NOTE: This article contains details and descriptions that are graphic and disturbing. Please read at your own discretion.
A round-the-clock manhunt is underway for a 36-year-old man accused of torturing and kidnapping an Oregon woman, and police have warned that the suspect may be using dating apps to find potential new victims, or people who can help him evade capture.
Authorities are looking for Benjamin Obadiah Foster after he managed to escape arrest during a police raid in rural Wolf Creek, an unincorporated community just north of Grants Pass, Ore. When police raided the property, they seized Foster’s car and arrested a 68-year-old woman for hindering prosecution.
Police say he “likely received assistance in fleeing the area.”
Foster has an alarming criminal history of domestic violence and kidnapping, including a 2021 conviction for holding his former girlfriend captive for two weeks inside her Nevada home. Police say he is an “extremely dangerous suspect” and believe him to be armed.
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said Thursday he finds it “extremely troubling” that Foster is not behind bars and is able to prey on other women.
Investigators have been looking for Foster since Jan. 24, when they found a woman badly beaten, tied up and near death inside a home in Grants Pass. The suspect had already fled by the time police arrived and the victim was hospitalized in critical condition.
Prosecutors believe Foster tried to kill the victim while “intentionally torturing” her, CNN reports. It’s unclear how long the woman was held captive, though Hensman said Thursday that she had been beaten for a “protracted amount of time.”
“I’m disgusted by what I know happened. This was an evil act,” Hensman said.
On Thursday night, Grants Pass police, sheriff’s deputies, an Oregon State Police SWAT team and federal agents tracked Foster to a property in Wolf Creek. Foster managed to escape, though police did arrest 68-year-old Tina Marie Jones at the scene.
FULL ARTICLE: https://globalnews.ca/news/9445962/benjamin-foster-wanted-foster-torture-kidnap-suspect-dating-apps-oregon/
