Family of woman found dead on 210 Fwy in San Bernardino wants answers

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- A family on Tuesday was asking the public for answers after their loved one's body was found on the 210 Freeway in San Bernardino.

Stella Rosas looked through old family photo albums of her daughter, January Braithwaite.

The 35-year-old mother of three was remembered as fun, creative and the rock of the family.

"I just don't know who would do this to her or what. We just have no idea," said Braithwaite's mother, Stella Rosas.

On Friday night, Braithwaite's body was found alongside the westbound lanes of the 210 Freeway.

A passing motorist called the California Highway Patrol around 8 p.m. after spotting her down on the shoulder.

Just three hours earlier, Rosas said her daughter walked outside -- she thought to smoke a cigarette.

"It feels like a dream, like she is going to come home. You don't feel like she is gone," Rosas said.

Braithwaite's family said she wasn't prepared to go very far, only taking with her a cellphone, which they say they found in pieces outside her house.

"My son came home and he found her cellphone on the...not the sidewalk but on our walkway," Rosas added.

Detectives with the San Bernardino Police Department took the cell phone as part of their investigation.

They were trying to determine how Braithwaite ended up 5 miles away from home on a busy stretch of highway.

"I want answers," Rosas pleaded. "If anyone has any information, please, somebody had to see something."

Braithwaite's family set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses, arrangements they said they can't make until an autopsy is competed.

Meanwhile, they were asking anyone with information to contact San Bernardino police at 909-388-4826.

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