CNN
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Investigators believe a man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman in Oregon before dying in a self-harm shooting after a standoff with law enforcement also killed two men as he fled, authorities said Wednesday.
Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, was in a hospital Tuesday after an hour-long standoff with law enforcement in Grants Pass, Oregon, according to authorities. died.
Foster was the subject of a manhunt that began on Jan. 24 after police found a female Grants Pass resident bound and beaten. Sheriff’s deputies found two men dead Tuesday during a welfare inspection of a home in a community about 15 miles north of town.
Later Tuesday, police learned that Foster had returned to the same Grants Pass home where the torture took place on Jan. 24. After a standoff there, Foster shot himself with a .45-caliber gun and died later that night in hospital, Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Huntsman said at a news conference Wednesday. Rescuing Foster would take time, he said, because the suspect had already dug deep under the house and needed to cut through the floorboards to find him.
Foster was still breathing after being removed, but died an hour or two after being taken to the hospital, officials said. Authorities added that Foster was the sole suspect in the killings of the men.
“We believe the community is safe,” Huntsman told reporters.
The woman, who was tortured last week, remains in critical but stable condition, Huntsman said.
The double homicide uncovered in Sunshine Valley on Tuesday left a ‘cruel scene’, The two men were victims of blunt force trauma, Oregon State Police Capt. Kyle Kennedy said. While investigators believe Foster killed the men, their job is not done, he said.
Investigators believe Foster was picked up from the area in a taxi Tuesday morning and driven to Grants Pass, close to the original crime scene, Kennedy said. Grants Pass surveillance video captured Foster’s property in connection with the killing, according to Kennedy.
On Tuesday, before announcing the standoff, Grant Pass police posted a photo of the suspect walking his puppy on their Facebook page. Huntsman confirmed Wednesday that the dog was taken from the victim’s property.
Details about the events leading up to the two killings in Sunshine Valley were not immediately released.
IIn the Jan. 24 case, prosecutors accused Foster of torturing the woman with intent to kill her, according to charging documents. Foster is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping and battery.
Huntsman told CNN on Monday that Foster knew the victim before the attack, saying the two had a “previous relationship.” He did not elaborate, but said: “This was not a random attack.” At a news conference on Wednesday, he referred to it as a “former family relationship.”
The victim was initially spotted by a friend who called 911 and identified Foster as a suspect, police said. Hansman previously told CNN that officials faced “an absolutely disgusting scenario.” He said the victim had suffered the alleged abuse “for a long time” before it was discovered.
“This will remain in my memory for many years to come,” the police chief said, describing images from the scene as “horrific”.
By the time officers arrived where she was found, the suspect had fled, police said, prompting a sweeping multi-day search for Foster and numerous leads from the public, including federal, state and local mechanism.
As they searched for Foster, police warned he was “extremely dangerous” and could be armed. Huntsman said he was “definitely a threat to other people,” especially those who might try to befriend him.
Investigators said Foster may have been helped while fleeing law enforcement.
Police said they were looking for him on Jan. 26 at a residence in Wolf Creek, about 20 miles north of Grants Pass, but he “eluded arrest and may have been arrested while fleeing the area.” for help.” A 68-year-old Wolf Creek woman was arrested on suspicion of obstructing prosecution, police said.
At least two women who have had relationships with Foster have accused him of assaulting and abusing them, according to case records in Clark County Court in Las Vegas.
In the first case, his ex-girlfriend testified that in 2017 Foster went into a rage and strangled her after seeing another man text her. Foster was charged with felony battery, which constitutes domestic violence, records show.
While the case is still pending, he was charged with felony assault, battery and assault after his then-girlfriend told police he repeatedly strangled her and tied her up for the better part of two weeks, documents show. Kidnapping.
A Las Vegas police report said the woman eventually managed to escape by convincing Foster they needed to go to the store to buy food and fleeing a store. When she arrived at the hospital, she had seven broken ribs, two black eyes and bruised wrists and ankles from being tied, the report said.
In both cases, Foster accepted a plea deal. In the first case, he was sentenced to a maximum of 30 months’ imprisonment, but served 729 days.