A romantic day at the beach turned sour for a couple in California this week after a husband attempted to kill his other half by burying her alive.
The woman was subjected to an horrific attack at the hands of her man on Thursday night, according to local police.
Cops in Coronado, near San Diego, received a 911 call just before 9 p.m. from the frantic wife who said her husband had just tried to kill her on the beach.
The couple visited the beach earlier in the evening and got into an argument that escalated when the suspect, later identified as Jose Luis Mares III, 23, of Moreno Valley, started attacking his wife, authorities said.
He tried to throw her into the surf, and then brought her near a lifeguard tower, where he tried burying her in the sand, according to local outlet KSWB-TV.
“She said there was a hole in the ground and the hole had previously been there from probably kids digging it during the day,” Detective Ryan Brennan of the Coronado Police Department told the station. “But during the struggle, she said he threw her in that hole when he began putting sand on top of her.”
He kicked her repeatedly, and then stopped and ran away, Brennan said.
“We don’t know what scared him away,” the police official said. “Perhaps it was someone walking by.”
The woman escaped and ran toward Ocean Boulevard, where a passerby found her on the sidewalk. Paramedics brought her to a medical facility.
Police located the suspect Mares a short time later hiding in the backyard of a nearby home.
The ungallant hubby has been charged with attempted murder, assault causing great bodily injury, domestic violence, false imprisonment and a parole violation.
Mares was reportedly previously convicted for carjacking and burglary.