Upland man accused of beating wife to death, abandoning young daughter at Mojave Desert gas station

UPLAND, Calif. (KABC) -- An Upland man was arrested after he allegedly beat his wife to death, left her on the side of a road and then abandoned his 12-year-old daughter at a gas station in the Mojave Desert, authorities said.

Jesus Jaimes-Rosas, 37, was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto on suspicion of murder and was being held without bail Tuesday, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

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A California Highway Patrol officer and deputies from the Barstow sheriff's station responded about 11:45 p.m. Friday after a 12-year-old girl walked into the convenience store at a Shell gas station on Cima Road in Nipton and asked for help, a sheriff's news release said.

"When deputies arrived, the child indicated her father beat her mother and left her on the side of the road," the statement said. According to investigators, Jaimes-Rosas dropped the child off at the gas station and fled.

Shortly before 1:30 a.m. the following morning, deputies found the suspect's vehicle abandoned on the side of a dirt road. A sheriff's K-9 unit also responded to the area and discovered Jaimes-Rosas with self-inflicted injuries, authorities said.

The injured suspect was transported to a hospital and later released.

Hours later, about 11:45 a.m., the victim, 31-year-old Sonia Flores, was found dead, the Sheriff's Department said. The investigation was taken over by members of the agency's Specialized Investigations Division - Homicide Detail.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the sheriff's Homicide Detail at (909) 890-4908.