The strange case of a woman found dead inside the truck of a man who led police on a pursuit through El Cajon is now being investigated as a homicide, authorities confirmed.
The El Cajon Police Department (ECPD) said homicide detectives are working to determine why San Diego resident Ginger Juanita Curtis, 41, was killed.
Curtis’ body was found inside a truck driven by Robert George Oakes, 54, on the night of May 13 after Oakes led police on a chase that ended with him crashing into a tree in the 600 block of Broadway in El Cajon.
Oakes died in the collision. When officers searched his vehicle, they made a grisly discovery in the passenger side: the lifeless body of Curtis.
According to investigators, Curtis was stabbed once in the chest and killed before the crash. Her death was deemed suspicious.
Police said the pursuit began just after 9:45 p.m. on May 13when officers were called to reports of domestic disturbance at Oakes’ apartment in the East County.
When officers arrived, they found Oakes driving away from his home in a red Mazda truck. Police tried to pull him over around 9:55 p.m., but he refused to yield. He ran a red light and a police pursuit ensued. The ECPD broadcast a description of the suspect and his truck to surrounding agencies.
At 10:03 p.m., a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) deputy with the Santee station spotted the suspect’s truck in Santee and began to follow the vehicle south toward El Cajon. Officials said Oakes ran another red light and the deputy tried to pull him over. Again, he failed to stop.
The deputy chased Oakes onto Cuyamaca Street and then eastbound to Fletcher Parkway, which turns into Broadway.
A few minutes into that leg of the pursuit, Oakes lost control of his truck and hit a tree in the center median on Broadway.
The deadly crash shut down traffic in both directions on Broadway, from Cherrywood Way to Ballantyne Street, for many hours. Pieces of the red truck were strewn about the roadway along with other debris from the wreck. The tree hit by the truck was also in pieces.
Local
The ECPD said Curtis and Oakes knew another but detectives are still trying to determine the nature of their relationship. The investigation is ongoing.
A neighbor told NBC 7 Oakes had moved in with a woman and said there was constant “noisy fighting” coming from his apartment.
