A roughly 5,000- plant marijuana garden discovered earlier this year in the mountains above Santa Barbara could be connected to a homicide, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.

Sheriff’s narcotics detectives were investigating the disappearance of Jesus Omar Villa of Fresno when they discovered the marijuana garden, and several suspects allegedly operating and maintaining the grow, according to sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars.

Detectives have learned through unspecified means that Villa was helping maintain the pot farm when he died, and might have been the victim of a homicide.

Continued investigation resulted in the arrests of 17 people allegedly associated with a drug-trafficking organization, the seizure of $1 million worth of marijuana, cocaine valued at more than $100,000, 11 guns and $39,000 in cash, Sugars said.

Four suspects are still outstanding, each with a $250,000 warrant for their arrest, Sugars said.

The outstanding suspects include: Gerardo Farfan, 26, Juventino Lara Arellano, 51, Rigoberto Alvare Cruz, 29, all of whom are believed to be either in the Glendale or Fresno areas, and Gamaliel Galindo Cardenas, 35, who is believed to be either in California or Washington.

“Our detectives did a very good job on a very complex case that spread through several counties,” Sugars said.

On Sept. 14, sheriff’s personnel, including search-and-rescue volunteers, eradicated the garden, which as discovered along West Camino Cielo, which runs along the ridge of the Santa Ynez Mountain, west from Highway 154..

Most of the marijuana had been harvested, but detectives destroyed more than 200 plants, Sugars said.

Having obtained information that Villa was buried somewhere in the mountains above Santa Barbara, search-and-rescue volunteers searched the area using dogs specially trained to find cadavers, but did not find the body.

Detectives also learned that the suspected growers were collaborating to ignite a brush fire in the area to burn any remaining evidence associated with the marijuana grow and Villa’s body, Sugars said.

On Oct. 8, search warrants were served in Fresno, Tulare, San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles counties, and seven suspects were arrested.

The investigation is continuing, but detectives have gotten little cooperation from the suspects in custody, and Villa’s body may never be found, Sugars said.

If his remains are located, and he is determined to be a homicide victim, detectives are confident they have their suspect in custody, he added.

Sugars said that it is possible a homicide arrest will be made even if Villa’s body is not found.

He said that he could not discuss how detectives determined Villa might have been a homicide victim.

“I can’t get into that because that’s part of the investigation,” Sugars said.

He said that anyone who knows the outstanding suspects should not approach them, but should instead contact law enforcement.