A Yokuts Valley man who admitted killing three men over a five-year span and later directed investigators to their burial sites was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.

Buford Jonathan King, 40, received a sentence of 50 years to life plus life without parole from Fresno County Superior Court Judge Alvin Harrell following a plea agreement entered March 3.

Prosecutors said King accepted responsibility for the killings of Aleksey Shelest, Donnie Lee, and Albert Contreras, whose deaths occurred between 2011 and 2016.

Authorities said King claimed he killed the victims after witnessing or learning of alleged sexual abuse involving children or vulnerable people. Prosecutors said those allegations were never adjudicated in court and, in several instances, could not be independently verified by investigators.

Shelest was reported missing May 28, 2016, after his sister told the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office she had not heard from him since May 18. Lee was reported missing Nov. 9, 2016, after a Reedley police sergeant relayed concerns from two people who said Lee had been living with King in Yokuts Valley and had argued with him over money.

Another witness contacted authorities later that month and reported seeing fresh digging on King’s property. The witness said that Lee had gone there to collect money owed to him and was never seen again.

(Yokuts Valley was known as Squaw Valley until 2023 under a law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The law directed state and local authorities to remove “squaw” from geographic features and place names throughout the state.)

Investigations Unsolved Until 2019

The investigations remained unsolved until March 2019, when Fresno County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jose Diaz received information that King’s girlfriend had details about the disappearances. During an interview with detectives, the woman said she feared for her safety after King threatened to kill her if she tried to leave him.

She described multiple holes dug on King’s property and a neighboring property and told investigators that King said Shelest had been shot while standing inside one of the holes. She also said she heard a gunshot Nov. 5, 2016, and later saw Lee lying on the ground with catastrophic head injuries.

Investigators executed search warrants March 20, 2019, on both properties in Yokuts Valley. Six days later, detectives located Shelest’s remains along with personal belongings including his wallet and cellphone.

During a jail interview April 14, 2019, King confessed to killing Shelest and Lee and identified where the bodies had been buried, authorities said.

King later told investigators about another killing in Tulare County. Prosecutors said he admitted strangling Contreras to death in Visalia in 2011, transporting the body, and burying the remains. Detectives later identified Contreras through missing persons cases from that period.

On April 27, 2019, King accompanied investigators to burial locations in Visalia and Yokuts Valley and directed detectives to the remains of Contreras and Lee, according to prosecutors.

The Fresno County DA’s Office credited the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, and Visalia Police Department for their work on the investigation, which began with the disappearance of Contreras in 2011.

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