Snowplow driver finds bodies of Burbank couple on side of highway near Yosemite; murder investigation underway

CNNWire
Friday, November 13, 2020
Snowplow driver finds bodies of Burbank couple near Yosemite
A snowplow driver made a gruesome discovery earlier this week while driving on a remote part of a California highway: two dead bodies.

A snowplow driver made a gruesome discovery earlier this week while driving on a remote part of a California highway: two dead bodies.

The Mono County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) on Thursday identified the victims as a husband and wife from Burbank.

"It was determined that the man and woman had been murdered," the MCSO said Thursday in a press release. "The crime appears to be specific and targeted, and there is no threat to the community of Bridgeport."

The MCSO wrote on Facebook that shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Monday "a Cal Trans snowplow driver observed two bodies on the shoulder of Highway 395, approximately 10 miles north of Bridgeport," MCSO said on Facebook.

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Upon the discovery, about 50 miles northeast of Yosemite National Park, the highway was closed by the MCSO and the California Highway Patrol, the MCSO said.

The bodies were identified by the authorities, who then contacted the relatives.

The MCSO on Thursday identified the couple as William Adrian Larsen, 35, and his wife Yesenia Larsen, 30.

The MCSO did not provide any other details about the homicides.

Sarah Roberts, a spokesperson for MCSO, said the sheriff's office was pooling all of its resources for the matter.

"We're right in the thick of things with the investigation," Roberts told CNN. "It's taken as many available officers as we have, which is probably about 15. We are a pretty small department."