California homicide arrest; body exhumed in Arizona desert

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police have arrested a suspect in a Southern California homicide after sheriff’s deputies exhumed a body in the Arizona desert about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Las Vegas.

Garrett Cole, 31, was arrested on Friday in California’s Riverside County and booked into jail on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and robbery, Bakersfield police said. He had been wanted in connection with the Sept. 23 killing of a man in the Bakersfield area.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Cole had a lawyer or would be appointed one at a pending court appearance.

The victim’s name has not been released. Detectives said they had received information indicating he was killed in California and his body taken to Fort Mohave, Arizona.

The Mohave County Sheriff’s office located the burial site near the Arizona-California line on Thursday and exhumed the body, police said.

Three other suspects were arrested in connection with the incident earlier this week, authorities said.

Police said the victim’s name will be released by the Fort Mohave Coroner’s Office at a later date. An autopsy was pending.