INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California father suspected in a stabbing later grabbed his 1-year-old daughter after a car crash and flung her off a cliff before he was captured, authorities said Thursday.
Adam Slater, 49, of Palm Desert was taken to a hospital and will be booked on suspicion of murder after he is released, according to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The killing was being called the result of domestic violence.
The investigation began early Thursday when deputies received a report of a stabbing at a church parking lot in Indian Wells. Deputies found an injured woman, who was taken to a hospital in stable condition, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Chris Grome told KESQ-TV that the victim is his niece, Ashley Grome, 23, who was married to Slater and is 6 months pregnant with their second child.
“He attacked her and tried to stab her several times in the stomach and the throat,” Grome said. “She fought him off and tried to protect herself.”
The attacker fled with the child in a car that later rolled over on Highway 74 south of Palm Desert, authorities said. Bystanders stopped to help and the driver took back his daughter after stabbing a man who had removed her daughter from the car, authorities said.
“Multiple witnesses saw the suspect take the child and throw her over a steep cliff into a ravine,” the Sheriff’s Department release said.
Slater ran into a canyon and was captured after a chase, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The child died at the scene. The man who was stabbed sought his own medical treatment, authorities said.
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