A man from Southern California is accused killed a couple, burned their bodies and cars in the desert, and then stole nearly $250,000 worth of luxury watches, handbags and clothing from their home, prosecutors said.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that Huangting Gong, 30, of Glendale, was charged with two counts of murder, one count of felony kidnapping, two counts of arson and two counts of first-degree burglary. .

“The depravity does not adequately describe the callousness involved in killing a human being and then driving off in the victim’s own car with the body inside to carry out the rest of his plan,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. said in a Tuesday press release.

“No one deserves the fate of being executed and then burned in the middle of the desert in a killer’s desperate attempt to cover up his crimes,” Spitzer continued. “We are committed to pursuing justice for the victims and their loved ones. the.”

As of Wednesday, it was unclear whether Gong had legal representation.

Why is Huangting Gong accused?

Authorities learned of Gong’s alleged crimes on Oct. 15 when a family member of 37-year-old Kuanlun Wang contacted the Brea Police Department after not hearing from him for several days, which “It was very unusual,” Spitzer’s office said. The family member told police that Wang disclosed that Gong, a business associate, owed him $80,000, the state government agency’s statement continued.

Because the family member was unable to contact Wang, she contacted Gong on October 12, who told her that Wang and Wang’s wife Jing Li, 37, did not show up for a trip to New York to meet someone else. business associate who could pay Wang the $80,000 he owed, the prosecutor’s office said. Wang’s family was unaware of a planned trip to New York, according to the statement.

After surveillance video from Oct. 14 showed a man on Wang’s patio, the family member again contacted Gong, who denied it was him in the footage, the prosecutor’s office said. Once the family member contacted Gong, her access to the video security system was abruptly cut off, according to the state government agency.

Huangting Gong arrested at Los Angeles International Airport

Prosecutors say Gong met Wang on Oct. 12 in the desert, shot him in the head, put his body in Wang’s Tesla and then drove the car to Wang’s home in Brea, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Once at the Brea home, authorities accuse Gong of attacking Jing Li with a hammer and beating her while he forced her to divulge her phone password, the prosecutor’s office said. After allegedly attacking Li, Gong put her inside his own Tesla, drove her to a desert area in San Bernardino, shot her there and then burned her body, according to Spitzer’s office.

After burning Li’s body, Gong then retrieved Wang’s body from the couple’s home in Brea and dumped it in a secluded desert area in Riverside County, the DA’s office alleges. Gong then burned Wang’s body, took the couple’s Tesla to a third desert area and set it on fire, the state government agency said.

Once Gong disposed of the bodies and two Teslas, he is accused of returning to the couple’s home on Oct. 14 and stealing nearly $250,000 worth of luxury items, according to the release. The Brea Police Department arrested Gong at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 5 when he returned from a trip to Seattle, Spitzer’s office said.

DA: Huangting Gong could face the death penalty

In addition to the original offenses, Gong was charged with two special circumstance enhancements for committing multiple murders, another enhancement for murder during the commission of a kidnapping and two final enhancements for discharging a firearm causing death, according to the DA’s office.

In special felony cases, the Orange County District Attorney’s office convenes a committee after the preliminary hearing is held to determine whether the death penalty should be on the table. Spitzer will make the final decision on whether to pursue the death in the lawsuit, his office said.

If Spitzer decides not to pursue the death penalty, then Gong’s maximum sentence would be life without the possibility of parole, according to the statement. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 2 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, California.

The last execution to take place in California was his Clarence Ray Allen on January 17, 2006, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Allen was sentenced to death in 1982 for plotting the murders of Bryon William Schletewitz, Douglas Scott White and Josephine Linda Rocha while he was behind bars for the 1974 murder of Mary Sue Kitt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Huangting Gong accused of fatally shooting CA couple, burned bodies