Man suspected of abandoning daughter and killing her mother

BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — A 12-year-old girl was abandoned at a gas station in the Southern California desert after her father beat her mother to death and left the woman on the side of a road, authorities said Tuesday.

The suspect, Jesus Jaimes-Rosas, was arrested around 1:30 a.m. Saturday near Barstow after deputies found his abandoned vehicle on a dirt road, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Jaimes-Rosas, who was treated at a hospital for unspecified self-inflicted injuries, could face a murder charge, the statement said. It wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.

The girl asked for help at a Shell station around 11:45 p.m. Friday night and said her father had beaten her mother and thrown her out of the car, officials said.

The woman, Sonia Flores, was found dead in the area late Saturday morning.

Jaimes-Rosas was held without bail.