Assault suspect in custody; baby found safe

NORTH COUNTY —  Sheriff’s deputies arrested an attempted murder suspect Tuesday in Vista, eight hours after he beat up his girlfriend in Pauma Valley and went on the run in his pickup with the couple’s 5-month-old son, authorities said.

The search for Kenneth Wayne Welch — a 42-year-old parolee with a history of violence — ended when deputies caught him after a brief chase about 10 a.m. on a Vista street. The baby was found unharmed with a relative of Welch’s in Oceanside.

The search for Welch began shortly after 1:30 a.m., when his girlfriend called authorities from a friend’s home on Poomacha Road, south of state Route 76, to say she had been battered and her boy’s father had fled with the baby, sheriff’s Lt. James Bolwerk said.

The girlfriend, who lives in Pauma Valley with Welch, reported that they had been driving on Route 76 when a dispute turned violent.

She told investigators that Welch had hit her on the head and then tried to run her over after she got out of his Toyota pickup, Bolwerk said. The baby also was in the truck.

The girlfriend escaped, running down a ravine and to her friend’s home, Bolwerk said. Welch then drove off with the baby.

The girlfriend’s injuries were not life-threatening, and she declined medical treatment, Bolwerk said.

Authorities also issued an Amber Alert to tell the public through the news media and freeway signs about the missing baby.

Shortly before 10 a.m., a deputy spotted Welch driving the pickup in Vista. Welch sped off but didn’t make it far, crashing the truck on curvy Mar Vista Drive near Miramar Drive, a residential neighborhood.

Vista resident Gary Stodghill, 59, said he spotted a man running from the wrecked truck. Deputies closed in on the man as he jumped fences and ran through sprawling backyards, Stodghill said.

Welch made it to Marine View Drive, a few hundred yards from the crash site, then gave up.

“He was just out of breath and surrendered,” Bolwerk said.

At some point before he was caught, Welch left the child with a female family member in Oceanside.

She called authorities after seeing news reports of the search for Welch and the boy, Bolwerk said. She met deputies at a McDonald’s restaurant and handed over the child, who was taken into protective custody at Polinsky Children’s Center in San Diego.

Welch was booked into Vista jail on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment, a charge that stems from the boy being with the couple during the fight in the truck.

Court records show Welch’s criminal history includes prison stretches for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence and vehicle theft.

He was most recently paroled in August 2011, after serving more than nine years of a 13-year sentence, prison records show.