Authorities: Body found near last sighting of California suspect

SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) -- Police on Friday discovered a body near where they spotted a car rented by a man wanted for killing three people in a Simi Valley neighborhood this week.

Friday afternoon, state park rangers found a rental car belonging to Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez, 35, near Ojai, California, in a remote mountain region northwest of Los Angeles, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Capt. Ken Cozzens.

"The suspect's vehicle has been located by Ventura County sheriff's personnel and rangers from the Los Padres National Forest," said a Simi Valley police spokesman. "There is a body that we believe is similar to that of our suspect. However, positive identification will be made by the Ventura County coroner's office."

Cozzens said police had spotted Rodriguez and gave chase but lost him.

"We have 15 units, helicopters and a SWAT team looking up there," said Cozzens.

Rodriguez, 35, went to the home of his former girlfriend, Maria Rios, on Wednesday, according to Simi Valley Police Sgt. Bob Gardner. Rios was not home at the time of the shooting.

The suspect entered the home's open garage and fired a handgun, hitting Rios' brother, Rigo Calderon, 16, police say.

The suspect then entered the home "and fired at all occupants he encountered," killing Esperanza Martinez, 80, the grandmother of Rios; her brother Ricardo Calderon, 12; and her daughter, Shantal Rios, 4, the police report said.

Rios' sister, Lucia Vargas, 19, suffered two gunshot wounds, one to her abdomen and one to her left hand. She remained in stable condition Friday at Simi Valley Hospital. Rigo Calderon was treated for a gunshot wound to his right thigh and released.

Rios' brother, Rafael Calderon Jr., 18, suffered a sprained ankle when he jumped from a second-story bathroom window.

The home belongs to Rios' parents, Ana and Rafael Calderon, who were not home during the shooting.

Police say they have not yet established a motive in the case.

Late Wednesday, police searched without success for the suspect in his home in the nearby city of Thousand Oaks. Police said he may have set fire to his home earlier in the afternoon.

Witnesses told police Rodriguez was last seen driving a rented dark blue 2002 Ford Explorer. Authorities discovered a 2000 Toyota registered to Rodriguez in a parking lot Friday.

FBI statistics rate Simi Valley, 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the country's safest city with a population of more than 100,000. Wednesday's shooting, and several another violent episodes, rocked the community.

Last month, a Simi Valley man was charged with murder and 57 counts of sexual assault involving at least 11 women.

Vincent Sanchez, 30, was charged with the murder of Megan Barroso, whose body was discovered August 4 along a remote hillside near her bullet-riddled car.

Sanchez became a suspect in the Barroso case after police connected him to a series of unsolved assaults on women that began in September 1996.