Joseph Dorsey, Calif. man, convicted of murdering girlfriend and putting her body in suitcase

(CBS/AP) MURRIETA, Calif. -Twenty-eight-year-old Joseph Dorsey was convicted  Thursday of murdering his 47-year-old girlfriend, Christine Stewart,  putting her body in a suitcase and leaving it at a motel in San Diego County, reported CBS Los Angeles.

According to the District Attorney's office, Dorsey was convicted of first-degree murder after the jury, made up of eight women and four men, deliberated for three hours, said the station.

Prosecutors said Dorsey killed his girlfriend Stewart, who was a behavioral health specialist at a Riverside County drug rehabilitation facility, in August of 2012 at his apartment, reported CBS Los Angeles.

The station said after Dorsey committed the crime, he fled to Mexico and was arrested there on October 23, 2012.

This is not Dorsey's first run-in with the law, said the station. In 2006, he was sentenced to three years in prison for assault and battery on a police officer and in 2012, he received a one-year sentence for attempted burglary.

The court is supposed to schedule Dorsey's sentencing date on Monday. The convict faces up to 57 years to life in prison, according to CBS Los Angeles.