Kimmy Jones, a 34-year-old man, was killed on January 20, 1996, inside a residence in Corcoran, California. His death was part of a carefully executed triple homicide that also claimed the lives of 33-year-old Cesar Burgueno and 24-year-old Charles Shields. All three men were shot at close range, with each victim suffering two gunshot wounds to the head. The deliberate placement of the wounds and the apparent effort to eliminate everyone inside led investigators to describe the crime as having the characteristics of an execution.
The scene offered little indication that the victims had been given any opportunity to escape or defend themselves. Investigators examined Jones's reported history involving narcotics and initially considered whether the murders had been ordered as part of a drug-related dispute or retaliation. The fact that three people were killed in the same method also suggested that the attackers intended to leave no surviving witnesses. Multiple killings of this nature were uncommon in the region, adding urgency to the investigation.
The Corcoran murders occurred approximately six months after five people were shot to death during a robbery at Pato's Place, a bar near Tulare. The victims in that case had also been shot at close range. Detectives from Kings and Tulare counties began comparing the two crime scenes, considering whether the same group of offenders might have been responsible for both massacres. Investigators shared information, interviewed potential witnesses and conducted surveillance, but the Corcoran case initially stalled without enough evidence to support arrests.
Attention eventually focused on brothers Donald Ray Young and Timothy James Young, who were accused of participating in the Pato's Place killings. A man identified as Michael Horbert reportedly told investigators that he had driven the brothers to the Corcoran residence. Horbert maintained that he believed the plan was to commit an armed robbery and claimed he had not expected anyone to be murdered. His account placed the Young brothers at the scene and provided investigators with a potential explanation for how the killers arrived and fled.
Authorities also received information connecting Donald Young to firearms. Investigators reportedly learned that he had used a palm tree for target practice. Bullets recovered from the tree were examined as investigators attempted to connect the brothers to the weapons and shootings under investigation. Another alleged accomplice supplied information about the brothers' activities, strengthening suspicions that the Corcoran murders and the earlier bar massacre were linked.
Donald and Timothy Young were ultimately accused in connection with the deaths of Jones, Burgueno and Shields. However, the charges arising from the Corcoran triple homicide were later dismissed. The available evidence, including statements from alleged accomplices, was not sufficient to carry the Corcoran prosecution forward. Neither brother was convicted of killing Jones or the other two men in the residence.
The Young brothers were separately prosecuted for the five murders at Pato's Place and received death sentences for those crimes. Their convictions in that case did not legally resolve the Corcoran killings. Although investigators believed the brothers may have been responsible and an alleged driver claimed to have taken them to the residence, the dismissal of the charges left the deaths of Kimmy Jones, Cesar Burgueno and Charles Shields without a murder conviction.
