A fugitive on the run for the past 16 months shut down Highway 62 in Joshua Tree yesterday morning as he was arrested at gunpoint, accused of stabbing a man in Yucca Valley. According to Sheriff’s Sergeant Jim Thornburg, Natividad “Manny” Fonseca, 34, was staying at a home in the 7000 block of Palm Avenue when he stabbed Randal Cramm, 27, in the chest and arm about 5 a.m. Fonseca then fled the home. Cramm was taken to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs with non-life-threatening injuries. Then about 10:20 a.m., Deputy Bruce Southworth was driving on Highway 62 and recognized Fonseca—who still had the knife—walking near Mount Shasta Avenue. Thornburg said deputies shut down the highway as a safety precaution to make sure he wouldn’t run out into traffic. Deputies tried to talk down Fonseca for about 45 minutes, before using tasers and bean bag guns to subdue him. After being treated at Hi-Desert Medical Center for his self-inflicted knife wounds, Natividad “Manny” Fonseca was arrested for investigation of attempted murder, booked at the West Valley Detention Center, and is being held without bail for a parole violation. Thornburg said that Fonseca was arrested in Wonder Valley in 2004 for kidnapping a man at gunpoint, and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.
