Search Still On for Killers Who Kidnaped Boy : Crime: They left Costa Mesa 2-year-old abandoned in car in Downey and his mother slain execution-style in the desert. Manhunt enters its 4th day.

Authorities were still searching Saturday for two men who killed a Costa Mesa woman execution-style after kidnaping her along with her 2-year-old son and a family friend four days ago.

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies said Claudia Ochoa, 24, whose body was discovered in a deserted area near Gilman Hot Springs, died of a gunshot wound. Investigators believe the killing was drug-related, deputies said.

Deputies launched their investigation in the remote desert region after an unidentified motorist stopped to help Ochoa’s 47-year-old woman friend who was severely beaten.

The incident began late Wednesday night when two men kidnaped the three victims in the Los Angeles area. The two men abandoned the boy, later identified as Jose David (Chico) Ochoa, in his mother’s 1984 Toyota Cressida, but abducted his mother and her friend in a dirty light-blue van with no windows.

A Riverside County sheriff’s spokesman said the women were driven to a location near Hemet, where Ochoa was shot to death. Her friend, whose identity was not released, was beaten on the head with a blunt instrument.

After the men sped away from the desert, the friend crawled to Gilman Springs Road, where she was discovered by the motorist who called police.

It took police several hours before they realized the tragic connection between the abandoned 2-year-old and the slain Costa Mesa woman.

On Thursday, residents of a Downey neighborhood alerted police that a little boy had been found abandoned inside a blue Toyota. When Downey police took Jose into protective custody, they also found $149,780 in cash inside the car’s trunk.

The Riverside sheriff’s spokesman said the two abductors are between 25 and 35 years old, with light complexions, medium builds, and reddish-blond hair. Both are about 6 feet tall. Investigators believe the men are Cubans, the spokesman said.