Two men wanted in connection with the slayings of a NASA engineer in California and a woman and her two children, were taken into custody Saturday at the Douglas port of entry.
Jae Hwan Shim and Tae Won Kwon, also known as Steve Kwon, are both facing four counts of first-degree murder, said Deputy Oscar Butao of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The charges stem from an incident on June 23 when L.A. County firefighters discovered the bodies of Joseph Paul Ciganek, 60, an unidentified woman, her son and her daughter in a home in Quartz Hill, authorities said.
They had been stabbed before the residence was set ablaze.
The Douglas Police Department was contacted Saturday by investigators from L.A. County who said that Shim, 39, and Kwon, 37, were being detained by Mexican officials in Agua Prieta, Sonora, according to a news release from Douglas police.
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Detectives from L.A. County flew in and met with Douglas police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials, the release said.
Mexican officials then took the men to the port of entry and turned them over to CBP, the release said.
Shim and Kwon, both of Palmdale, Calif., were booked into the Cochise County jail in Bisbee, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.
They will go through an extradition hearing within the next seven days, she added.
Both are being held on $1 million cash bonds.
A third person of interest, Si Young Yoon, 34, is still being sought. His vehicle, a 2005 Acura, was found in Palmdale.
Shim’s car — a 1998 Mercedes E320 with a California license plate of 4ANZ159 — is still missing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the L.A. County’s Sheriff’s homicide bureau at 323-890-5500.
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