SAN DIEGO (CNS) — An Escondido man suspected of tying up and severely beating his 47-year-old girlfriend and a 69-year-old acquaintance of theirs at a home near Julian last week was in custody Friday following his arrest hundreds of miles from the scene of the alleged crime.
On Monday evening, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Juan Luis Gonzalez, 45, at a checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas, San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Thomas Seiver said.
Gonzalez allegedly forcibly restrained and assaulted the victims at a Shelter Valley-area house in the 7000 block of county Route S2, south of state Route 78 -- late Saturday evening, leaving them bound when he fled.
"The woman was eventually able to free herself and sought aid from a neighbor," Seiver said.
Paramedics airlifted the victims to a trauma center for treatment of serious injuries. The woman has since been released from medical care, but the male victim remains hospitalized in critical status.
Due to the man's grave condition, homicide investigators were called in to take charge of the case, the lieutenant said.
Detectives quickly identified Gonzalez as the suspected perpetrator and coordinated with the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force to search for him across the Southwestern United States.
Gonzalez was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence and elder abuse causing great bodily injury. He remains in the custody of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Office pending extradition to San Diego County, Seiver said.
