by
CNN
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A man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman in Oregon this month was taken into custody Tuesday night after an hour-long altercation with authorities, police said.
Police had surrounded a home where suspect Benjamin Obadiah Foster is believed to be hiding under in the southwest Oregon town of Grants Pass, and authorities were trying to get him to surrender Tuesday night, CNN affiliate KTVL reported citing the police.
Grants Pass Police then announced late Tuesday that Foster – who had been wanted by authorities for a week – was in custody. Details of how the standoff ended were not immediately released, and police said they would hold a press conference on Wednesday.
CNN has contacted the Grants Pass police station, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office and the Portland office of the FBI and has received no response.
The news that Foster was in custody came after police said Foster walked a dog in the Grants Pass area on Tuesday morning.
The search for Foster began January 24 after officers found a woman who had been bound and severely beaten unconscious at a Grants Pass home, police said. Foster had already fled the scene when police arrived, sources said.
The victim was still in critical condition in hospital as of Sunday, according to Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman.
Federal, state and local authorities had been searching “around the clock” for Foster, who is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping and assault, according to the police chief.
Prosecutors have accused Foster of attempting to kill the woman while she was “deliberately torturing” her, according to indictment documents obtained by CNN affiliate KDRV. The victim had to endure the alleged abuse “over a long period of time,” said the police chief.
The victim was initially found by a friend who called the police and identified Foster as a suspect, Hensman said.
When officers arrived on January 24, they found “an absolutely disgusting scene,” the police chief said, adding that the images captured by investigators were “horrible.”
“I’ve seen a lot in my career, but some things stick in my mind and I’ll remember that for years to come,” Hensman told CNN on Monday.
Foster and his victim had a “previous relationship,” Hensman told CNN on Monday. He gave no further details, but said, “This was not a random attack.”
Investigators are still sorting through a “significant amount” of evidence and following up on the barrage of leads the department has received so far, the police chief said.
Hensman had encouraged people who came into contact with Foster — either in person or online — to call 911 immediately. Police warned that the “extremely dangerous suspect” may have been armed.
Hensman said Monday he didn’t think Foster was an “accidental attacker,” but warned “there’s nothing off the table with a person like him.”
“He’s definitely a threat to others,” the police chief said. “I think he would be a threat to anyone who might befriend him.”
Investigators previously said Foster may have used dating apps to find potential new victims or manipulate people into helping him evade arrest. Hensman declined to clarify Monday whether Foster is still active in those apps.
Foster has been accused of assaulting women he was in a relationship with on two separate counts in Las Vegas, Clark County records show.
In the first case, Foster was charged with a felony constituting domestic violence, the records show. His ex-girlfriend testified that he tried to strangle her on Christmas Eve 2017 after seeing another man text her, the documents say.
He was also charged with assault, assault and kidnapping for alleged abuse of his then-girlfriend in 2019, according to indictment documents.
The victim in that case told police Foster strangled her multiple times and kept her tied up for most of the following two weeks, according to a Las Vegas police report. By the time she was able to escape to a hospital, she had seven broken ribs, two black eyes and abrasions to her wrists and ankles from the restraints, the report said.
Foster accepted pleadings in both cases. In the first case, he was sentenced to a maximum of 30 months in prison, counting 729 days served.
