Dad abandons 12-year-old at gas station after beating mom to death, California cops say

A 12-year-old girl abandoned in the Mojave Desert by her father after he killed her mother walked into a gas station store to ask for help, California sheriff’s officials reported.

The girl was found at a Shell Gas Station on Cima Road in the community of Mountain Pass at 11:45 p.m. om Friday, Nov. 25, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a Nov. 29 news release.

She told deputies her father, a 37-year-old Upland man, dropped her off beside the road and fled after beating her mother, the release said.

At 1:23 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, deputies found her father’s abandoned vehicle and a sheriff’s K-9 found the man, who had self-inflicted injuries, sheriff’s officials said.

Deputies found the girl’s 31-year-old mother dead at 11:43 a.m., the release said.

The man was arrested on a charge of murder after being treated at a hospital, the release said.

Investigators ask that anyone with information call 909-890-4908 or leave an anonymous tip at 1-800-782-7463.

Mountain Pass is a community of 24,000 people just north of the Mojave National Preserve.

This story was originally published November 29, 2022 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Dad abandons 12-year-old at gas station after beating mom to death, California cops say."