Man Held in Slaying of His Wife : Crime: He drives 45 miles before stopping in Newport to call police. Anaheim couple’s boy witnessed killing, officials say.

SANTA MONICA —  A 33-year-old Anaheim man allegedly strangled his wife in their car on a freeway offramp Saturday as the couple’s 6-year-old son watched the family fight from the back seat, police said.

When a distraught Jong Chan Kim could not find a nearby police station, he drove his wife’s body 45 miles south to a Newport Beach 7-Eleven, where he called 911 about 8:45 p.m., confessed to the killing and threatened suicide, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Ron Rodgers said.

With the help of an AT&T; Korean translator, dispatchers were able to keep Kim--a Korean national who speaks little English--on the line long enough to send a squad car to the convenience store.

Officers arrived at 8:59 p.m. and arrested Kim. They found 26-year-old Jang M. Kim dead in the back seat of the family’s 1991 Buick, as the couple’s 6-year-old son sat in the car, Rodgers said.

Jang Kim was also a Korean national. It was unclear Sunday how long the family has been in the United States.

“He called saying he had killed his wife and wanted to kill himself,” Rodgers said. “While he was still on the phone, one officer got there. [Kim] complied with the officer. He did not resist in any way.”

Kim was booked into the Newport Beach City Jail on Saturday night and transferred to the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail by Santa Monica detectives early Sunday. He was being held without bail on suspicion of murder, Santa Monica police said.

According to Santa Monica Police Sgt. Gary Gallinot, Kim told investigators he was having an ongoing domestic dispute with his wife. The couple got in their car Saturday with their son and drove from their Anaheim home to Santa Monica “to further talk about their problems,” Gallinot said.

Kim took the Santa Monica Freeway’s 4th Street offramp and stopped the car when the argument escalated.

“He stopped and strangled his wife in the passenger seat of the car . . . with their son looking on from the back seat,” Gallinot said.

Gallinot said Kim “tried to find the police station [in Santa Monica] but couldn’t find it.” He then drove to Newport Beach and dialed 911. Investigators are looking into whether there was a pattern of domestic abuse at the couple’s Anaheim residence, a source said.

The child was released to the Orange County Department of Children’s Services, Gallinot said. An official at the Orangewood Children’s Home said he could not comment on whether the young boy was there or how he was doing, due to confidentiality laws.

“I’m sure he was in some degree of shock,” Rodgers said of the boy, who not only allegedly witnessed his mother’s death, but also saw his father led away in handcuffs.

The clerk on duty at the Newport Beach 7-Eleven, at 20th Street and Balboa Boulevard, said Kim casually walked into the store and asked for change for a dollar to make a call from the Balboa Peninsula pay phone.

“He came in to get change and then he went to the pay phone to call police,” Cameron Phillips, 34, said. “He seemed relaxed.”

Phillips said he had to ask Kim to repeat his request for change twice, because he was unable to understand Kim’s English.

Several minutes later, police arrived and arrested Kim, said Phillips, who could not see the young boy in the car from the cash register. “I thought maybe he was just a drunk driver,” Phillips said.

It was unclear Sunday why Kim ended up in Newport Beach, but Rodgers speculated that the man was probably driving aimlessly in the wake of the alleged killing.

“I think more than anything else he was probably in shock himself,” Rodgers said.