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Deputies Crack Road Rage Case, Tracking Suspects Through Businesses' Surveillance Video

MARYSVILLE (CBS13) — Yuba County Sheriff's deputies shared new details Tuesday about how they tracked down the suspects in a deadly road rage shooting last month.

Investigators say the three men opened fire on Highway 70 last month south of Plumas Lake. There was an argument with a person in another car, and that's when shots started going back and forth, killing 36-year-old Alejandro Escobar.

Detectives say hours and hours of leg work cracked the case. They tracked down surveillance video from more than two dozen businesses, piecing together the route the shooting suspects took one mile at a time.

"(It was a) tedious process with the small unit that we have," said Sgt. Nathan Lybarger with the Yuba County Sheriffs Office.

Lybarger said his team tracked the suspects for roughly 30 miles through three counties.

"It's not very common that we're able to solve some of these. Because of the amount of vehicles in the area, very little information was provided at the front end of things," Lybarger said.

This all started last month when a man was shot and killed while driving on highway 70 near the Plumas Lake. The suspects took off.

Detectives started with almost nothing to go off of, other than a description of the suspect car and knowledge of what the victim's car looked like.

"If we had the time frame and we lost the vehicle in the footage we were gathering, then we knew they had made a turn within the blocks before that," Lybarger said.

READ MORE: 3 People Arrested In Connection With Deadly Road Rage Shooting On Hwy. 70 In Yuba County

Detectives eventually tracked down surveillance video at a convenience store in Gridley, showing the suspects walk inside. That's when deputies discovered they'd had contact with the trio before.

Twenty-year-old Avery Sanchez and 21-year-old Vivion Wallace have been charged with murder. Wallace is also being charged with a parole violation. Nineteen-year-old Juan Barajas is being charged with being an accessory to the crime.

"Bringing closure to the family is really what it's all about," Lybarger said.

The Yuba County sheriff honored the detectives Tuesday and called this case one that easily could have become stale and never solved.

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