Authorities ID Man Killed in Crash While Fleeing Cops With Dead Woman In Truck

EL CAJON, CA: Authorities have released the names of a man killed Friday night in a crash during a high-speed pursuit from Santee to El Cajon and that of the woman found stabbed to death in his pickup truck afterward.

Robert George Oakes, 54, is suspected of killing 41-year-old Ginger Juanita Curtis sometime before the chase and subsequent crash, according to El Cajon police Lt. Walt Miller. Police said Oakes and Curtis knew each other, but the nature of their relationship was not immediately clear.

Oakes was spotted driving a red Mazda pickup truck away from an address where a disturbance was reported shortly before 10 p.m. Friday. Officers tried to pull the pickup over but backed off after the truck ran a red light, police said.

Deputies spotted the truck in Santee about 15 minutes later and followed it back into El Cajon. Oakes apparently lost control in the 600 block of Broadway and his pickup truck slammed into a tree in the center divider.

Oakes died at the scene, and investigators subsequently found Curtis's body in the passenger compartment. She had suffered a stab wound to her chest and died some time before the crash, Miller said.

City News Service

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