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Police in Oregon have cautioned the public that a suspect accused of attempted murder and holding a woman captive may be using dating apps to attract more victims.
Benjamin Obadiah Foster, the focus of a multi-agency manhunt, may also be utilizing apps to recruit accomplices to aid him in evading capture, according to the Grants Pass police department.
Foster, who was convicted of holding another woman captive in Nevada, is being sought after he allegedly shackled and severely beat a lady into unconsciousness near Grants Pass, Oregon on Tuesday, according to authorities.
Grants Pass police, sheriff’s deputies, an Oregon State Police SWAT team, and federal officials raided a property in the unincorporated village of Wolf Creek, some 20 miles from Grants Pass, where they suspected Foster was hiding on Thursday. According to police, Foster’s car and other evidence were taken.
After a “lengthy manhunt,” Tina Marie Jones, 68, of Wolf Creek was apprehended and charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly assisting 36-year-old Foster in evading arrest. It is unclear how he escaped, since the location is densely forested.
According to court filings, Jones followed Foster in a car as he drove to a remote site near Wolf Creek on Thursday morning and then purposely drove his 2008 Nissan Sentra over an embankment.
Investigators determined that the convicted offender was utilizing online dating apps to entice unsuspecting individuals as accomplices in his escape or as potential new victims.
“The Grants Pass Police Department wants the community to be as safe as possible while this predator remains at large and warns that anyone who aids Ben Foster’s escape could face prosecution,” the department said in a statement.
Foster is considered to be armed and “extremely dangerous,” according to police in Grants Pass, a 40,000-person city in southwest Oregon. Officials stated that they are use all available technologies to locate him.
Foster is wanted for aggravated robbery, attempted murder, and assault. The police have offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of this individual.
Foster was convicted in Nevada in 2019 before traveling to Oregon of holding his girlfriend imprisoned in her own apartment for more than two weeks, threatening to kill her and forcing her to eat a sandwich with lye because he believed she was following him.
Foster, who, according to law enforcement officials, is a trained martial artist, allegedly bound the woman with zip ties and duct tape, shaved her head, then beat and choked her until she was unconscious. According to officials, he threatened to kill her with a knife and a firearm.
The Las Vegas Sun adds that at one time, Foster forced the woman to consume a sandwich containing lye, a harsh cleaning agent that burnt her hands and neck.
Foster allegedly prohibited the victim from using the restroom and only untied her at night. Still, she informed police that he held her while they slept. Foster let the woman to flee after she persuaded him that they required food and water. He brought her to a petrol station, where she escaped and found assistance.
He initially faced decades in prison for five offenses, including assault and battery. Foster reached a plea agreement with Clark County prosecutors in August 2021 that permitted him to plead guilty to one felony count of battery and one misdemeanor count of battery involving domestic abuse.
He was sentenced to two and a half years in jail in Nevada, but the 729 days he spent in pre-trial detention were applied to his sentence, and he eventually served less than 200 days.
At the time of his 2019 arrest, Foster was free on a suspended jail sentence stemming from a 2018 weapons conviction and awaited trial in a second domestic violence case.
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman told the Associated Press that he did not have time to condemn Nevada’s prosecution of Foster.
“We can discuss whatever occurred in the past at a later time,” he stated.
»Oregon torture suspect uses dating apps to recruit new victims, according to authorities«