Oregon man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman is in custody after a week of manhunts

An Oregon man wanted on attempted murder and other charges after a woman was found tied up and badly beaten last week was taken into custody Tuesday night, Grants Pass police said.

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, of Wolf Creek, was in custody after a standoff that lasted several hours, police said in a brief statement.

A press conference was scheduled for Wednesday. Police officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment or more details as the situation continued.

Foster has been the subject of an intense manhunt since January 24, when officers from Grants Pass raided a home and found a woman who ‘had been tied up and severely beaten unconscious’ , police said at the time.

Foster was wanted for kidnapping, attempted murder and assault, police said.

The victim is said to be in critical condition.

Foster attempted to kill the woman while “intentionally torturing her,” Josephine County District Attorney Joshua Eastman wrote in a court document.

“I’m disgusted by what I know happened,” Police Chief Warren Hensman said last week, according to NBC affiliate KOBI of Medford. “It was a diabolical act.”

Police said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Foster was seen in the Grants Pass area, apparently walking a dog.

Police had warned that Foster was still using dating apps as police searched for him, and that he might do so to contact unsuspecting people to help him.

Two years ago, Foster was convicted in Nevada for keeping another woman captive.

In 2019, Foster held his then-girlfriend captive in his Las Vegas apartment for two weeks.

He was initially charged with five felonies, including assault and battery, but in 2021 he reached an agreement with Clark County prosecutors to plead guilty to felony and misdemeanor battery.

He was sentenced to between one and two and a half years in prison, but he had already spent 729 days in prison awaiting trial and was released.

Grants Pass is a town of approximately 39,000 located in southwestern Oregon, approximately 40 km north of the California border.

Law enforcement officials had surrounded a home in the city on Tuesday, and a crisis negotiator was on the scene, before police announced Foster was in custody, NBC affiliate KOBI reported. of Medford.

Hensman, the police chief, last week called the attack brutal and said their hearts go out to the victim and his family. He said it happened over “a long period of time”.

“We usually think that couldn’t happen in our small community of 40,000 people, but it could happen anywhere,” he said.