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SANTA CRUZ COUNTY - Investigators in Santa Cruz County are still trying to put all the pieces together in a triple homicide; all done execution style.

The bodies were found in a remote area west of I-19 near Tumacacori.

The area was so remote and full of mountainous terrain, detectives from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department had to be airlifted in just to investigate.

It definitely made things more difficult but it made it easier to determine at least who they were dealing with. Sheriff Tony Estrada said, "That's not an area where you would normally see people other than activity generated by the drug trade and illegal aliens coming across."

On scene, deputies determined each man was shot execution style and it wasn't too long ago. Estrada said, "According to border patrol it might have been about a week. No more than a week that these bodies had been there."

It's a rare event for Santa Cruz County that hasn't seen a homicide for more than a year. Sheriff Estrada said multiple deaths like this one are even rarer. He said, "This is the first triple homicide that I can recall in the time that I've been Sheriff in Santa Cruz County over past 18 and a half years.

Sheriff Estrada said this was extra disturbing because it was done execution style, a growing trend over in Mexico. He's nervous that the trend is coming this way to the U.S.