El Cajon

Sheriff’s deputies were searching Wednesday for a suspect in the attempted murder of two young women from Tucson who were hitchhiking in the El Cajon area Tuesday night.

The two women, both 19, accepted a ride from the driver of a two-door silver hatchback near Greenfield Drive and Interstate 8 about 10 p.m., deputies said.

The man drove east on the freeway to the Crestwood Road exit and turned onto a rural dirt road, where he made the women get out of the car. He dragged them away from the road and choked both of them until they were unconscious, deputies said.

When the women regained consciousness, the man was gone.

The women made their way back to the road, where they flagged down a passing car. They were taken to AMI Hospital in El Cajon, treated and released.

The victims described the man as white, in his mid-30s with short, dark blond, curly hair. They said he was 5-foot-9, weighed between 170 and 190 pounds, was clean-shaven and was wearing gold wire-rimmed glasses.