Man Found Dead In Wheelchair Along Remote IE Desert Road, Murder Charge Filed

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — A Moreno Valley resident is in custody, accused of killing a 60-year-old homeless man whose body was found slumped in a wheelchair along a remote desert road.

Jimmy Ochoa Rodriguez, 38, is charged with murder and was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday, jail records show.

A motorist spotted the victim at about 9:48 a.m. Friday on Gammel Road in sparsely populated Wonder Valley, about 10 miles east of Twentynine Palms. The deceased was partially sitting in an overturned wheelchair, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

“Investigators observed trauma to the victim’s body and quickly determined the victim had been murdered somewhere else and left on the road,” the sheriff’s department reported.

Rodriguez was identified as a suspect after it was learned that he and the victim “were in a physical altercation, in the city of Highland, that led to the victim’s death,” according to the sheriff’s department. “Detectives also determined that after the murder occurred, Rodriguez drove to Wonder Valley and left the victim in the roadway.”

Further details about the alleged altercation were not released.

Jail records show Rodriguez was arrested just after 4 a.m. Saturday in a residential area in the 7100 block of Vine Street in Highland. He is being held without bail at county jail in Rancho Cucamonga.

The victim’s name has not been released pending notification of next of kin.

Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the sheriff's homicide detail at 909-890-4904.