months after Becerril’s remains were discovered July 9 on State Route 152 in Merced County, a case that quickly shifted from a missing-person search to a homicide probe.
The California Highway Patrol’s Central Division Major Crimes Unit led the lengthy investigation, which spanned multiple Bay Area counties before ending at a Woodland gas station. Officers took Salceda into custody without incident on Oct. 11 at a station on Road 8 near Interstate 5, according to the CHP.
Detectives had learned that morning that a vehicle believed to be carrying Salceda was near Dublin, setting off a pursuit across several counties. The trail ended roughly 70 miles north in Woodland, a city in Yolo County just west of Sacramento.
The investigation uncovered surveillance footage, physical evidence and other leads that pointed to Salceda, authorities said. Investigators also determined that the suspect may have used multiple identities to try to evade law enforcement.
Becerril’s family had reported him missing before authorities discovered his body inside the Tesla near the highway. The circumstances immediately struck investigators as unusual.
“There are circumstances that are suspicious, and that’s why we’re treating it as such,” a CHP investigator said during the early stages of the case.
Officers also examined the Tesla’s onboard computer system for potential data or video that could help identify whoever was responsible for the death.
CHP Chief Damon Gilmore highlighted the cross-county nature of the probe in a statement following Salceda’s capture.
“As California’s state police, the CHP is committed to pursuing violent offenders and working with our law enforcement partners to bring those responsible to justice,” Gilmore said.
“Our detectives tracked the evidence across multiple counties to locate and arrest the suspect in Javier Becerril Jr.’s killing,” he added.
The case began when Becerril, a Hollister resident, vanished while working as a DoorDash driver. His disappearance prompted the family to file a missing-person report, but the discovery of his body inside the Tesla on July 9 transformed the search into a homicide investigation. Detectives later concluded that Becerril had suffered a physical assault before being placed in the vehicle’s trunk.
Salceda remains in custody as the case proceeds through Merced County Superior Court.