Motel Robbery-Murder Later Followed by Related Hit-and-Run Deaths on the Highway
Photo: Calvin Pittman (Fox 23 News)
VICTORVILLE — SBSD – Victorville Police Department Deputies responded on May 18 at 8:41 PM to reports of a fight in the Motel 6 on Stoddard Wells Road. What they discovered was a 56-yr-old man laying unresponsive on the motel-room floor.
Life-saving measures readied the victim for an immediate transport to St. Mary’s Medical Center. Shortly after arrival in hospital, the anonymous man (name withheld pending notification,) from Temecula was pronounced deceased.
In the room with the murder victim, was another victim – an anonymous 31-year-old male.
‘”Deputies received information that two suspects, along with an infant child in a stroller, entered the victim’s motel room and assaulted and robbed both victims,” said SBSD. “The suspects fled the scene in the victim’s rental car prior to deputies’ arrival.”
An investigation by Homicide Detectives at the scene found several subjects in the area who determined that three individuals who’d entered the motel room were not known to its two occupants. The random incident had resulted in an assault and robbery to both victims.
The investigation and search for the suspects continued throughout the night, but the trail came up cold.
A shocking turn of events occurred nearly two days later, on May 20 at 5:41 AM, when an off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer travelling northbound on the I-15 near Cima Road observed a downed female adult in the #1 northbound lane.
A short distance away, a deceased infant was discovered. “It appears the female and the infant may have been trying to cross the freeway and were struck by a passing vehicle and the involved driver did not stop,” said SBSD. “While on scene, CHP officers located the murder victims’ stolen rental vehicle in a nearby ditch.”
Shortly thereafter, a CHP report came in from a driver observing a man walking on the southbound I-15 Hwy, approximately one mile south of the scene of the accident. An immediate CHP response and contact with the male ID’d him as Calvin Pittman (43), of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Sheriff’s Homicide Detectives interviewed Pittman, who was later arrested and booked for Murder.
SBSD reported, “The Sheriff’s Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) responded to investigate the fatal hit-and-run collision. MAIT investigators believe the vehicle involved in the fatal hit and run was a semi-truck and may have been unaware of what they struck in the roadway.”
SBSD reports that the youngest victim of the Fatal Hit and Run is an unidentified infant, of unknown gender or age. Also killed in the Fatal Hit and Run collision is an unidentified black female – the 2nd murder suspect.
Investigators urge anyone that may have been traveling on the I-15 freeway near Cima Road in the early morning hours of May 20th – and may have information about, or witnessed this collision, to contact Detective Gerardo Moreno, Specialized Investigations Division – Homicide Detail at (909)387-3589 regarding (Fatal Hit and Run Collision) – Case DR#082000693 H#2020-044 and/or (Murder Investigation) – Case DR#172004487 H#2020-042. To remain anonymous, contact WeTip at 800-78CRIME or via www.wetip.com.
